Tony Paranzino on Tony the Tailor and 50 Years of Work

In this episode of the Kanawha Valley Hustlers podcast, I talk with Tony Paranzino of Tony the Tailor to talk about men’s clothing, building a business, and what keeps a craft alive for more than 50 years. Tony explains why brands like Oxford and Allen Edmonds still matter. He points to American-made work, skilled labor, and the value of making products that last.

We also get into how he came up in the business. Tony grew up in an Italian family and started working in his dad’s shop as a kid. He learned the trade step by step, from cutting garments apart to drafting patterns, then making pants and coats. Over time, he took over the family business and turned it into Tony the Tailor.

One part I like is his view on mistakes. He talks about making a pair of pants for a customer that ended up six inches too short. It was a mess, but they remade them and kept going. His point is simple. Mistakes happen. Learn from them, fix what you can, and move forward. He has a saying in the shop: nobody dies, the mistake can be fixed.

Tony also pushes back on the idea that nobody wears suits anymore. He makes it clear that suits still sell, sport coats still move, and people still want to look put together. In his view, clothing still affects how people are treated. He also sees people dressing up more as more workers return to the office.

Near the end, he boils business down to one lesson: count your money. Know where it goes. Protect it. Spend it with purpose. For Tony, experience matters, facts matter, and patterns repeat if you stay in the game long enough.