We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shawn Loyola. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shawn below.

Alright, Shawn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

I’ve been blessed to have been in this industry the last 10 years and within the last decade I’ve been able to experience a lot of the ups and downs as well as pros and cons of this business. Houston is a major city of business where people of all walks of life are being taken care of in tailoring; local tailor shops and dry cleaners are in almost every corner. However I will say with so many different companies and traditional brick and mortar businesses doing alterations people will wonder where the right place to go is.

I’ve said time and time again that in tailoring there’s people here that are fitters, there’s people here that are tailors, but very few can do both and do it effectively. Fitters take body and garment measurements and send it out to the cutters to get garments made; tailors are the ones who are cutting and sewing the fabrics before production to be made and after production for alterations. This is a time sensitive part of the business that I’ve taken the time over the last decade to learn and do it well.

Alterations in Houston haven’t been the most consistent service here. The blame is on us as much as the tailors who perform the alterations. Most people getting fitted by a tailor; if not the most experienced, will go in and just say something like “I want my suit slimmer” or “I want the body taken in a little more”. Speaking in a generality wont help much since some tailors don’t necessarily speak fluent English so what happens is people will find themselves going to at least 2-3 trips just to get alterations correct and spend much more money just to get it right.

I wanted to learn years ago to be able to do both because not only does it save money for people but it also saves a lot of time. Most of the money in total to get a suit right or even a shirt would’ve been saved just getting it custom made. Ready to wear garments only have a small amount of allowance and one things for sure is that tailors aren’t miracle workers; as long as you have the right fitter from the beginning you shouldn’t encounter any problems on the tailoring side unless you gained a significant amount or loss a significant amount of weight.

Shawn, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Being a custom clothier was not the typical or ideal life for me over a decade ago when I was in school nor was being in business but luckily I was at the right place and the right time and was introduced to certain individuals in my life that taught me to build a life worth creating not work for it. Working has no purpose or goal, building a life does; it keeps you focused if its worth it enough to you.

I’m so grateful to be a clothier and tailor, I’m so grateful to be in business because it has pushed me beyond my limits. This industry forced me to create new habits that I was so uncomfortable with to begin with from talking to people, networking, communicating effectively, and building self value through practice. Most people hold back from accountability; I did not understand this in the beginning but I’m glad my faith carried me moreover than my fear. I had the most intense personal and developmental training my first few years. 90% of how to breakthrough your old self is all mental..I grew up as a follower so making a decision and direction for myself was very daunting. I was learning to stand up for myself and what I believed in the face of people who did not believe and made sure they did what they could to make it happen. Business is not for the weak of heart I will say. Growing up in the industry I’ve had garments thrown at me, I’ve had people throw cards in my face, spit in my direction, as well as say the most hurtful things. Business taught me to have thick skin, a bullet proof mindset, and a strong determination to thing long term.

Danifodi Custom Clothing was created to eliminate all the issues and problems we both experienced over the years from buying clothes to alterations. We are a fully custom clothing brand that services both men and women; we can make garments from suits, tuxes, and shirts of almost any kind. If you can pull up a photo from Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook we are more than likely to be able to create that for you. We also have an alterations service that I do here in Houston where I travel to clients offices or homes to pin or mark garments for me to resew back home. One thing I’d say I’m most proud of with our group is just knowing we can deliver with any garment someone wants us to make. We’re both experienced fitters and are extremely confident in our ability to perform during and after appointments.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The most pivotal part of learning self value came when I lost a relationship that I had shared most of my life with all while still learning business and growth. It was the most devastating feeling I’ve ever experienced where I was pretty much alone with little to no help from people I thought were my friends. Twice in the same month I was contemplating of ending my life after going through the worst hiatus mentally; the only thing that kept me afloat was knowing one day no matter what happens in life is that I will be a success in this business and through hard work and personal growth I will be at peace.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

I met my business partner a few years ago randomly on clubhouse. By some weird luck he reached back out to me and bought a ticket to fly to Houston so I can train him. Not too long after he went home we decided we should work together and get a company running. We were both very confident and excited to know that we will be creating a life through our clients as much as it has created a life through us over the years.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.danifodi.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sployola/