Sew stylish: Her men's shirts

It's the end of a day at her clothing design studio, and Sarah Van Aken still has work to tend to. Van Aken, the CEO of S.V.A. Holdings, is moving slabs of Sheetrock and pointing out changes she's making to her storefront (formerly known as Echochic) at 17th and Sansom where she'll open her first retail shop in August.

"There'll be lattice work on that wall, we'll lose the drop ceiling and create another design space so people can get fitted while shopping for our merchandise," says Van Aken, 36, tugging at her shawl. SaVa - the first of what she hopes will be several Aken-created fair-trade retail shops - will carry her same-name women's line. Of that, she's delighted. But Van Aken has made her name and fame diligently designing and crafting made-to-order men's shirts.

"That's in my blood," she said.

Since 2005, Van Aken Custom has fitted, designed, and crafted hand-stitched shirts for men who crave definition (literally and figuratively), quality and panache. Unlike shirtmakers who calculate only cuff, neck and sleeve length, she takes 15 measurements: chest, neck, waist, hips, forearm, upper arm and the distance between shoulders. Weight, height and arm length are factored in as well.

While her women's line is produced in Bangladesh (her store will feature mostly off-the-rack), Van Aken's bespoke hand-stitchers are in Tennessee. Eventually, she wants to reduce her carbon footprint and have all of her sewers, for her men's and women's wear, at a hand-sewing operation in Philadelphia's Chinatown.

Shirts range in price from $160 to $290, depending on the origin and quality of the fabric, as well as the thread count a customer chooses. For the most part, she charges less than big-name men's shirt designers. An Ermenegildo Zegna dress shirt can run $265 to $325 at Saks.

Van Aken's claim of high quality is backed by the dozens of men who count on her as their bespoke shirtmaker.

In fact, she's renowned for her good taste among guys whose business is about taste. Employees at top-notch eateries such as Izakaya at the Borgata, Supper on South Street and Forge in Manhattan wear her uniforms.

"She's amazing," says chocolatier and Van Aken customer Bruce Goldberg. "Her look is her own even when it's on my body."

Van Aken's first job at 15 was working in the men's department at a Harrisburg Sears where her mom, Elaine Van Aken, started a career in fashion as a men's clothing tailor. (Elaine Van Aken went on to become an executive at Sears and Kohl's and is now a vice president at Macy's.)

But even before that, Van Aken was surrounded by fabric.

"I grew up under a quilt frame," said Van Aken. One grandmother made blankets and another owned a farm in Berks County where the family crafted its own curtains and clothes. "We made everything."

So about six years ago, while managing several local Marathon Grill restaurants, Van Aken decided that she wanted to make a living making clothes.

"I always wanted to have a women's line, but I knew no one in their right mind would give me half a million dollars," she says.

At the very same time, she began dating an investment banker in New York. "He was buying these cheaply priced - and made - custom shirts from these Hong Kong tailors that he'd fly in and meet at hotel rooms. It was always something so sketchy."

With sewing and retailing in her DNA, her interest was piqued. Van Aken decided to have a shirt made for herself.

"It was kind of a weird and uncomfortable thing," she says of the shirt and the experience. "And it was poorly made."

So, in 2004, Van Aken Custom was born. While her styling and sewing skill are the foundation for the company's aesthetic, her sociability is at the heart of its marketing.

"I sell my shirts," Van Aken said. "I can send out a mailer about my company and get a 3 percent return on it, but if I go to a Chamber of Commerce meeting, or a lawyers gathering and say, 'I make custom shirts,' it works."

But the real sell is the fit.

For Van Aken, anything less than a custom-made shirt is ridiculous.

"Particularly if you're going to spend $100-plus on a button-down shirt, why would you buy a doubly expensive shirt off the rack that inevitably doesn't fit right?" she said. "They make [those shirts] to fit everyone."

Goldberg, owner of Teuscher Confiserie, agrees.

"I couldn't see paying $250 to $350 at Ventresca for an off-the-rack Brioni or Zegna when they didn't fit as well as a shirt Sarah hand-fitted," says Goldberg.

A Van Aken customer since Teuscher's opening in 2007, Goldberg attests that her shirts are as fine as his champagne truffles.

Not only did he recently get her to make him a pale pink tuxedo shirt for the wedding of his son, Goldberg also wears her wares to work.

"I'm wearing one now," said Goldberg, laughing. "I just brought 18 of them back from the cleaners today. They're hanging in the back."

Goldberg recommends Van Aken's shirts to male friends and clients. And on days when he gets a delivery from Van Aken, his son rifles through her finely wrapped boxes.

"That's why I gift-wrap them - they're more like a surprise than something you ordered," says Van Aken.