HK Tailor: A-Man, Chan, Yao (or all)?

[csaller]

First of all, this forum has been a great resource. Thanks to everyone for the great info!

I will be in Hong Kong for three days over new year, and another three days in mid-January, and plan to have 2-3 suits, 1 tuxedo and a couple of shirts made. I am willing to pay up to USD 1.500 per suit, and up to USD 150 per shirt.

Bodywise, I am tall, lean and relatively fit, so fortunately my issue is not so much to cover any major problems. Instead, my objective for the suits is to look as sharp as possible.

From researching on this forum, it seems like A-Man, Chan and Yao seem to be the tailors to choose from. I am now looking for suggestions on which one to go to. Or does it makes sense to have one suit made at each of them?

 

[GBR]

Originally Posted by csaller

First of all, this forum has been a great resource. Thanks to everyone for the great info!

I will be in Hong Kong for three days over new year, and another three days in mid-January, and plan to have 2-3 suits, 1 tuxedo and a couple of shirts made. I am willing to pay up to USD 1.500 per suit, and up to USD 150 per shirt.

Bodywise, I am tall, lean and relatively fit, so fortunately my issue is not so much to cover any major problems. Instead, my objective for the suits is to look as sharp as possible.

From researching on this forum, it seems like A-Man, Chan and Yao seem to be the tailors to choose from. I am now looking for suggestions on which one to go to. Or does it makes sense to have one suit made at each of them?

Chan and Yao are in one league, A-Man in entirely a lower one. Maybe a suit at each of Chan and Yao would make a good comparison and would certainly not be a disappointment to you.

 

[TheFoo]

^^^ I have a banker friend in Hong Kong who's never heard of Chan and claims that A-Man is who everyone in finance uses. Of course, he also wears Thomas Pink shirts exclusively, so I'd take that for what it's worth.

 

[newtrane]

Do these HK tailors have a website?

Thanks.

 

[Fishball]

Originally Posted by GBR

Chan and Yao are in one league, A-Man in entirely a lower one. Maybe a suit at each of Chan and Yao would make a good comparison and would certainly not be a disappointment to you.

Hmm..., I can't agree with you totally. All these three houses are not "one man shop", so the quaility mostly depend on the actual coat maker. If you mean "finishing", I can agree with you. Chan got the best buttonholes from these three houses. But I like A-man cutting better.

Chan do have a website, other two don't.
And yes, Chan and Yao do much more oversea orders, they both travel to US two times annually.
But A-Man is the most famous tailor in Hong Kong, and locally, I don't think many people know Chan or Yao.

 

[teddieriley]

Originally Posted by mafoofan

^^^ I have a banker friend in Hong Kong who's never heard of Chan and claims that A-Man is who everyone in finance uses. Of course, he also wears Thomas Pink shirts exclusively, so I'd take that for what it's worth.

I have a buddy who uses Sam's Tailor as Sam has outfitted stars, and as shown on the website, even President Bill Clinton. I hear Sam's suits begin at half the price of Chan and Yao (about $450-$500), but from what I hear generally, Sam's suits aren't that great. But, my buddy is good looking and rather buff, so put anything tailored on him, and it looks good. He could have told me his suits were handmade by virgins from rome, and not having inspected my buddy's suits up close (since I know the handwork by italian virgins), I could buy that. So take that for what that's worth - you could get a serviceable suit for half the price, if that's your thing.

 

[dragon8]

Originally Posted by GBR

Chan and Yao are in one league, A-Man in entirely a lower one. Maybe a suit at each of Chan and Yao would make a good comparison and would certainly not be a disappointment to you.

I agree. I have suits from both of them and they are very good. For shirts go to Ascot Chang, they will have a large selection in your price range

 

[JLibourel]

Originally Posted by mafoofan

^^^ I have a banker friend in Hong Kong who's never heard of Chan and claims that A-Man is who everyone in finance uses. Of course, he also wears Thomas Pink shirts exclusively, so I'd take that for what it's worth.

I thought H. Baroman was heavily favored by the top men in the local HK business community. I have heard Baroman likened to Oxxford--top-notch workmanship, stodgy styling. Some have said they don't particularly welcome foreign business the way the other top tailors mentioned do.

My only experience has been with Chan via the tours, but I can recommend them very highly. I have not noticed any appreciable variation in the quality of workmanship of the numerous garments I have ordered from them.

 

[csaller]

Any suggestions on where to get the tuxedo made?

 

[dragon8]

Probably at the same tailors that you inquired about.

 

[lucubrator]

I was recently on a trip to Hong Kong as well, and had a three-piece suit made by Chan and a set of 8 shirts made by Yao. Yao's shirts will cost you about $80 each, and he was able to get my order out pretty quickly. I was really pleased with the construction and fit of the shirts, so I do recommend Yao for your shirtings.

For the Chan suit, I paid about $1750 for a three piece suit done in Scabal 130. For $1500, I believe you can get a two piece in Loro Piana or Zegna and still have enough left over for 2-3 shirts at Chan. It's my first bespoke, so I can't really compare it to any of the other suits I have, but I am really happy about the fit and it's worlds apart from any of my OTR suits.

My trip was just this October, so these prices should be pretty current.

 

[HKTenor]

Originally Posted by GBR

Chan and Yao are in one league, A-Man in entirely a lower one. Maybe a suit at each of Chan and Yao would make a good comparison and would certainly not be a disappointment to you.


FYI, I have had many many suits made at both Chan and A-Man, and I would say that A-Man has in general slightly better workmanship, whereas the Chan house style is more to my taste, and the fabric selection is better. Chan is also a bit better about making something other than their house cut, IMHO. Baroman is also very good as far as I can tell; I have a close friend who has all his suits made there and they look quite well-made.

I would not put A-Man on a lower tier than Chan at all; in fact, I was a Chan customer first and switched most of my business to A-Man because I felt I was getting better construction there. (Also, A-Man is Hong Kong side, and I am lazy!) However, it is a small difference and exactly who does the actual work probably matters more than the difference between the two. You shouldn't be disappointed no matter which one you choose.

I do mean to have another Chan suit or two made soon, just to see how they are doing these days, so definitely not a hater...

 

[kolecho]

OP,

Focus on opinions of those who get their suits locally with multiple fittings, not those who use these HK tailors as travelling tailors. The products are very different. Ignore comments which are purely hearsay.

You sound like you will be be back for multiple fittings, so you have a better chance at success. Fishball is right. In HK, as in many other places, it matters more who is the man making your coat than the house that is the intermediary. Since you are passing through, you will likely not be assigned the best. This is a fact in most places, not just HK.

Also, there are traditionally several tailoring camps in HK, namely Shanghainese and Cantonese. Chan is the former. A Man is the latter. Take it for what it is worth, but it is said that the Shanghainese camp does finer work. I personally think this difference is getting diluted these days. Gordon Yao is also from the Shanghainese camp, but he runs a one-man operation. Service and options are skeletal in comparison to Chan and A Man.

 

[Fishball]

My A-Man's jacket buttonholes:

My Yao's jacket buttonholes:

 

[Fishball]

Originally Posted by lucubrator

I was recently on a trip to Hong Kong as well, and had a three-piece suit made by Chan and a set of 8 shirts made by Yao. Yao's shirts will cost you about $80 each, and he was able to get my order out pretty quickly. I was really pleased with the construction and fit of the shirts, so I do recommend Yao for your shirtings.

FWIW, Yao's shirt was made by Ascot Chang.