A Brooklyn tailor known for custom-made suits that sell for thousands of dollars has instead started selling bespoke facial coverings duri...
A Brooklyn tailor known for custom-made suits that sell for thousands of dollars has instead started selling bespoke facial coverings during the coronavirus outbreak.
Yosel Tiefenbrun, 30, has joined other high-end designers who've turned to making masks as their businesses have stalled because of the pandemic.
Tiefenbrun is selling most of the bespoke masks for about $50. However, customers can also spend as much as $300 for a custom-made facial covering that comes complete with hand-stitching and designs and patterns by the tailor and requires a session on Skype to accommodate requests.
Brooklyn tailor Yosel Tiefenbrun, known for custom-made suits that sell for thousands of dollars, has instead started selling bespoke facial coverings during the coronavirus outbreak
Most of Tienfenbrun's custom-made masks (pictured) go for about $50 each
A deluxe option sells for $300, complete with hand-stitching and custom designs using his exclusive patterns that require a session on Skype to design
Normally, a custom-made suit would take Tienfenbrun and his staff of six up to 80 hours to make and for a cost of up to $8,000, the New York Post reports.
But being sidelined during the pandemic forced the tailor to provide bespoke services that can help protect against the virus.
'We have to keep safe, but if you're going to wear [a mask], you might as well wear it in style,' Tiefenbrun, tells The Post. 'You want to look good in it.'
The tailor, who also is a rabbi, isn't alone.
Chinese fashion designer Zhou Li has rolled out silk masks with designs of orchids, camellias and Chinese characters symbolizing good luck.
Kim Kardashian even released a line of seamless face masks. The 39-year-old's masks came in five different 'nude' shades that were reminiscent of various skin tones. They retail for $8 and a package of four goes for $25.
Tiefenbrun, although born in New York, was raised in London and became a rabbi in Singapore. Becoming a tailor came afterwards, after studying at the Savile Row Academy. He went on to make a name for himself in New York, helped by a GQ profile in September.
Normally, a custom-made suit would take Tienfenbrun (pictured) and his staff of six up to 80 hours to make and for a cost of up to $8,000. But being sidelined during the pandemic forced the tailor to provide bespoke services that can help protect against the virus
As the pandemic struck, his East Williamsburg business came to a dead stop, more than three years after its launch.
'We were having our peak as we were going into this time,' he says. 'We went two months pretty much without suit sales . . . We said, 'OK, we can wait, and keep it shut.''
But as the outbreak only continued, the tailor and his staff saw opportunity in making bespoke facial coverings.
'Now we have full long days, starting early, finishing late. I feel like I'm starting a new business. It's a different ballgame,' he says.
As the outbreak only continued, the tailor and his staff saw opportunity in making bespoke facial coverings. 'Now we have full long days, starting early, finishing late. I feel like I'm starting a new business. It's a different ballgame,' he says
Tiefenbrun is no stranger to the disease either, having already survived a bout with the virus.
'Once I got my antibody test, that's when I decided to try to keep my business alive,' says the father of two.
His company, known just as Tiefenbrunn, has changed its motto to 'Cloth for every occasion', and he says the requests for coverings have been pouring in since he started making the masks less than two weeks ago.
The tailor's company, known just as Tiefenbrunn, has changed its motto to 'Cloth for every occasion'. He says the requests for coverings have been pouring in since he started making the masks (pictured) less than two weeks ago
'They were raining in — messages left, right and center on social media,' Tiefenbrun says.
One order, as an example, came in for 30 masks made from seersucker. Half were to be designed for men, and the rest for women.
He also designs masks that won't specifically put too much pressure on a hipster beard, and ones for people wearing glasses that won't fog up the lenses.
Teinfenbrun also designs masks that won't specifically put too much pressure on a hipster beard (pictured), and ones for people wearing glasses that won't fog up the lenses
The $50 mask option has allowed people to own Teinfenbrun's work, and avoid the usual high price.
'Yosel's work is so artistic, but it's too fancy for me,' says Moshe Frank, an entrepreneur in Crown Heights, who's loving his green hand-stitched mask. 'This is the first affordable piece I could own.'
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