Hong Kong has a particular energy, especially around Central, that seems to come from a combination of old, narrow streets and modern, ever-changing high-rise. It’s a merchant town, on the corner of the sea, and trading towns reward bustle.
This could seem a cliché – the view of a foreigner looking for a predefined narrative – but I’ve been coming here for over 20 years and reality bears it out.
I get that feeling particularly around the mid-levels, where steep hills and narrow buildings mean all activities seem to spill into each other. In the morning, it’s bankers and market sellers; in the evening bar after bar, both the hyper-luxe and the backpacker hangout.
If I wanted to, I think I could find a parallel here with tailoring.
Screw it, let’s find that parallel. Hong Kong also seems to have a unique collection of energetic, ever-evolving tailors. There are lots of them, like quite a few Asian cities, but those in Hong Kong seem better at modernising, taking on western influences and then exporting around the world. The Anthology is of course, an example, as is The Armoury itself and WW Chan .
The city has well over 100 tailors, but also around 30 doing proper, handmade bespoke. This was the estimate of Felix from Brown’s, a tailor we met for the first time during a recent visit, and others came up with similar numbers.
One thing that then separates those 30-odd tailors is their taste level – even taking everything subjective out of that, the extent to which their cuts and designs appeal to the men around the world that commission bespoke, and separate them from others.
We were in Hong Kong this time for a tailoring exhibition, organised by Mark Cho, WW Chan and Ascot Chang, which was meant to culminate in a ‘suit walk’ through the city.
Unfortunately most of the programme was cancelled due to a tragic fire a few days earlier, but the exhibition went ahead on a smaller scale, and we got to see several new tailoring brands alongside some old favourites – such as WW Chan and The Anthology.
The new ones included Brown’s, mentioned earlier, Antiqlockwise (founded by Jan Tong) and A Wong & Co (founded by Arnold Wong. Both shown, respectively, above). But there were more than a dozen others, all of which can be seen on the Sartorial Asia account.
I can’t speak to the quality or taste level outside the two or three I know, but I’m sure readers will be able to fill in some gaps. It was also nice to see pieces made in Piacenza cloth, a mill we don’t see much in London.
My pressing business was with WW Chan, with whom I had a fitting waiting on a double-breasted suit from Bryceland’s.
Like the Anthology review a couple of weeks ago, this commission had been prompted by questions from readers about the double-breasted style at Bryceland’s, following a positive review of their single-breasted jacket a year or so ago.
Those questions will be answered when I cover the finished suit, but the visit in Hong Kong was a nice way to spend more time with Patrick and the team at WW Chan.
In the cheek-by-jowel world of Hong Kong, it’s perfectly normal for shops to be on upper floors, reached by rather plain-looking elevators. Bryceland’s is like that, despite how gorgeous it is inside, and WW Chan is also on an upper floor, with a nice view from the eighth storey.
WW Chan is not a huge operation. There are 12 tailors in total, of whom two are stationed in the back of the shop for urgent matters, and 10 in the bigger workshop on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong.
“We can still make a bespoke suit quickly if someone needs it,” says Patrick (above). “There is still that kind of expectation in Hong Kong. Though for us that means six weeks.” Hong Kong was always famous for making suits for visitors in 24 hours, but needless to say, these are machine made and fused.
Interestingly, Covid was good for WW Chan, as quite a few local people started using them when they couldn’t travel to their usual tailors. “There is always a little scepticism,” Patrick continues, “but that goes as soon as they try us. The key is getting them to try it once.”
Hong Kong has of course gone through convulsions aside from Covid in recent years, and I expected this to have dampened business, but apparently not. “The financial sector here is still strong, partly as a result of China being so affected by Covid,” Patrick says. And of course the banking sector – those financial merchants and traders – has always been central to Hong Kong’s growth.
At the back of the WW Chan shop there were a lot of fittings hanging up, and this was a nice excuse to ‘walk the racks’. Always interesting what other people are having made.
There was a lot of grey and navy as you’d expect, but also a black Spring Ram suit that looked fantastic, and a nice jacket in coffee-brown Zegna silk. I’ve had my eye on something like that ever since writing about silk last year, and it was nice to see it made up (code 54325).
It was also useful to see the range of what WW Chan can do as a tailor. I was having the Bryceland’s cut, of course, and their involvement in the style is a large part of the attraction for me. But Chan can also do a variety of styles, including a French-style fish-mouth lapel.
It’s this adaptability that is perhaps the positive and negative of Hong Kong tailoring, in my experience.
On the one hand, it’s probably what’s led to so many modernising and being successful abroad in the past 20 years (there were none when I first started coming). But on the other, adapting too much to individual customers easily erodes the identity that helps a customer choose you over another tailor. It’s a delicate balance to strike.
On the last day of our visit to Hong Kong, we took a taxi up to the Peak – the hill that looks down on the city and its harbour. Surprisingly, in all the years I’d been coming it’s the one tourist thing I’d never done.
That view reinforces the impression of a dynamic, bustling city, as you watch ships move every which way across the harbour, and skyscrapers sprout from every inch of the island. Taking the cable car back down does it again, as you descend vertiginously through concrete blocks and dangling foliage.
Hong Kong is a place I love, and hope to return to in happier circumstances soon. It’s also a place that has given the world an outsized amount in terms of tailoring and menswear, for which many of us are grateful.
The suit I’m wearing is from Assisi, covered here. The shirt pictured is by Luca Avitabile, a fine oxford weave from Thomas Mason – the Cambridge quality, code FM33854. The Bryceland’s suit is in a vintage cloth sourced at Cilento (and currently available in the PS Showroom).
While I was in Hong Kong I did a nice little interview with Mark Cho of The Armoury, which can be seen here.
Bryceland’s suits are available to order any time through the team in the London store. A double-breasted MTM starts at £2000.
