For men, 5 feet 8 and under

Ryan Carter

In Jimmy Au’s store in the Glendale Galleria, he still looks with

pride upon a 1970 Life magazine picture of eccentric jockey Eddie

Belmonte, clad in an outfit made out of drapery, which Au designed

and fitted for the athlete’s lithe frame.

“When I started in this business there was very little fashion for

men 5 foot 5 and under,” Au said.

But almost 30 years later, Au, 64, and his family have built a

clothing enterprise on the idea of developing short sizes and getting

manufacturers to make fashionable clothes that make short men look

less short.

He calls it Jimmy Au’s, For Men 5’8” and Under.

Inside Au’s store are short and extra-short suits from brands such

as DKNY, Jack Victor, Perry Ellis and Mani by Giorgio Armani. Sport

coats, tuxedoes, slacks and trousers, socks and accessories all are

designed for men 5 feet 8 and under.

Au never focused on making clothes. His skill came from knowing

how to fit people and tailoring clothes for their proportions.

In 1960, he began selling custom suits door to door. By 1964, the

5-feet-3 student from Hong Kong was pursuing jockeys at horse- racing

tracks to fit them.

“For 10 years, they were my biggest group of customers,” he said.

“I would get on the race tracks, meet the jockeys and trainers and do

business with them.”

Shortly after, he went into the business that became his store.

“At that time I also realized there’s no good short men’s clothing

store in the Los Angeles area,” Au said. “So I decided to start a

business for short men only. We went into an unknown area, where we

had to struggle with few suppliers.”

From a space at the Del Amo Fashion Center he ran with wife Nora

in the mid-1970s, Au established stores in Arcadia, Beverly Hills by

1992 and had developed an extra-short suit for men under 5 feet 5.

Au consolidated his business at the Glendale store in 1995.

Michael J. Fox, Joe Pesci, Jason Alexander, Danny Bonaduce and the

late Sen. Paul Wellstone -- among other famous people -- have bought

from the store.

Au’s 31-year-old son, Alan, who has teamed with his father to run

the business, said he’s continuing to work on bringing fashion into

the business and a greater awareness of the store. He even deleted

the word short from the name to deal with cultural stereotypes that

held up business.

“The most difficult part my father has already done,” Au said.