The tailoring of Hong Kong // The tailoring of Hong Kong
Bespoke tailors have evolved with culture throughout history. The real spark that distinguished the term 'bespoke', which stands for uniquely patterned and elaborate menswear, appeared on Saville Row in London. The place where the term 'bespoke' was first used and where the craft was raised to new heights. Bespoke tailoring shops have appeared all over the world, one of the defining locations being Hong Kong, an important port city in the South China Sea. Many US sailors stopped here, where they enjoyed the city's nightlife as well as making a fine-cut suit.
The constant hustle of business first triggered the boom in tailoring in Hong Kong, leading to a whole generation of skilled artisans, a wealth of knowledge, and a deep-rooted love of art. Soon not only sailors came to Hong Kong for suits, but also businessmen, politicians and even presidents.
The roots of Hong Kong tailoring can be traced back to the turn of the 20th century, Shanghai, European colonization, and the Chinese Communist Revolution. At the time, Shanghai tailors were primarily settling workers from Ningbo, a much poorer city south of Shanghai. Their knowledge came from a variety of sources: there were enterprising British tailors who trained Ningbo migrants as professional tailors, and more experienced tailors who learned their profession from Russian tailors before moving to Shanghai. In 1941, "The Shanghai Cutting and Tailoring College" was established, which offered comprehensive training and strengthened Shanghai's position as a center for highly skilled tailors. The style and techniques used by the tailors were called the "Red Gang".
The clientele of Shanghai tailors was mainly European businessmen living and working in the city. The insecurity of the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1946–1949 forced European companies to relocate to the British-owned Hong Kong, leading to drastic changes, as Hong Kong was much less developed than Shanghai at the time. As the clientele moved, so did the Shanghai tailors who served them.
At that time, Hong Kong also had its own Cantonese tailoring, with its own style and technique. Based on British and Russian techniques, Shanghai tailoring makes jackets with full, shaped chests, and the tailoring has been shaped using steam and pressing techniques, requiring time and expertise. The Cantonese-style jacket does not fully follow the wearer's physique, so less work is required to design the chest. This type of tailoring is known as "Guang Dong Gang". The structure of the chest of the jacket is an essential part of the tailoring. Traditionally, a canvas insert made of horsehair is placed to provide the structure, but in the case of particularly fine fabrics that appeared later, it is much more difficult to apply this technique due to their nature. As a result, many tailors were forced to solve the challenge with a fusing technique, gluing, which significantly narrowed the range of traditional bespoke tailors. Fusing created a divergence in the Hong Kong tailoring industry, with tailors either choosing speed and volume production, or maintaining skilled craftsmanship. In general, highly skilled tailors, who were able to deal with more complex garments and traditional techniques, insisted on their craftsmanship, while less technically skilled ones further developed their business with the fusing construction.
The two types of tailoring flourished side by side as Hong Kong grew, with Tsim Sha Tsui becoming Hong Kong's tailoring district. The Mirador Mansion on Nathan Road was home to 500 tailors at one point. Hong Kong's tailoring was first built on European customers, but decades later, American and Japanese customers soon overtook them when their economy became a global powerhouse. Then it became common among Hong Kong tailors to travel to their clients all over the world for making measurements.
Today, as is the case in many traditional industries, there is a lack of expertise in Hong Kong as the current generation of tailors soon retires. The personalized training process is long and difficult and although there are few young tailors in Hong Kong, they still develop the style from their Shanghai and Cantonese predecessors. Hong Kong tailors also moved to other parts of China, creating jobs and opening new branches in different parts of the country to serve modern Chinese gentlemen.
//HUN
Bespoke tailoring has evolved along with culture throughout history. The term "bespoke" was first used on London's Saville Row, where the craft was taken to new heights. Bespoke tailoring has reached all parts of the world - its main center was in Hong Kong, one of the most important port cities in the South China Sea. Many American sailors stopped here and enjoyed the city's nightlife, as well as getting themselves a finely tailored suit.
A steady boom in business first sparked the tailoring boom in Hong Kong, leading to an entire generation of skilled artisans, a wealth of new knowledge and a deep-rooted love of the art. Soon, not only sailors came to Hong Kong for suits, but also businessmen, politicians and presidents.
The roots of Hong Kong tailoring can be traced back to Shanghai at the turn of the 20th century, European colonization and the Chinese Communist Revolution. At that time, Shanghai's tailors were mainly workers who moved from Ningbo, another much poorer city to the south of the city.
Their knowledge came from a variety of sources: there were enterprising British tailoring companies who trained migrants from Ningbo to become professional tailors, and more experienced tailors who learned their trade from Russian tailors before moving to Shanghai. In 1941, "The Shanghai Cutting and Tailoring College" was established to offer comprehensive training and strengthen Shanghai's position as a center for highly skilled tailors. The style and techniques used by the tailors were called "Red Gang".
The clientele of Shanghai tailors was primarily European businessmen living and working in the city. The unrest and uncertainty of the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1946-1949 forced European companies to relocate to British-owned Hong Kong, which led to drastic changes, as Hong Kong was much less developed than Shanghai at the time. As the clientele moved, so did the Shanghai tailors who served them.
At that time, Hong Kong also had its own Cantonese tailoring, with its own style and technique. Based on British and Russian techniques, Shanghai tailoring creates jackets with a full, shaped chest, using steam and pressing techniques to shape the cut with time and expertise.
The Canton style jacket does not completely follow the body shape of the wearer, so less work is required to shape the chest. This type of tailoring is known as "Guang Dong Gang". The construction of the chest of the jacket is one of the fundamental parts of tailoring. Traditionally, a linen insert made of horsehair is placed to ensure the structure, but in the case of the particularly fine fabrics that appeared later, it is significantly more difficult to apply this technique due to their nature. Because of this, many tailors were forced to solve the challenge with fusing techniques and gluing, which significantly narrowed the scope of traditional bespoke tailoring. Fusing created a divergence in the Hong Kong tailoring industry, with tailors either opting for speed and quantity, or maintaining skilled craftsmanship. In general, highly skilled tailors who could deal with more complex garments and traditional techniques stuck to their craft, while less technically skilled tailors developed their business with fusing construction.
The two types of tailoring flourished side by side as Hong Kong grew, and Tsim Sha Tsui became Hong Kong's tailoring district. The Mirador Mansion on Nathan Road housed 500 tailors. Hong Kong's tailoring was first built around European clients, but over the decades American and Japanese clients quickly overtook them as their economy became a global powerhouse. It is also common among Hong Kong tailors to travel all over the world to their customers for measurements or trials.
Today, as is the case with many traditional industries, there is a skills shortage in Hong Kong as the current generation of tailors is about to retire. The tailoring training process is long and difficult, but even with a small staff, the young tailors continue to develop the style from their Shanghai and Cantonese predecessors.