WW Chan London Trip (Looking for feedback)

I've been asked to test the waters for demand for a London trip. The Hong Kong branch's Patrick Chu will be travelling and the experience should be similar to the US trips but it will likely be limited to London only. Approximate date will be beginning of October 2009. Could interested parties please sound out? It may only be a three day trip, so if you have a preference for a weekday or a weekend appointment in Mayfair or City, please state that as well. I have added a poll for convenience. For those not too familiar with WW Chan, it is a well respected Hong Kong tailoring house offering good quality, well cut suits and shirts at more-than-fair prices. It is a bespoke product with a paper pattern drafted for each customer. Pricing is around USD $100-150 per shirt and USD $1,200- $2,500 for suits. The variation is due to the differing costs of fabric. I primarily use Holland and Sherry. Shown below are some of my own commissions. If any other WW Chan regulars want to pitch their photos in, they are more than welcome. Wool WW Chan suit & shirt Cashmere/wool WW Chan overcoat Cotton WW Chan suit & shirt I have no commercial interest in this, simply helping out some friends in Kowloon.

Shouldnt they go through their customer list to see if previous clients might be interested? I think that there are a lot of travelling tailors who come to London, so drumming up new business from scratch might be difficult, but leveraging existing relationships might work for them.

I travel to HK enough that I just get stuff done while I'm there

K

They will be contacting old customers, they have a pretty sizeable list of British expats that returned from HK and are based in London as well as HK expats based in London. However, they also want an interest check from the London-based Styleforum set.

I dont know that our British contingent is really all that big (although maybe some lurkers).

K

Judging by the response to this thread so far, I think you're right, though I still like to pretend the British contingent is huge.

I know that a few hangout in denim and streetwear, but this really is a more US centric board. I dont really know of any like this for the UK crowd...

I think that Chan would have an interesting proposition, but other than using their previous client list, they would really have to engage in some proper advertising. Not sure if its worth it for them or not.

K

I think Chan may have an interesting proposition as well given the dearth of mid-priced options for tailoring in the UK. I have a few friends in the UK interested in taking up the service albeit not enough to fill a trip's workbook.

okay,
I couldn't afford a suit from him at my age, but...
Mayfair/westend is easier and more "friendly" to get to than the sterile city (unless you work there obviously). Weekend.

Too true, West End is fun to be in at anytime. City, not so much.

Maybe you should try out the London Lounge.

Depends on who you think is going to buy from Chan.

Normally, I would say that your low hanging fruit are going to be the bankers which means that you set up shop in the city so that they can pop over on a break or lunch hour. Considering the state of UK consumer spending, maybe now is not the best time to organize a trip over here.

HK dollar is pegged to the US dollar which is strong against the Pound making Chan a much more expensive product than a little while ago. Not sure how that will be in Oct 09

K

Too true, the exchange rate is an important consideration. I haven't seen 1.55 rates in a loooong time I'd imagine by Oct 2009, it'd be back to 1.7ish but who knows. Forex equilibrium is damn near black magic to me.

Do you think it would be possible to get measured up for a suit but to only order some shirts to start with and a suit at a later date? If so, I might be interested. Also the weekend would be best for me as I don't work in London...

Actually I had a chat with Patrick when I visited them in HK earlier this month. He said they were interested in coming to UK and I suggested concentrating only in London at the first time and staying both City and West End (Mayfair) including a weekend. So basically it looks like my fault (if it is not convenient for you...). Their London client base seems to be big enough but they are also considering some kind of advertising in magazines or papers. However their existing clients together with their referrals, their first London visit should be successful. As a matter of fact, I am Japanese and there are lots of expats I know who are interested in quality bespoke suits without paying Savile Row price (you can guess we usually have a size problem). Anyway it is a good news for us in UK.

Originally Posted by darkoak

Click to expand...

Maybe you should try out the London Lounge.

Will do eventually though I'm much more SF than LL myself.

Originally Posted by Sanguis Mortuum

Click to expand...

Do you think it would be possible to get measured up for a suit but to only order some shirts to start with and a suit at a later date? If so, I might be interested. Also the weekend would be best for me as I don't work in London...

Unfortunately, I can't speak on their behalf but I would point out that a shirt and a suit are quite far apart in terms of the sort of work needed. If you're intention is to gauge the potential fit and craftsmanship, it may be a better idea to do a suit in a cheaper fabric, do a couple of fittings and if you're happy with it, put in orders later in nicer fabrics. Once the pattern is set, you can simply telephone the orders in.