My Trip to Hong Kong (Part 1): Peter Lee

[Jaygatsby28]

Hey guys,

I figured it is probably time to give back, given all the valuable advice and knowledge I have collected from each of you over the past few years. I was recently over in Hong Kong as part of an extended vacation and decided to get some suits/shirts/trousers made (motivated by numerous WW Chan posts and Slewfoot's Peter Lee/Lee Baron posts). My good friend from university and I had the fortune to take a week off from work together and travel out there.

I don't know how many posts I will make, but I will try to show pics from my visit to WW Chan, Peter Lee, my friend's visit to Katas Custom Tailors and Maxwell's. I'd appreciate any constructive comments you may have. I took the approach of having a few things made out there with the intent to tweak and then order a lot more in the future, so I won't be offended!

For my first post, I will focus on Peter Lee. Peter operates out of a small shop in Kowloon right next to the Sheraton HK (shop is called Lee Baron). Don't let the shop fool you, Peter is a great guy and is more than willing to work with you to create a beautiful garment.

Peter Lee - Grey suit
The first suit Peter made for me was a lighter (in color) grey suit from one of his house wool fabrics. I don't know what make the fabric was (HS, Minis, etc - I am very new to that level of detail) but as I understand, most HK tailors stock these "standard" fabrics. If anyone can shed any light on that for me, I'd appreciate it. To the eye it looked more than acceptable and felt like something I could wear year round (I live in NYC).

When picking fabrics at Peter's, he has just reams and reams of this stuff all around. You really have to dig but there are some nice "house" fabrics in there. I also found it helpful to ask his opinion on durability, seasonality, etc. He was very helpful and happy to help.

These pictures are from the last fitting at Peter's and some I took at home. I had 3 with him (first was basted - one arm attached, second was more constructed - with the lining in, and this one we made minor tweaks and it was complete).

Some changes I feel might need to be made, and please let me know if you agree/disagree:
-\tJacket could be 1 inch longer on the body
-\tI feel there might be some extra room in the area around my chest (pecks), maybe tighten that up?
-\tThe back near the arm, is that bunching up too much?
-\tShould I go more waist suppression?
-\tI feel the trousers fit well

Overall I am very happy with the suit as my first suit. I welcome your comments (please no making fun of the lining, b/c it is amazing and you are jealous!).

























Peter Lee - Linen suit
I have always wanted some linen clothing, just couldn't find anything that worked for me. I really enjoyed the linen fabrics Peter had in stock (his house fabrics) and decided to go with a full linen suit b/c of the versatility (the trousers can be worn to work on a Friday just casually, and the jacket can be worn as a blazer with a nice dark pair of jeans) and because I was flying straight to southern France for a few weeks and need something like this. I really do love this suit, but haven't really found my stride wearing it all together; probably need a nice knit tie or something!

Some changes I feel might need to be made, and please let me know if you agree/disagree (similar comments to the grey suit):
-\tJacket could be ½ and inch longer on the body
-\tI feel there might be some extra room in the area around my chest (pecks), maybe tighten that up? You can see it here more than the Grey suit
-\tSlight bunch on the back arm?
-\tShould I go more waist suppression?
-\tI feel the trousers fit well

I hope you like the lining on this one! Peter had a beautiful blue linen blazer hanging up for another customer and I stole his lining style (couldn't help it, it looked great). It is half lined
























Peter Lee - formal dress shirt (for work)
I had Peter make me a number of shirts. Before I say anything more, let me just say that I have been a customer of Carl (CEGO) since 2007. Carl has made ~ 11 or so shirts for me, all of which are still in excellent condition. However, one of the great things about HK is that certain things are much cheaper. This shirt from Peter was USD$43 with MOP buttons (which are a HK$50 add on - and are nice thick buttons). This is the style I prefer for a "work shirt." It is in a nice light blue and looks really clean cut in person. I had him cut it a little shorter b/c I wanted to have some flexibility to wear this out at night or on the weekend. It is the shirt I am wearing in the suit pics above. (sorry, forgot to button the cuffs, but they fit well, and yes I am wearing jeans)

My thoughts:
-\tThe sleeves near the arm hole do this bunching thing, which I am not certain what he has to do to correct
-\tShrinkage might have cause the stomach area to tighten up, or maybe it is just too tight on me?
-\tOther than that I really do like the shirt. One thing I may have him do (which Chan does) is launder the shirting fabric first and dry it in a dryer. While I usually hang dry, this would probably remove any shrinkage from the shirt. Upon wearing and laundering the shirt here in NYC, the shirt has shrunk a little.

