Story By Mike May | Photos By Frank Koester
For more than 30 years, residents of the Wellington area have been utilizing the services of Nutinfits to get their clothes repaired or altered. Fixing rips and tears in clothing is more than just a matter of threading the needle. It’s an art that has been refined over many years. And expert tailoring services are rare nowadays.
Based in the original Wellington Mall, Nutinfits has been owned and operated since its inception by the husband-and-wife team of Cesar and Lolita Laham, both of whom were born in Egypt. They have been married since 1967. Cesar, now 81, and Lolita, 78, are as involved in running the business now as they were when they first opened their doors in 1994.
Cesar and Lolita are proud of the role they play in Wellington’s business community.
“We provide great value to our customers,” Cesar said. “If we promise something, we make it happen. This is an art — and Lolita is a genius as a seamstress.”
Because of Wellington’s diverse international population during the winter season, both Cesar and Lolita are perfectly prepared to deal directly with any potential customer in their native language.
Cesar speaks nine languages: English, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish, Italian, Greek and Lebanese. Lolita speaks five languages: English, Portuguese, French, Spanish and Arabic.
At home, Cesar and Lolita speak French. They communicate with their daughters in Portuguese. The use English to talk with their grandchildren.
“As a business, we specialize in equestrian jackets and pants,” Cesar said. “We’re also good at repairing evening gowns worn by women and formal jackets worn by men. We also specialize in clothes worn in beauty pageants, proms, weddings and balls in Palm Beach.”
Just as some auto mechanics can solve a car issue within 24 hours, Lolita has the ability to quickly and efficiently troubleshoot emergency issues with clothes.
“Many times, we’ve had brides show up on a Thursday in tears because of an issue with their wedding dress,” Cesar said. “Lolita will repair the dress and have it ready for pick-up the next day, well before the wedding on Saturday.”
According to Cesar, Lolita’s skill set as a seamstress continues to amaze him.
“We have customers who live outside the state who will send us a picture of themselves wearing a jacket or a shirt,” Cesar said. “After receiving the article of clothing in the mail, Lolita can look at the picture and see where the garment needs to be adjusted or hemmed. She gets it right every time! We ship the item back to the customer. She is amazing.”
Cesar and Lolita are the perfect pair to run this unique business.
Prior to starting Nutinfits, Cesar owned and operated a successful export business. At first, it was based in Brazil, and then later in Miami, while Lolita operated a custom-made leather goods company. “I’m a business creator,” Cesar explained.
His track record proves that he knows how to start and run a business, while Lolita knows how to hire employees with the right kind of skill level, as the expertise of her staff is what keeps customers returning year after year.
The decision to start their business in Wellington was Cesar’s.
“I felt that Wellington was the future, starting in the late 1980s,” he recalled.
He was correct then, and his prognostication remains accurate to this day.
On any given day, when you visit Nutinfits, Cesar is always sitting at the front desk, where he interacts with customers, takes the orders, completes the invoice, returns the repaired clothing and collects the money.
“If the business is open, I need to be here,” Cesar said. “I bring my lunch.”
Lolita is truly a multi-tasker, as she has helped run the business while raising two daughters. Over the years, Lolita has also been able to spend a considerable amount of time with her eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Lolita mastered the task of running the business while keeping an eye on her grandchildren at the same time. “I raised my grandchildren inside the store,” she noted.
The operating hours for Nutinfits are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., though Cesar and Lolita have been known to open on a weekend day if a customer has forgotten to pick up an item during regular business hours.
According to Cesar, the keys to the success of Nutinfits remain the same: provide top-notch customer service while being productive.
“Right now, we have 700 to 800 customers, and we still have our very first customer,” Cesar said. “We finish about 40 to 50 articles of clothing every day.”
Another key to success is access to the right color of thread for every possible job.
“We have more than 300 colors of thread, though the most popular colors are various versions of black and white,” Cesar said. “We have at least eight colors of white.”
While Cesar and Lolita Laham are well past the retirement age for most people, they both enjoy the chance to provide a unique customer service to residents of Wellington and the surrounding western communities.
“I have no plans to retire,” Cesar said, adding that Lolita feels the same.
Cesar, Lolita and their employees are looking forward to continuing to provide top-notch service at a fair price for their many clients, as they have been doing since Nutinfits first opened in 1994.
Nutinfits is located at 12794 W. Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 5, in the original Wellington Mall. To contact them, call (561) 795-3278.
