Beyond Blazers: The Story of the Legendary Harstein's Clothiers

The first is Boro Park tailor to begin selling chassidishe clothing, and the last of the full-service clothing stores in Boro Park, still featuring a large cutting table for fabric, and vintage sewing machines—Harstein’s is an institution, a modest outpost that has clothed Rebbes, Roshei Yeshiva, Lubavitcher chassidim, and so many others from throughout the Tri-State area who appreciated the history, and the unique service and quality of this place. 

The story of this legendary establishment begins in the hamlet of Zenta, in the southern part of Hungary, where Reb Dov Hakohen Hartstein had his clothing shop. He sadly passed away from complications of pneumonia at a very young age, and his older children took over the shop. Young Mordechai was exposed to the trade from a young age… but then came the Holocaust which wiped out his entire family. 

He miraculously survived the war, alone. But he had his holy Rebbe, the Beirach Moshe, later the Satmar Rebbe, who was the Rov in Zenta before the war. R’ Mordechai clung to him, throughout the years that he davened in the Sigheter Shul in Boro Park, and didn’t make a move without consulting his Rebbe. 

He founded his clothing shop on 16th Avenue in Boro Park, sometime in the 1950’s… and ther rest is history. He married his wife, tbl”ch, Mrs. Shula Harstein (née Rosenfeld)—his partner in the business for all of their years together—in 1967, in Eretz Yisroel, and they returned to Boro Park soon after their wedding. 

“In addition to his love  for the fine clothing industry, he loved people, and he wanted to pair them with the finest, most durable clothing that really fit them,” relates Mrs. Hartstein as we sit among the silk kapotes at the store on New Utrecht Avenue. “This has been our philosophy from the first moment; an emphasis on the finest fabrics, resulting in clothing that lasts the customer for years, not months. The finest wool from Savile Row in London, the finest silks from Italy and France for Bekeshes…”

 Hartstein’s has never cut corners, to use a fitting metaphor. 

The Lubavitcher chassidim are makpid to purchase a 100% silk kapote, or “sirtuk,” at least for the chosson getting married. This is because silk is a completely natural fabric… and holds symbolic value as the chosson builds a new home. Over the years, the Lubavitcher chassidim have found Hartsteins, and they flock all the way from Crown Heights. 

As we converse, a Lubavitcher chossid walks in, in search of a kapote. After trying on one or two, Mrs. Hartstein—who has been running the business since the passing of her husband a few years ago—explained; “I don’t have his perfect fit. I could pull it an inch here or there, but I won’t sell such a thing. Corona has completely disrupted the supply, and President Biden’s policy of ‘paying people not to work’ has not helped… If I don’t have it, I won't push an inferior product onto a customer.” 

Many people have had bekeshes or kapotes for more than a decade. “One father walked in and related that he wore his kapote from his wedding, until the bar mitzvah of his son fourteen years later!” 

With her sixty years at the helm of a legendary business, we ask Mrs. Hartstein for business advice: “You need willpower. A business will always have ups and downs.. but the difference between success and failure is the will to succeed—and lots of Siyatta diShmaya of course. You need to love serving your customers, and you need to love what you do.’ 

And so it is that on this outer edge of Boro Park, the legacy of an institution that has never compromised, and never joined the Chinese bandwagon, continues to sell finest quality clothing has they have been doing for more than sixty years.