Hong Kong Tailors 2027 - How Tourists Can Get A Suit Without Getting Fleeced
The Tailors Worth Visiting In Hong Kong For Mens and Ladies Fashions
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Hong Kong Tailors 2027 - How Tourists Can Get A Suit Without Getting Fleeced
Foreword by Jamie
Trustworthy Tailors For Bespoke Suits, Shirts, Dresses And Custom Clothing
Let me make it quite clear, I am not an expert on suits, I wore one once when I got married and that was many decades ago and I have not worn one once since, it is simply not me.
I have lived in Hong Kong since 2nd January 1972 and I was 11 years old when I first walked into a proper tailor’s shop. It was not a tourist exercise. My best friend at school was Ravi Narain. He was dropped off and picked up in a Rolls Royce every school day. The family lived in Chung Hom Kok with the rest of that hillside of some very serious money. They were one of the old Indian tailoring houses, the sort that ran more than one shop and more than one name on the door, and his father was a bit of a legend. After school and at weekends we used to hang about in the Hilton Hotel arcade shop in Central the way other boys hung about in toy shops. I loved the smell of the cloth, the little paper patterns, the way grown men stood still while someone with a tape measure talked to them as if their shoulders were a serious subject. The Hilton Hotel came down more than 30 years ago. The memory of that shop has not gone away.
Later in the mid 1970s my older sister dated a young Chinese chap whose father owned a first-rate bespoke shop in Prince’s Building, right opposite the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. I spent a lot of Saturday afternoons in there as well, listening, watching, and slowly understanding that Hong Kong tailoring was never one trade. It was two or three trades sharing the same city. There were the Shanghainese masters who had come south after 1949 with a needle in their pocket and a reputation already made. There were the Indian family tailors, many of them Sindhi, who built their names on speed, English, and a genius for looking after travellers. And there were the old Cantonese shops that quietly dressed governors, bankers and anyone who wanted a proper suit or jacket that would still look right in 20 years.
I found Sam’s Tailor in the early 1980s. Tiny shop, Burlington Arcade, Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. Same shop in 2027. I became friends with the second-generation Sam, real name Manu Melwani, and later with the third generation Sam, Roshan, who is still very much in the chair. That is the honest start of this list. I do not take a commission from any tailor and I never have. I generally dislike sending guests into retail premises. When they ask, I would rather give them a proper page of names, addresses and the sort of warnings you only learn by living here, than wave them toward the first smiling man on Nathan Road with a tape measure around his neck.
Why This List Exists And Why The Old One Had To Go
The earlier version of this post leaned on a set of image blocks. They looked tidy on a screen and they were a pain to copy. This rewrite puts every house into plain text, one name, one detailed paragraph, so you can lift the lot straight into a notebook or a WhatsApp message to yourself. It is written for 2027, not 2025. Prices have moved. A few shops have changed floor. One or two names that look famous on Instagram are not the names I would give a first-time visitor with 3 days in town and a wedding next month.
Hong Kong is still one of the best cities on earth for custom clothing. It is no longer the cheapest. Bangkok and Hoi An stole that crown years ago. What Hong Kong still has, when you pick the right shop, is English across the counter, a serious cloth book, a cutter who has been doing this longer than most visitors have been wearing suits, and a finished garment that does not fall apart after 12 dry cleans. That combination is worth paying for. It is also easy to miss if you let a street tout steer you into a back room above Chungking Mansions.
Two Different Tailoring Trades In The Same City
It helps to know what you are walking into, because Hong Kong tailoring is not one trade. It is two, and they sit a short walk apart. I should say this plainly, because I only clocked it properly myself after decades in the place. I grew up with Indian tailors for the main part. Ravi’s family shop in the old Hilton Hotel, then Sam’s in Burlington Arcade, later the Tsim Sha Tsui houses I have been walking guests toward for years. Even the Chinese tailors I knew in the 1970s, including that Prince’s Building shop I hung around in as a teenager, I knew as people and as shops. I did not know their tradition at all. I did not know there was a Shanghainese line, often called the Red Gang, that had come south after 1949 with a different way of cutting a shoulder. I thought a tailor was a tailor. He is not.
