I just got back from HK; I was there for a little over a week as part of a post-bar exam trip before I start work. My goals were to get two moderately nice suits for about or under $500 apiece. I figured if they're awful, then ok I know in the future (when I actually have more money), going to a more famous/expensive tailor would be the way to go. I did a bunch of research online and on my first day there checked out 5 tailors (Empire International, Sam's, WW Chan, Ascot Chang, Maxwell's). WW Chan and Ascot Chang were out of my current price range, although they looked like they would do an awesome job at an OK price relative to the US. Sam's was super sketchy and I felt like they weren't upfront with any of the costs or the process. They kept pushing me to go get measured, and they'd "have something for me in a few days and you can make adjustments." When I said, "but then aren't I committing to buy your suit?" the guy just kind of stood silent and looked around for 10 seconds before saying pretty much the same thing to me again. Weird-ass vibe, I don't care how many pics they have with Prince Charles in that place. Plus a lot of other reviews I came across said the suits were crappy quality. Maxwell's was nice, but just a bit out of my price range for what looked quality and they kind of had a vibe like they would not give me any kind of personal attention, like they were just cranking suits out and weren't all that interested in my specific requests. But maybe I just had one guy who didn't seem too enthused; the place seemed pretty high end though. I settled on Empire Tailors; I had read some good reviews online that said they were solid suits, maybe not the finest suits in the world, but totally passable and at a reasonable price.
So my experience with Empire was pretty good. They have a few package deals, depending on the quality of the fabrics you choose. I don't really know much about fabrics, but you could kind of tell they did get nicer as the prices went up. Basically these weren't just arbitrary distinctions. I went with the option that gets you 2 suits, 6 shirts, and 6 (completely bogus and not worth anything) ties for $890. I feel like you could haggle with them on the price, but it seemed reasonable enough to me, and it was hot that day. Anyway, they did three fittings altogether over the course of 6 days. I brought pictures with me of some Burberry slim suits that were along the lines of what I wanted and the tailor checked them out each time. Here's the thing that I think is important to know. I had to be really really specific about what I wanted, since they didn't volunteer too many questions about how I wanted the suit. I think they asked about the vents and whether I wanted flat-fronts or pleats. The rest was all me telling them about lapel width, the type of lapel (I think they assume notch but they definitely didn't ask me until I said something), functional buttons on the cuffs, the break (seriously I think they would have just done a medium break if I hadn't specified repeatedly no break), jacket length, etc. etc. Also I had to go out of my way to ask about choosing the lining myself. On the third fitting all I really had to do was adjust the pants a little (I must have said "slim" about 50 times that week), but the jackets were definitely on point.
So now I'm back and I have my suits and shirts, with nice little patches stitched inside that says they were made specifically for me (I just noticed that on the second wear). I am really really happy with these suits; they do fit great and they are exactly what I was looking to get out of the experience. So I would recommend Empire highly, but only if you have the time to do 3 fittings and have a pretty good idea of what you are looking for and the ability to express that to them. The tailor was cool/didn't take offense to my repeated requests for slimming the whole situation down a bit on each fitting. The staff is also genuinely nice. Zero pressure, which was a welcome relief, and totally accommodating. So that's the trade-off. Maybe a higher end tailor would be able to do a better job intuiting what you want, but as long as you put in a little extra time, Empire seems to me to be worth the trade-off. Of course these are the only suits I've ever gotten in HK so I maybe I got snowed. But as far as I can tell, I got 2 nice, modern-looking suits and 6 very well-fitting shirts. The ties were garbage, and they kind of admit it. Also they come to New York throughout the year, so that's a plus if you live here and like what they do. Also it made me feel like they were a pretty legit outfit. Anyway, like I said, maybe a bit of extra work on your part to make Empire worth it, but I think my experience was definitely worth it.
