<\/p>\n
Martin Hernandez III is photographed at Martin Tailors, his family\u2019s longtime tailor shop, in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Justo Guerrero, 51, works at Martin Tailors in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. Guerrero has worked at the family-owned tailor shop for 20 years.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
A pin is tucked into Justo Guerrero\u2019s jacket during a fitting at Martin Tailors in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. Guerrero, 51, has worked at the shop for 20 years.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Martin Hernandez III points to a photograph of his grandfather, Martin Hernandez Sr., during his military service at Martin Tailors in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Military memorabilia honoring the Hernandez family\u2019s history of service is displayed at Martin Tailors in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Mar\u00eda del Socorro Hernandez points to a photograph of the first location of Martin Tailors at the family\u2019s longtime tailor shop in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Photographs, awards and memorabilia collected over decades cover the walls of Martin Tailors in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Photographs, awards and memorabilia collected over decades cover the walls of Martin Tailors in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Martin Hernandez III works at Martin Tailors, his family\u2019s longtime tailor shop, in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. The business, founded by his grandfather Martin Hernandez Sr., has been passed down through three generations of the Hernandez family.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Martin Hernandez III works at Martin Tailors, his family\u2019s longtime tailor shop, in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. The business, founded by his grandfather Martin Hernandez Sr., has been passed down through three generations of the Hernandez family.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Mar\u00eda del Socorro Hernandez sews at Martin Tailors, her family\u2019s longtime tailor shop, in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
On any given day at Martin Tailors,<\/a> Houston shows up in pieces throughout the shop.<\/p>\n Rice University jerseys<\/a> wait to be worked on near shelves stacked with buttons. Photographs, newspaper clippings, military memorabilia <\/a>cover the walls. Longtime customers walk through the same doors their families <\/a>have used for generations.<\/p>\n And behind the sewing machines, members of the\u00a0Hernandez family are always working, as they have since 1972.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Martin Hernandez III works at Martin Tailors, his family\u2019s longtime tailor shop, in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. The business, founded by his grandfather Martin Hernandez Sr., has been passed down through three generations of the Hernandez family.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n Martin\u00a0Hernandez III grew up here, first as a child getting into his grandfather\u2019s thread and scissors, then as a young man learning the trade that has passed through his family.<\/p>\n \u201cI was probably five or six years old and going to Memorial Elementary,\u201d he said. \u201cAs soon as I got out of school, I would go straight to the tailor shop.\u201d<\/p>\n Now 45, he carries not only the family business but also his grandfather\u2019s name.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt means I have big shoes to fill,\u201d \u00a0Martin III said. \u201cSometimes it feels like I haven\u2019t quite filled those shoes. There\u2019s pressure, but it\u2019s a good pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n An old chair in the shop keeps him especially close to his grandfather. Martin Sr. made its cushion himself and hid inside it a tool he used whenever something needed fixing \u2014 plumbing, a car or a problem around the shop. He called it \u201cthe key of life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI remember sitting there doing homework. I remember cutting fabrics there, eating my food there and having talks with him. Sometimes because I was in trouble and sometimes just general talks where he\u2019d give me his wisdom,\u201d he said. \u201cEverything happened around that chair.\u201d<\/p>\n His grandfather, Martin Hernandez Sr., built the business with his wife,\u00a0Mar\u00eda. Orphaned as a child,\u00a0Martin Sr. spent part of his youth in Harlingen before returning to Mexico. He worked with cattle and lived as a vaquero before learning to tailor.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Clockwise, from left; Martin Hernandez custom fits a suit for a customer at Martin Tailors in Houston, Martin Hernandez III leans over his grandfather’s chair at Martin Tailors, his family\u2019s longtime tailor shop, in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026., Family photographs are displayed on a table at Martin Tailors in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio \/ Houston Chronicle, Photos courtesy of Hernandez family.<\/p>\n Clockwise, from left; Martin Hernandez custom fits a suit for a customer at Martin Tailors in Houston, Martin Hernandez III leans over his grandfather’s chair at Martin Tailors, his family\u2019s longtime tailor shop, in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026., Family photographs are displayed on a table at Martin Tailors in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio \/ Houston Chronicle, Photos courtesy of Hernandez family.<\/p>\n He met his wife,\u00a0Mar\u00eda del Socorro Hernandez, as teenagers studying in Guadalajara, Jalisco. He was 19. She was 17.<\/p>\n They knew each other for three years before marrying. Before the wedding, he gave her a choice.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going back to my country,\u201d she remembers him telling her. \u201cWe\u2019re going to live in the United States. If we have a family, I want them to be educated there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou decide,\u201d he told her.