The Shanghainese houses are the ones that made Hong Kong’s name after the war. W.W. Chan and Sons and A-Man Hing Cheong sit in that world. The work is slower. The pattern is drafted for you, not yanked off a block and tweaked. The shoulder, the canvas and the collar are the point. These shops are happier if you can give them a week or two and more than one fitting.
The Indian family tailors of Tsim Sha Tsui are a different animal and they are the ones most tourists actually meet. Sam’s, Raja Fashions, Bobby’s Fashions, Empire, L and K, Rashmi, William Cheng and Son. They speak fluent visitor. They keep enormous cloth libraries. They will talk you through a 24 hour suit if your ship leaves tomorrow. Some of them still cut and sew in Hong Kong. Some send work across the border and finish it here. That last sentence is the one almost nobody puts on the window.
There is in fact a third story that rarely makes the tourist lists and I have always liked it. Yuen’s Tailor dressed British soldiers. Proper uniforms, kilts, mess kit, the lot. When the garrison packed up after 1997 the shop did not die. It moved, eventually, into Tai Kwun, the old Central Police Station compound, and kept making clothes you can march in. If you want a suit that behaves when you move, that history is not a gimmick.
What A Tourist Can Realistically Expect In 2027
A short stay changes the rules. True old school bespoke wants 4 to 8 weeks and 2 or 3 fittings. A visitor with a Tuesday to Friday window is usually buying a well-run made to measure garment with a proper first fitting and a hurried second look. That can still be a very good suit. It is not the same thing as a Savile Row commission and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling.
Prices as they stood in late 2026, going into 2027, look roughly like this. Use them as a compass, not a contract. Cloth choice moves every figure.
Entry tourist range in Tsim Sha Tsui: about HK$3,000 to HK$5,000 (US$385 to US$640) for a 2 piece in house or mid range cloth, 1 or 2 fittings.
Honest mid range: about HK$5,000 to HK$9,000 (US$640 to US$1,155) in Italian cloth such as Vitale Barberis Canonico, Drago or Reda, better canvas, 2 fittings if you can manage them.
Heritage houses in Central: about HK$9,000 to HK$15,000 (US$1,155 to US$1,925) and often more once you touch Scabal, Holland and Sherry or the better Zegna bunches.
Top atelier work: HK$15,000 to HK$26,800 and up (US$1,925 to US$3,440 and up). Fine if that is your budget. Not what most first-time visitors need.
Shirts sit in a wide band from about HK$700 to HK$2,200 (US$90 to US$280) depending on the mill and the collar work.
Ladies’ western jackets, trousers, skirts and dresses sit in much the same bands as the men’s work when the cloth is comparable. A serious custom cheongsam in silk is a different animal and commonly starts around HK$3,000 to HK$8,000 (US$385 to US$1,025), with heirloom work climbing fast once embroidery and rare silk enter the conversation.
How Not To Get Taken For A Ride and yes it happens
I will be blunt because in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon it can be an issue.
Walk past the men who step into your path on Nathan Road and offer “1 suit, 2 shirts, 1 tie, ready tomorrow, very good price.” That pitch has not changed since the 1980s. The price is real. The suit is often a factory garment cut in the Pearl River Delta in Mailand China from a block pattern, with a Hong Kong label sewn in at the end. Some of those garments are wearable. Many are not. You will not know which until you are home and the jacket starts twisting.
Ask these questions before you put money down and then read what is below
Who cuts the pattern, and is it cut in Hong Kong or sent over the border?
