A famous tailor who fled Afghanistan with his wife and five children recently opened a new shop in Old Town.
Business is slow, but the situation is familiar to Reza Mohammadi. He’s started from scratch many times, and is hoping that what’s worked in the past will work again.
“I’m here to start again,” Mohammadi told ALXnow. “When I first opened in Kabul in 2006, I had nothing, but my business grew because word spread of the quality of my work. It was all word-of-mouth”
Mohammadi was the tailor to two Afghan presidents (Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani), vice presidents, government ministers, and thousands of regular customers. At his peak, he owned a large restaurant next door to his two-story tailor shop in Kabul, and had 16 tailors producing custom-made clothing in a large workshop. But after growing his business from the ground up in Afghanistan’s capital city, he was forced to flee on a U.S. transport in 2021 when American forces withdrew and the Taliban retook control.
“I am still crying about my country,” Mohammadi said. “Not for my business, not for my money, just for my people, just for my country.”
Times are stressful and daunting, Mohammadi says, but he’s been down this road before.
The 43-year-old was born in an Afghan refugee camp in Iran during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. His parents were killed in a car crash when he was young and he was raised by one of his sisters. He started working in a tailor shop at the age of 14, and at 20 got his high school degree in tailoring and moved to Turkey, where he was an illegal immigrant working as a tailor. He was arrested for not having proper identification and sent back to Iran, and then lived in Dubai for a couple years before being offered a chance to go to his home country.
He was in his early 20s before he ever stepped foot in Afghanistan. In 2006, with $2,000, Mohammadi rented a small studio in Kabul, bought equipment and set up his tailor shop.
“For the first three years the shop was my home,” Mohammadi said. “I slept on my table. I would work at my table all day and then at night I would sleep on it.”
His custom-made suits and shirts always said, “Made in Afghanistan,” on them — a stamp of excellence he wanted customers to appreciate.
“I had customers from all over the world,” Mohammadi said. “And my branding always said, ‘Made in Afghanistan,’ because it showed that the quality of my work represented the country. I was proud to say it.”
In August 2021, Mohammadi and his family flew on a U.S. transport to Qatar, then with other refugees to a military base in New Jersey, where they lived under a tent for seven months. Then the family was sent to Georgia and lived in a hotel for two months, and they ended up moving into a home in Annandale in Fairfax County in 2022 because, Mohammadi said, people working in the National Capital Region were more likely to wear suits and need his services.
“I was always told that if I open my business in the U.S. that I should do it around New York or Washington, D.C.,” Mohammadi said.
While working as a tailor for Nordstrom and as a Lyft driver, Mohammadi spent six months applying for bank loans. He was able to secure a $20,000 loan and then opened Barg Garments at 108 N. Alfred Street in January. He bought second-hand equipment and is now working upward of 10 hours a day at his shop, and moonlights as a Lyft driver to pay mounting bills. His hope is that what made him a success in Afghanistan will work here in the U.S. — a strong work ethic, with a quality product and a deeply discounted rate for custom tailoring and repair services.
Mohammadi is charging half of what he would normally charge — $2,000 for a men’s custom-fitted suit, $1,400 for a woman’s suit. He also makes sports coats, shirts and other garments. He will also take measurements, send them to a partner in Turkey, who makes the suits, which are then shipped back and tailored to fit for $1,200 two-piece suits for men and $1,000 suits for women.
“I need support from people who need suit and dress alterations,” Mohammadi said. “All tailoring work. I will do my best job for my clients, and they can help me hold on to this business.”
