Hong Kong tailors - A Man Hing Cheong vs. Y William Yu

Hi everyone, considering that it's been a while since the last posting on tailors in Hong Kong I decided to volunteer by writing about my recent experience there. I had recently made two suits with an additional pair of pants and a shirt from A Man Hing Cheong in Hong Kong Central's Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Y William Yu in Mody Road on Kowloon Island. I also tried to check out W W Chan in Nathan Road, but for some reasons they made an overbooking and I didn't have enough time. I will start with AMHC: I took a Herringbone dark-blue super 130 no-name (at least, there was no tag in the suit later on and I forgot to ask during the order), which was comparatively expensive, but I just liked the colour and feeling of the cloth so much. I asked for a standard two-button, side-vents, two flat pockets, normal sized lapels and of course canvassing. The suit cost me 14.000 HKD with an additional pair of pants ordered later on for another 4000 HKD. This was way above the 10.000 HKD entry price tier they actually recommended, but the cloth just had me. I can't remember exactly, but when I first ordered I had one forward-fittng and three normal fittings, then after about 3 months I brought back the jacket for another fitting, where I also ordered a beige two-ply shirt for 950 HKD, which required two fittings. Honestly speaking, when I went there the first time I found them quite impolite, and not offering that proactive attitude that guides you through the whole process. My personal observations were that they were probably thinking I would be a one-time customer, so they didn't pay a lot of attention during the very first order and also when I received the finished piece a few days later. However, when I came back later on and asked for additional changes, they responded extremely well. I was actually surprised, because they didn't protest or argue at all, just called out the cutter, discussed what to do among them and then later provided me with an excellent fit. Not sure, but maybe they just thought that for that price they just have to give me more attention. In total, I am very satisfied with the suit. I will take some pic's later and post them, so you can judge by yourself. I think the shop might be a bit spoiled by its unique location within the Mandarin Oriental. Whenever I went there, there was always a least one customer. They don't need to worry about loosing too many customers ever. A few months later I went to Y William Yu in Kowloon. Not that famous as AMHC, WW Chan or Baroman, but I thought it would be worth a to check out a less famous niche provider. The shop is difficult to find, as it is located in the basement of a building with a very small sign and lots of other tailors right next to it, so you can easily get confused. Let me provide the contact-details in case you are interested: 46 Mody Road, Kowloon, (852) 2369 2141, ywmyu@netvigator.com Anyway, I ordered a dark-blue super 120, Loro Piana four-seasons in light check, with an additional pair of pants and a blue herring-bone shirt at basically half the cost of AMHC. They charged me almost exactly 10.000 HKD for the total package. Without the shirt and the second pants I would paid only 7500 HKD, which is higher than their recommended entry price tier of 6000 HKD for a first suit. Considering that a Loro Piana from AMHC would be well above 10.000 HKD I considered this to be a very good bargain! I asked basically for the same basic cut as the AMHC, but wanted to have a more flat Italian shoulder, because the cloth is just more colourful and softer than the AMHC which is probably British as they seem to favour British cloth in general. Due to my schedule I could only do one forward-fitting and two additional ones. For a first start it's ok and the tailor already offered me to take it back next time in case I should have some doubts about it. I am not 100% and probably it will take a few months until I find out, but I feel that the jacket could a half an inch slimmer. In any case, craftmanship is awesome. The only mistake I realized is that they forgot the buttonhole in left lapel, but I will ask them to redo that later on. While I liked the shop more due the individual atmosphere and the attention the cutter paid to me, I need to say that somehow the AMHC suit and also the shirt seems slightly better manufactured. Just little details like the missing buttonhole on the lapel, the sewing of the shirt and the harder canvassing of the chest and also the harder shoulder. Maybe it's too early to judge, as I haven't worn both suits for alonger time in comparison. It may also be that AMHC is just feeling more fitted, because of the harder canvassing and the tighter fitting I asked for after a few months. In any case, the huge price gap justifies to go to YWY again, no doubt about it. I also tried out get a suit at W W Chan, but they had mismanaged the appointment, so I left without an order. However, my impression from the shop in general was that they are definitely more commercially driven than any of the other Hong Kong tailors. The shop itself, the fact that they have a homepage, their international shops. These guys seem to focus a bit too much on driving the business compared to the little individual shop around the corner with some old gentlemen remembering your name and order in detail. I am from Europe, currently living in Korea. There is no way I could get a better quality suit at this price-range in either Europe or Korea. In Europe I would end up paying 3000 pounds in Savile Row, while in Korea there are no tailors in this calibre. It's either low-price crap or Zegna/Brioni/Kiton charging European prices. I will definitelly go back to Hong Kong to order more of this fine stuff, just need to make up my mind regarding which tailor to go to next time. Maybe I will also try out Baroman next time.

It's just a personal feeling. It would be fair to try out their suits as well, but as mentioned I didn't have time. However, what struck me was the much more commercial/professional management which is usually good for customers, but in this case I just felt that they would mark this up in their average prices. But again, just my humble opinion.

I will do my best to upload the pic's later today. THe only point is, though, that the AMHC suit is worn for a couple of months and then refitted, whereas I haven't worn the YWY suit more than two times yet.

ok, here come the pics, but I couldn't get the exact size. sorry for that, I guess you have to click through this pic jungle... 1) the AMHC suit is the one one without a pattern and with a pink lining. Beware that I took this pic right after work today, so there are quite a few wrinkles in the first pants. I have also take one pic of the second pants, which is the one without wrinkles. I also took a few shots of the inner parts/the lining. The pics of the AMHC suit end after the shot of the sewing of the side-vents. 2) the YWY one, which didn't have another refitting after wearing it yet. This one has a check pattern and a blue lining. As the YWY one didn't have the refitting, it looks slightly bigger and not as fitted as the AMHC one. I will probably have to ask for the sleeves to be downsized a bit, a bit more waist supression and the pants to be a tick wider. Both are done in a very nice quality, I am very happy with both and can recommend both without regrets for now. As mentioned earlier, the AMHC seems very very slightly better quality. However, the same Loro Piana super-120 from YWY would have cost easily 10.000 HKD compared to the 7.300 HKD I paid to YWY. So if I have a slightly tight budget next time I will go to YWM, if I just received my year-end bonus I might end up at AMHC.

By the way, does anybody know a comparable tailor in Shanghai? I have done some research, but I haven't found anything beyond WW Chan.

Does anybody know if it is generally possible to get a suit in the quality of a Hong Kong tailor in Shanghai?

Thanks for the comment. What does "CMT" stand for?