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I decided,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Blanca Hilda Hernandez holds a Polaroid showing the first Martin Tailors shop in Houston and the Mexican passport of Martin Tailors founder Martin Hernandez Sr. on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n They eventually built a life in Houston around family, faith and a tailor shop that would grow alongside the city. Martin\u00a0Sr. spoke English. Mar\u00eda did not. And money was tight. \u201cWe worked a lot,\u201d Mar\u00eda said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy. But everything can be done when you have the will to say, \u2018I can.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The shop became an extension of their home. Martin\u00a0Jr. played in a baby walker between the racks while his father worked. After school, he and his siblings returned to the shop. In time, nieces, nephews and grandchildren would grow up there, too; some working at the shop while attending college.<\/p>\n Today, four generations of the\u00a0Hernandez family work at Martin Tailors. Blanca Hilda Hernandez, Martin III\u2019s mother and the widow of the late Martin Jr., remembers her father-in-law encouraging younger family members to use the shop as a place to begin.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Blanca Hilda Hernandez, mother of Martin Hernandez III, works at Martin Tailors, her family\u2019s longtime tailor shop, in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n \u201cUse the shop as a stepping stone to go to college, and then spread your wings,\u201d she remembers him telling them.<\/p>\n She also remembers the effort it took to build it.<\/p>\n \u201cThey worked until three or four in the morning almost every day while they were building this place,\u201d Hilda said. \u201cThat\u2019s what legacy means to me.\u201d<\/p>\n The legacy Hilda described covered a table: Martin Sr.’s Mexican passport and\u00a0a letter he wrote to his son while his son was serving in the Marines. In it, he\u00a0described a duplex he hoped to buy after years of leasing space for the business and drew a blueprint. That duplex, at 4712 Feagan St. in\u00a0Houston, is now the home of Martin Tailors.<\/p>\n A letter written by Martin Hernandez Sr. to his son while he was serving in the Marines in the 1980s includes a hand-drawn blueprint of the duplex Hernandez planned to purchase as a permanent home for Martin Tailors. The building remains home to the family\u2019s tailor shop in Houston, photographed Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n Some of the family\u2019s history has also become part of Houston\u2019s.<\/p>\n Before the Houston police officers who would become known as the Chicano Squad became detectives, some were already customers, Martin III said.<\/p>\n Houston Police Dept Chicano Squad in 1986 photo. Front row L-R: Inv. P. J. Guerrero, Richard “Rico” Garcia, and the late Irma Sauceda, Middle row L-R: Inv. Jose Selvera Jr., Officer Jaime Escalante, Sgt. Cecil Mosqueda, Raymond Gonzales, Back row L-R: Sgt. Tody Hernandez, Robert Gatewood, Inv. U. P. Hernandez. Houston Post photo dated Oct. 1, 1986.<\/p>\n Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n The squad was formed in 1979, when\u00a0HPD pulled a group of Mexican American officers from patrol duty and tasked them with investigating unsolved homicides in Houston\u2019s Latino communities, where language barriers and deep distrust of police had left many cases unresolved. The bilingual officers went on to become a groundbreaking homicide unit within the department.<\/p>\n When the officers moved into the unit and needed suits, they turned to his grandfather.<\/p>\n A VIP pass from the premiere of \u201cThe Chicano Squad\u201d hangs among memorabilia at Martin Tailors in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. The Hernandez family tailored suits for members of the Houston Police Department unit that became known as the Chicano Squad.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n \u201cMy grandfather said, \u2018Bring in your sport coats. Bring in your blazers, and I\u2019ll show you how to dress. I\u2019ll show you how to put yourself together,\u2019\u201d \u00a0Martin III\u00a0said.<\/p>\n Decades later, some still return.<\/p>\n Around 2014, Martin III said, the team called looking for help with uniform repairs. Gloves needed\u00a0restitching. Baseball pants needed patches. Some players, superstitious about their uniforms, preferred repairing the same pair rather than replacing them.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019d call and ask, \u2018Can you tailor the jerseys? Can you stitch the numbers on? Can you take the jerseys in? Can you make them shorter?\u2019\u201d he said. Sports clients now include the Rockets and the University of Houston.<\/p>\n Juan Jose \u201cJohnny\u201d Hernandez, son of Martin Tailors founder Martin Hernandez Sr., works at the family\u2019s longtime tailor shop in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n But when Martin III thinks about those calls, he doesn\u2019t think about the teams first.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first person I think about is my grandfather,\u201d he said. \u201cI think about how excited he would be if I could tell him, \u2018Hey, Grandpa, we got this account,\u2019 or, \u2018They called us today. They want us to do this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n For the\u00a0Hernandez family, the work has never been only about clothing.<\/p>\n Martin Hernandez III works at Martin Tailors, his family\u2019s longtime tailor shop, in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. The business, founded by his grandfather Martin Hernandez Sr., has been passed down through three generations of the Hernandez family.<\/p>\n John\u00a0Hernandez, Martin Sr.