As the oldest in a household of 14 children, Nelda Cisneros made clothing for her younger brothers and sisters, her daughter Gladys Venegas said.
“Mom always sewed at home,” Venegas said. “She was the one that everyone would come to in the neighborhood to have garments made or something fixed.”
Eventually political figures, superstar athletes and local music legends were coming to her homegrown tailor shop.
Cisneros died in November, but her legacy lives on at her namesake business, Nelda’s Tailors Inc., which she opened in 1979.
The original shop was located at West First Street and I-35. In the 1980s, the store moved to the corner of North Lamar and Airport Boulevard, where it remains today. A second location opened in Pflugerville in 2002.
The tailor shop provides sewing and clothing alterations for any occasion. Over the years Nelda’s has drawn a diverse clientele, ranging from former University of Texas quarterback Colt McCoy and musician Stevie Ray Vaughan to youth sports teams, public schools and wedding parties.
Landeros’ sister and co-owner Gladys Venegas said qualified seamstresses are hard to come by nowadays.[/caption]
Venegas said thanks to her mother the tailor shop developed a reputation for sterling customer service and quality tailoring.
She said her fondest memory is being in the shop when then-first lady of Texas Laura Bush brought in a handful of items to be altered. She said she also remembers the beautiful gowns Cisneros would make for the owner of a local ballet folklorico dance company.
Since her mother’s death, Venegas said Nelda’s Tailors Inc. does not offer custom tailoring, such as custom suits. She said no one at the shop possesses her mother’s skill set, and it is not cost-effective to offer it anymore.
Notable clients at Nelda’s include aeronautics engineer Mike Ruiz (above) and “American Idol” winner Taylor Hicks (below).[/caption]
Among the challenges for tailor shops in the globalized economy, in which sewing is largely done in developing countries, is finding qualified seamstresses, Venegas said.
“It’s hard to find the employees that can give us the work that we need,” she said.
Nelda’s Tailors employs five people at its Austin location and three at the Pflugerville shop.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2014, tailors, dressmakers and custom sewers composed just 1,400 members of the state workforce and 20,200 nationwide.
Venegas said the business remains stable despite industry volatility, but she worries sewing is becoming a dying art.
“I’m just concerned about in the future where we’re not available anymore,” she said.
Yet, Venegas said her stores’ loyal and often famous clientele have kept the business going all these years. She said the tailor shop owes its success to the attention to detail and quality customer care her mother helped instill.
