Hong Kong has a selected vitality, particularly round Central, that appears to return from a mixture of previous, slender streets and trendy, ever-changing high-rise. It is a service provider city, on the nook of the ocean, and buying and selling cities reward bustle. 

This might appear a cliché – the view of a foreigner in search of a predefined narrative – however I have been coming right here for over 20 years and actuality bears it out. 

I get that feeling notably across the mid-levels, the place steep hills and slender buildings imply all actions appear to spill into one another. Within the morning, it is bankers and market sellers; within the night bar after bar, each the hyper-luxe and the backpacker hangout. 

If I needed to, I believe I might discover a parallel right here with tailoring. 

Screw it, let’s discover that parallel. Hong Kong additionally appears to have a singular assortment of energetic, ever-evolving tailors. There are many them, like fairly a number of Asian cities, however these in Hong Kong appear higher at modernising, taking up western influences after which exporting world wide. The Anthology is in fact, an instance, as is The Armoury itself and WW Chan . 

The town has effectively over 100 tailors, but additionally round 30 doing correct, handmade bespoke. This was the estimate of Felix from Brown’s, a tailor we met for the primary time throughout a latest go to, and others got here up with related numbers. 

One factor that then separates these 30-odd tailors is their style degree – even taking every thing subjective out of that, the extent to which their cuts and designs attraction to the lads world wide that fee bespoke, and separate them from others. 

We have been 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 ‘go well with stroll’ by the town. 

Sadly a lot of the programme was cancelled because of a tragic hearth a number of days earlier, however the exhibition went forward on a smaller scale, and we received to see a number of new tailoring manufacturers alongside some previous favourites – comparable to WW Chan and The Anthology.

The brand new ones included Brown’s, talked about earlier, Antiqlockwise (based by Jan Tong) and A Wong & Co (based by Arnold Wong. Each proven, respectively, above). However there have been greater than a dozen others, all of which might be seen on the Sartorial Asia account. 

I can’t converse to the standard or style degree exterior the 2 or three I do know, however I’m positive readers will have the ability to fill in some gaps. It was additionally good to see items made in Piacenza material, a mill we don’t see a lot in London. 

My urgent enterprise was with WW Chan, with whom I had a becoming ready on a double-breasted go well with from Bryceland’s. 

Just like the Anthology review a few weeks in the past, this fee had been prompted by questions from readers concerning the double-breasted type at Bryceland’s, following a positive review of their single-breasted jacket a yr or so in the past. 

These questions will probably be answered after I cowl the completed go well with, however the go to in Hong Kong was a pleasant option to spend extra time with Patrick and the workforce at WW Chan. 

Within the cheek-by-jowel world of Hong Kong, it’s completely regular for outlets to be on higher flooring, reached by moderately plain-looking elevators. Bryceland’s is like that, regardless of how attractive it’s inside, and WW Chan can be on an higher flooring, with a pleasant view from the eighth storey. 

WW Chan is just not an enormous operation. There are 12 tailors in whole, of whom two are stationed at the back of the store for pressing issues, and 10 within the larger workshop on the Kowloon aspect of Hong Kong. 

“We are able to nonetheless make a bespoke go well with rapidly if somebody wants it,” says Patrick (above). “There may be nonetheless that form of expectation in Hong Kong. Although for us meaning six weeks.” Hong Kong was all the time well-known for making fits for guests in 24 hours, however for sure, these are machine made and fused. 

Curiously, Covid was good for WW Chan, as fairly a number of native individuals began utilizing them once they couldn’t journey to their standard tailors. “There may be all the time a bit of scepticism,” Patrick continues, “however that goes as quickly as they fight us. The hot button is getting them to attempt it as soon as.”

Hong Kong has in fact gone by convulsions other than Covid lately, and I anticipated this to have dampened enterprise, however apparently not. “The monetary sector right here remains to be robust, partly on account of China being so affected by Covid,” Patrick says. And naturally the banking sector – these monetary retailers and merchants – has all the time been central to Hong Kong’s progress. 

Behind the WW Chan store there have been numerous fittings hanging up, and this was a pleasant excuse to ‘stroll the racks’. At all times attention-grabbing what different persons are having made. 

There was numerous gray and navy as you’d count on, but additionally a black Spring Ram go well with that regarded improbable, and a pleasant jacket in coffee-brown Zegna silk. I’ve had my eye on one thing like that ever since writing about silk final yr, and it was good to see it made up (code 54325).

It was additionally helpful to see the vary of what WW Chan can do as a tailor. I used to be having the Bryceland’s minimize, in fact, and their involvement within the type is a big a part of the attraction for me. However Chan also can do quite a lot of types, together with a French-style fish-mouth lapel. 

It’s this adaptability that’s maybe the optimistic and damaging of Hong Kong tailoring, in my expertise. 

On the one hand, it’s most likely what’s led to so many modernising and being profitable overseas previously 20 years (there have been none after I first began coming). However on the opposite, adapting an excessive amount of to particular person prospects simply erodes the identification that helps a buyer select you over one other tailor. It’s a fragile stability to strike. 

On the final day of our go to to Hong Kong, we took a taxi as much as the Peak – the hill that appears down on the town and its harbour. Surprisingly, in all of the years I’d been coming it’s the one vacationer factor I’d by no means performed. 

That view reinforces the impression of a dynamic, bustling metropolis, as you watch ships transfer each which means throughout the harbour, and skyscrapers sprout from each inch of the island. Taking the cable automotive again down does it once more, as you descend vertiginously by concrete blocks and dangling foliage. 

Hong Kong is a spot I like, and hope to return to in happier circumstances quickly. It’s additionally a spot that has given the world an outsized quantity by way of tailoring and menswear, for which many people are grateful. 

The go well with I’m carrying is from Assisi, coated here. The shirt pictured is by Luca Avitabile, a effective oxford weave from Thomas Mason – the Cambridge high quality, code FM33854. The Bryceland’s go well with is in a classic material sourced at Cilento (and at the moment out there within the PS Showroom).

Whereas I used to be in Hong Kong I did a pleasant little interview with Mark Cho of The Armoury, which might be seen here. 

Bryceland’s fits can be found to order any time by the workforce within the London retailer. A double-breasted MTM begins at £2000.