When the designers behind edgy menswear labels such as Rag & Bone and Band of Outsiders want to produce a hand-tailored suit made in New York, they rely on an octogenarian tailor who has been cutting clothes in the same East Williamsburg factory for more than 60 years.  As with so many Brooklyn-made products, one could call these artisanal suits. But to Martin Greenfield, the 83-year-old tailor, the vogue for the borough's wares is just a blip in a career that dates back to 1947, when he first came to work at the four-story factory on Varet Street. Now, the facility where he makes suits and custom garments is virtually the last of its kind in New York—a fact both bemoaned and cherished by the designers who entrust him to produce their signature looks.  Scott Sternberg, the designer behind modern prep-wear label Band of Outsiders, has worked with Mr. Greenfield since starting his line in 2004, largely because of the factory's dedication to craftsmanship. "What we do with Martin Greenfield is so specific. It's a very pure and simple thing that our customers respond to," he said.  From the designer's sketch, the factory's design team sets the construction and measurements. It develops a pattern, sews a prototype and produces samples to show to store buyers. Later, bolts of suiting fabric shipped from Italy and England are greeted by an army of tailors. Six to eight weeks later, a garment is ready for the racks at Bergdorf Goodman or Barneys.  Martin Greenfield displays a fall jacket destined for New York City boutique Freemans Sporting Club.  Mr. Greenfield, a Holocaust survivor, started working at the factory as a floor boy earning $35 a week. In 1977, he bought out his employer, GGG Clothes. Since then, he has seen his industry contract severely.  "They had 565 tailors when I started," said Mr. Greenfield, who oversees the business with the help of his sons, Jay and Tod.  The factory turns out about 60 suits a day and employs 135 unionized workers who receive health care, pensions, retirement benefits and union-scale wages.  On the factory floor, workers are organized according to function. Many have highly specialized skills—meticulously hand-sewing 50 stitches to each buttonhole, or sewing canvas panels into jackets, for structure and fit.  Tod Greenfield, 51, who oversees factory operations, acquires buttons and equipment from vintage sources. The sewing machines and irons still in use on the factory floor are decades old and no longer in production, but newer, lighter irons don't press garments as deeply or as well, he said.  Mr. Greenfield is something of a vintage guy himself—he does not keep a computer on his desk and eschews e-mail, choosing to do business over the phone or in person. (His sons are online, however.)  The company has invested in computers to create pattern models, which allows the factory to tweak a garment's design in minutes.  "Our niche is making different patterns for different people," said Jay Greenfield, 53.  At any given time, the factory may be making wool suits for one designer, houndstooth sport jackets for another and still another jacket in another fabric for a different brand.  That flexibility, as well as the company's old-fashioned craftsmanship and New York location, has attracted young designers for whom a garment's provenance is nearly as important as its look. The company also makes a point of working with fashion up-and-comers.  "We never know who will become successful," said Jay Greenfield. "We want them to become successful."  In return, designers have made Martin Greenfield part of their brands.  Meeting the Greenfields years ago, Band of Outsiders' Mr. Sternberg said he was "romanticized and seduced" by the carefully sewn garments and the story of the family-owned firm's survival.  Band of Outsiders suits, sold at Barneys and Bergdorf Goodman, have hang tags displaying Mr. Greenfield's name—right next to price tags that run into the low four figures.  Freemans Sporting Club, a downtown Manhattan-based lifestyle brand with a modern mountain-man aesthetic, uses labels that display the distance in miles from their store to the place where each garment is made. The brand's website touts its Martin Greenfield suits, priced from $2,000.  Rag & Bone, another company that touts American-made garments, also sells the Greenfield story to customers.  "There is an enormous amount of integrity in what he does and the quality of what he makes, which is in large part why we chose to work with him," said David Neville, the label's managing partner and designer, in a statement. "There aren't many people like him around."  Capitalizing on Mr. Greenfield's late-in-life cachet, the company has recently embarked on a new venture, producing suiting under its own label to be sold online at Gilt Groupe, a designer clothing retailer. Early next year, they'll begin selling through Gilt's Japan site.  "I think we make the best clothing in the world, because what we make in America lasts for a long time," Mr. Greenfield said. "It is the greatest feeling to see a customer look at himself in the mirror and be so pleased with what he is seeing."
How Martin Greenfield, the octogenarian tailor and maker of hand-sewn suits, became an edgy New York fashion brand.