What mill is this cloth? Look for names you can read: Vitale Barberis Canonico, Reda, Drago, Dormeuil, Scabal, Holland and Sherry, Zegna, Loro Piana. A mystery “Super 150s Italian wool” with no mill stamp is a story.
How many fittings do I actually get if I am here for 4 days?
Can I have the quote in writing, cloth name, jacket style, lining, delivery date and the alteration policy after I fly home?
Do you keep my paper pattern so I can order again from abroad?
If the answers come too fast and too sweet, walk. There are tailors below who will not treat you as a cruise-ship transaction.
Dos And Don’ts When You Buy Custom Clothes In Hong Kong
Buying tailored clothes in Hong Kong is not like walking into a fashion shop. In a fashion shop the garment is already made. You either fit it or you do not. You pay, you leave, and the risk sits on the rail. At a tailor the garment does not exist yet. You are commissioning work from a cutter you have just met, in a cloth you have only seen as a swatch, to a date that may be the morning you fly. The shop can still get it wrong after you have paid. That is why the dull questions matter, and why a smile at the door is not a substitute for a second fitting.
I do not wear tailored clothes myself all my clothes come from Lands End in the USA and I have 12 full sets of everything from shirts, jeans, underwear and socks. I walk in the heat and I have never felt the need. That does not stop me hearing the same mistakes, year after year, from people who have just spent real money at a tailors shop and then sat on a plane home with a jacket that will not sit. Most of the grief is not mysterious. It is haste, vanity cloth, a smile at the door, and a missing second fitting. Hong Kong can still make you a garment that lasts. It can also sell you a factory suit with a local label and a story. The difference is almost always what you do in the first hour, not what the window says.
Do this.
Go on the morning of day 1, not the afternoon of day 3. Time is the only thing the shop cannot sew back in.
Take a jacket or a dress that already fits you well. A photograph on a phone is useful. A garment on your back is better. The cutter can see how you actually stand.
Say what the clothes are for. A wedding in October is not a Tuesday in Central in July. A man who lives in air conditioning can wear cloth that will destroy a visitor walking from the Star Ferry to Pedder Street.
Name the mill. Vitale Barberis Canonico, Reda, Drago, Dormeuil, Scabal, Holland and Sherry, Zegna, Loro Piana. If there is no mill stamp, you are buying a story.
Get the quote in writing. Cloth name, jacket or dress style, lining, buttons, number of fittings, delivery date, and what happens if the shoulder is wrong after you fly home.
Ask where the pattern is cut and where the garment is sewn. Measurement in Tsim Sha Tsui and sewing in Dongguan in Mainland China is common. It is not a crime. It is also not the same as a jacket finished 8 floors above Nathan Road by someone who will see you on Thursday.
Have 2 fittings if you can. The first is for the bones. The second is for the shoulder, the collar, the sleeve pitch and, on a woman, the bust point and the hip. Skip the second fitting and you are guessing.
At the fitting, look at the shoulder first. If the pad is wrong or the sleeve is fighting the armhole, do not smile and collect it tomorrow. That is the fault that follows you home.
Photograph the cloth ticket and keep a copy of the order. Memory is useless at 35,000 feet.
Pay a deposit, not the lot, until you have seen the garment on your body. A shop that wants every dollar before the first fitting is not nervous about quality. It is nervous about you coming back.
Keep the paper pattern on file. One good jacket and 2 trousers, worn hard, then reorder. That is how a relationship starts. Six suits on the first afternoon is how a package is sold.
For a woman, ask who is cutting the women’s pattern. If the answer is a shrug, leave.
For a cheongsam, start at a cheongsam shop. Linva or Mee Wah. Not a Nathan Road suit counter with two rolls of brocade by the door.
Do not do this.
Do not follow the man on Nathan Road who offers 1 suit, 2 shirts and a tie, ready tomorrow. That pitch has not changed since the 1980s. The price is real. The suit often is not.
Do not buy anything in or above Chungking Mansions because a friendly young man has a business card and a smile. The smile is the job.
