The weeks leading up to Memorial Day, much like Independence Day and Flag Day, are busier than most for Detroit tailor Clark Anter.
At those special times of year, Anter is inundated with worn and tattered U.S. flags from around the country that he repairs as best as possible with a 100-year-old sewing machine. He then sends them back to their owners — all for free. In a year's time, he can work on more than 100 flags.
For Anter, 55, a third-generation tailor and the owner of downtown’s Lott Anter Tailoring and Cleaning, 151 W. Congress St., repairing American flags as a courtesy is about giving back and honoring his family and country.
"It's really a tribute to my dad and grandfather more than anything," Anter said. "It's a tradition. There are very few traditions now that people make an effort to keep, you know? It's a very cool thing."
His grandfather, a Syrian-born tailor who immigrated to the United States, opened a Port Huron tailoring business in 1919. He began a family tradition of repairing American flags for free to show appreciation for the opportunities his new home gave him, a practice Anter carries forward.
Family Touchstones
Anter, who began sewing at age 6, calls himself an "old-school" tailor. He works on the vintage machine his grandfather worked with and uses the same cash register he did.
"It doesn't even go up to 100 bucks," he said. "And I don't take credit cards. I do text, though . . . But, I'm not a corporate guy. I sit in the back room and sew."
Anter said he gets "buried" this time of year because of all the worn flags he receives leading up to Memorial Day, Flag Day and Independence Day.
"So, I'll take a day each week," he said. "I'll come in on a Sunday and do whatever flags I have to do and get them back to the customer when I said I would."
Clark Anter is the grandson of a Syrian tailor who opened a Port Huron shop in 1919. [Photo by Doug Anter]
In addition to fixing flags for local residents and businesses, he also repairs ones from throughout the country.
The Internet and exposure on local and national news (he once had an interview on Fox News' morning show, "Fox and Friends") have given Anter lots of publicity -- not that he has seen much of a profit bump.
"People don't bring their flags in to get fixed and say, 'Hey, can I get these pants shortened, too," Anter said.
Before beginning work on each flag, Anter tells customers he's not in the business of flag restoration, but rather flag repair, giving them "another year, year and a half, hopefully" to fly.
Cross-Section of Customers
"We're matter-of-fact about stuff here," he said. "If there's something I can't do, I'll be straight-up about it. I'll say I can't do it . . . And if I can't do it, no one can. I've been sewing for a lot of years, and I give all the credit to my father and grandfather, but if I can't do it right, I won't do it."
When not repairing flags, he's busy tailoring items like suits for downtown workers. Customers come from varied rungs of the economic ladder, but all expect the same thing, he said.
"I'm the only game in town," he said. "Everybody's the same here. I get a lot of fat-cat people, federal judges, all that, but everybody who comes here just needs their clothes, or their flag, fixed. It doesn't matter where they come from, and that's cool."
He keeps many of the flags that he cannot repair for scraps.
"Sometimes, I'll have to replace the whole panel (on a flag)," Anter said. "And when they age, they all fade different. So, I've got whole bags of flags."
Though repairing flags can sometimes be difficult and costs him precious time and money, a sense of patriotic duty motivates him.
"I never feel taken advantage of,” he said. “It’s a cool way of honoring my father and grandfather and the country. It's worth it. It really is.”
