Hong Kong has a selected vitality, particularly round Central, that appears to return from a mix of previous, slender streets and fashionable, 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 wished to, I feel I may 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 couple of Asian cities, however these in Hong Kong appear higher at modernising, taking over western influences after which exporting world wide. The Anthology is in fact, an instance, as is The Armoury itself and WW Chan . 

Town has properly over 100 tailors, but in addition 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 stage – even taking the whole lot subjective out of that, the extent to which their cuts and designs enchantment to the boys 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 ‘swimsuit stroll’ by town. 

Sadly many of the programme was cancelled as a consequence of a tragic hearth a couple 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 – resembling 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 will be seen on the Sartorial Asia account. 

I can’t communicate to the standard or style stage outdoors the 2 or three I do know, however I’m positive readers will be capable of fill in some gaps. It was additionally good to see items made in Piacenza fabric, 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 swimsuit from Bryceland’s. 

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

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

Within the cheek-by-jowel world of Hong Kong, it’s completely regular for retailers to be on higher flooring, reached by relatively 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 will not be an enormous operation. There are 12 tailors in whole, of whom two are stationed behind the store for pressing issues, and 10 within the larger workshop on the Kowloon facet of Hong Kong. 

“We are able to nonetheless make a bespoke swimsuit rapidly if somebody wants it,” says Patrick (above). “There’s nonetheless that sort of expectation in Hong Kong. Although for us meaning six weeks.” Hong Kong was at all times 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 couple of native individuals began utilizing them once they couldn’t journey to their ordinary tailors. “There’s at all times a bit of scepticism,” Patrick continues, “however that goes as quickly as they fight us. The hot button is getting them to strive it as soon as.”

Hong Kong has in fact gone by convulsions apart from Covid in recent times, and I anticipated this to have dampened enterprise, however apparently not. “The monetary sector right here continues to be sturdy, partly because of China being so affected by Covid,” Patrick says. And naturally the banking sector – these monetary retailers and merchants – has at all times been central to Hong Kong’s development. 

Behind the WW Chan store there have been loads of fittings hanging up, and this was a pleasant excuse to ‘stroll the racks’. All the time fascinating what different persons are having made. 

There was loads of gray and navy as you’d count on, but in addition a black Spring Ram swimsuit that appeared implausible, 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 lower, in fact, and their involvement within the model is a big a part of the attraction for me. However Chan can even do quite a lot of kinds, together with a French-style fish-mouth lapel. 

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

On the one hand, it’s in all probability what’s led to so many modernising and being profitable overseas up to now 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 steadiness 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 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 accomplished. 

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

Hong Kong is a spot I really 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 swimsuit I’m sporting is from Assisi, lined right here. The shirt pictured is by Luca Avitabile, a advantageous oxford weave from Thomas Mason – the Cambridge high quality, code FM33854. The Bryceland’s swimsuit is in a classic fabric sourced at Cilento (and at the moment obtainable 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 will be seen right here. 

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