Three pics below but I am wearing this shirt in a number of the grey suit pics:







Peter Lee - 2 casual shirts
Only one of them in the picture but I got one seersucker and the other linen (both from house fabric). These 2 shirts are a little more expensive than the house cotton, but not more than USD$50/60. The seersucker is a light blue stripe and the linen (not pictured) was a nice off white color. Please excuse the pins in the back of this, Peter made a slight change to the shirt before it was done.

My thoughts:
-\tSame sleeve problem as my "work shirt"
-\tNext time I might get the color points a little shorter
-\tIf you get this, have him launder it, mine has shrunk considerably, still fits, but not like this. I plan on getting another seersucker





Peter Lee - Cotton trousers
I got these more as Friday office trousers/when I have to go to something that requires a "khaki" type trousers. I'm a terrible shirt tucker, btw.







I'll make another post here shortly of the garments my friend had made from Peter. I hope to make another post in the near future of a shirt and suit I got from WW Chan (more pics of the fittings, forgot my camera at my first fitting at Peter's).

 

[Slewfoot]

Nice stuff Jay! Great to see Peter in action and the tailor with you is the same one that has made my items. Regarding your thoughts, I'd keep the waist suppression as is for now along the extra room on the chest. You'll want that for movement. I do agree that the jackets could be a bit longer which is something I did with my later PL jackets. On the gray suit the sleeve pitch seems to be off a bit which I'm sure will be fine on your future jackets.

Glad you had fun and look forward to hearing the other reports!

 

[cchen]

nice pics. i recently went to peter lee as well for some shirts only and they turned out great, but need some small adjustments for the next order

 

[RogerC]

Those trousers look pretty good. Could I ask you how much they were? Am planning my next HK trip budget...

 

[stylomilo]

It would be good if you could take some close up pictures of the jacket & shirt to show the quality of the finish. eg button holes, stitching etc

 

[wizards11]

nice, i think yours came out better than mine when i visited peter lee.
do you mind pm me the price you paid for the grey suit?

 

[RayRay]

Great pics & summary. Thanks for sharing.

 

[GBer]

The black circle again. Does this mean he's related to Vox?

 

[Jaygatsby28]

Thanks. No, no relation, just had MS paint to work with to block out my face.

I'll try to take some close up pics over the next few days. I PMed those with questions on price.

 

[LeatherSOUL]

Thanks for sharing.

I just wanted to add, as a previous customer of Peter's, I just received 3 shirts from him in 3 weeks total time, from email order to my mailbox. I emailed him a picture of a club collar I was looking for and told him what colors and type of cloth I wanted. I also asked for swatch samples for certain colors of jackets and he sent me a sheet with about 30 different swatches! Can't wait to visit him again next month.

 

[dbc]

Thanks for sharing.

May I know the cost of your grey suit and how long it took for the first fitting?

I'm unfortunately only there for 4 days. Otherwise I'll probs get a shirt.

Cheers.

 

[krakatoa]

Thanks for the post. Was the formal shirt fabric also house fabric, or branded?

 

[emptym]

The gray jacket's sleeves and back could use some adjustments. Linen one looks good. I agree that the jackets could be longer. I'd also open the quarters and lower the button stance.

Why don't you post pics on Foo's foofing thread. He'll give you good advice.

I love the one shirt I got from PL, btw.

 

[ethan]

What's the time line for one suit and how much was it? Thanks

 

[TheTukker]

JG: did you get your suits fused or canvassed?