\u2019s son and a co-owner of the shop, describes himself as a \u201cprocess engineer,\u201d constantly looking for ways to improve not just an alteration, but the experience of the person walking through the door. Today, the shop handles alterations and repairs everything from everyday clothing and suits to wedding gowns, leatherwork and uniforms.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not a transaction,\u201d John said. \u201cIt\u2019s a relationship. And I\u2019m in it for the long haul.\u201d<\/p>\n Longtime customer Liz Butler, 70, is fitted for alterations by Juan Jose \u201cJohnny\u201d Hernandez at Martin Tailors in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n He now serves some of the same families his father served.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m seeing three generations of people come through here,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m there at their proms. I\u2019m there at their christenings. I\u2019m there at their weddings. I\u2019m there at the funerals.\u201d<\/p>\n That intimacy is also how Martin III understands the business.<\/p>\n A customer might arrive with a suit for a first job, clothing for a wedding or something to wear to a funeral. Sometimes, the conversation moves far beyond the garment.<\/p>\n Martin Hernandez IV tailors a jacket worn by Justo Guerrero at Martin Tailors in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. Guerrero, 51, has worked at the family-owned tailor shop for 20 years.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just altering their clothes,\u201d Martin III said. \u201cIt\u2019s like altering their life.\u201d<\/p>\n Over time, customers have watched the\u00a0Hernandez family change, too.<\/p>\n They saw Martin III grow up. Some remember his grandfather. Others have known the family long enough to notice when something is wrong before\u00a0Hernandez says a word.<\/p>\n Martin Hernandez III, left, and his grandmother Mar\u00eda del Socorro Hernandez work together at Martin Tailors, their family\u2019s longtime tailor shop, in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n \u201cThe community takes care of us, and we\u2019re going to take care of the community as best as we can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n John calls tailoring a \u201cdying art,\u201d not because people have stopped caring about how they look, but because the speed and disposability of modern clothing have changed people\u2019s relationship with craftsmanship.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can always sell quality,\u201d John remembers his father saying. \u201cAlways.\u201d<\/p>\n Photographs, awards and memorabilia collected over decades cover the walls of Martin Tailors in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n Martin III approaches the craft by first understanding the person standing in front of him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we first meet someone, we try to understand their character, who they are and what they like,\u201d he said. \u201cThen we try to make the clothes match not only their body, but who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n Mar\u00eda\u2019s memories reach back further. She remains a presence at Martin Tailors today, working alongside the generations that followed her and her husband.<\/p>\n Mar\u00eda del Socorro Hernandez sews at Martin Tailors, her family\u2019s longtime tailor shop, in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n Mar\u00eda del Socorro Hernandez sews at Martin Tailors, her family\u2019s longtime tailor shop, in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n She and Martin Sr. were married for 52 years. Together, they raised four children, ran the shop and later served a congregation for 28 years as pastors.<\/p>\n When her husband knew his heart was failing, she said he asked not to die in a hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to die at home seeing my children,\u201d she remembers him telling her.<\/p>\n She held his hand when he died.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I saw the joy with which he left, the smile he had, I raised my hands and said, \u2018Lord, thank you for the husband, the father, the companion and the great man he was,\u2019\u201d\u00a0Mar\u00eda said.<\/p>\n Family photographs are displayed on a table at Martin Tailors in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n Before he died, Martin Sr. asked her to stay with the shop and take care of their son, Martin\u00a0Jr.\u00a0Years later, when Martin\u00a0Jr. became sick, he made the same request.\u00a0\u201cMom, stay. Take care of my children,\u201d she remembers him saying.<\/p>\n Martin\u00a0Jr. has since died. But Mar\u00eda is still there.<\/p>\n Mar\u00eda del Socorro Hernandez, right, and her grandson Martin Hernandez III work together at Martin Tailors, their family\u2019s longtime tailor shop, in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n So are her children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n Martin III hopes someone in those generations will eventually decide the shop is theirs to carry.\u00a0He dreams of reaching 100 years, perhaps rebuilding on the property and leaving something for whoever steps forward next.<\/p>\n \u201cWhoever\u2019s next in the family, step up to the plate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mar\u00eda, now surrounded by the generations she watched grow up inside the shop, puts it more simply.<\/p>\n \u201cI can happily tell him now: \u2018Here I am. Here I am. Here I am, until God comes for me too.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Then she returned to the phrase that has carried her family through decades of work, loss and change.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n Mar\u00eda del Socorro Hernandez, wife of Martin Tailors founder Martin Hernandez Sr., is photographed at the family\u2019s longtime tailor shop in Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Martin Hernandez III is photographed at Martin Tailors, his family\u2019s longtime tailor shop, in Houston on Tuesday, Sept.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-441025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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