Do not let anyone tell you a 24,hour garment is the same as a week of fittings. Fast is a product for people whose ship leaves tomorrow. Sometimes that is you. Often it does not need to be.
Do not choose Super 150s or Super 180s because the number sounds expensive. In Hong Kong humidity that cloth collapses. High-twist wool, fresco, a tropical open weave, or linen if you accept the creasing, will outlast the finest number on the page.
Do not accept “Italian wool” with no mill. Italy is a large country. Mills put their names on the selvedge for a reason.
Do not pick a circus lining because it photographs well in the shop. You will wear the jacket longer than you will wear the joke.
Do not let them cut you a tight Italian silhouette if you sit on aeroplanes and eat lunch. A cutter who talks you out of the fashion pose is doing you a favour.
Do not confuse made-to-measure with old-school bespoke. A visitor with 4 days is usually buying a good made-to-measure garment. That can still be excellent. It is not Savile Row, and anyone who says it is is selling.
Do not commission anything in the Chinese New Year week. Shops close. Cutters go home. Arriving on the 2nd day of the year and expecting a fitting on the 3rd is how you waste a holiday.
Do not skip the written alteration policy. A shop that will still talk to you when you are in Wichita is a shop. A shop that vanishes when the sleeve twists is a transaction.
Do not be bullied by fame, celebrity photographs or a live stream. A camera in the shop is not a fitting. If you are being performed for an audience, walk.
The pitfall is nearly always the same. People fall in love with the idea of a Hong Kong suit before they have asked the dull questions. Ask the dull questions. Write the answers down. Take the extra fitting. Then, and only then, spend the money.
The Top Tailors For Men In 2027
These are not ranked as a beauty contest. They are a working list for a visitor who wants a trustworthy counter, a real cloth book and a reasonable chance of leaving Hong Kong with clothes that still look right at home. I have put Sam’s at the top because that is where my own story starts, not because every other tailor is second best.
Check The TripAdvisor Reviews Before You Visit
Do the research on TripAdvisor before you walk in, not after the deposit has left the credit card. I do not need the star score. I need the pattern. Read the last 12 months, not the glowing pile from 2018. Look at whether people mention a second fitting, a correction after they flew home, a cloth that matched the book, and a shop that still answered the phone when the sleeve was wrong. Look at whether the tailor replies like a grown-up or picks a fight with a stranger in public. A sudden cluster of 5 star reviews in one week is not a miracle. A quiet run of 3-star notes about rushed shoulders and vanished WhatsApps is not bad luck. TripAdvisor is not a court of law. It is one of the few places a visitor who has already gone home will still tell the truth. Use it that way. If the recent reviews and the smile at the door do not match, believe the reviews and walk.
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Hong Kong Tailors 2027 - Sam’s Tailor - Roshan the owner in action with my guests
Sam’s Tailor
Shop K-L, Ground Floor, Burlington Arcade, 90-94C Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. The Melwani family opened here in 1957 after Naraindas “Sam” Melwani had already been making uniforms for British forces. The shop is still tiny. It is still jammed. Second-generation Manu and third-generation Roshan still work the room. A 2 piece in a good mid-range Italian cloth typically sits around HK$3,500 to HK$6,000 (US$450 to US$770) as of late 2026, with signature 2 piece work also quoted from about HK$4,200 (US$540). The 24 hour service is available for a premium if you really must. Famous clients have included heads of state and a long line of people who like to be photographed in a small shop on Nathan Road. That fame is both the gift and the problem. Treat it as a proper tailor that happens to be a landmark, not as a landmark that happens to make suits. Go for the experience, yes. Also go with a clear brief, a written quote and enough time for a second look at the shoulder. I have not been in the shop in the past few years, which I should put right, but I have never regretted a garment that came out of that shop in the decades before. Telephone: +852 2367 9423. Website: samstailor.com.
I should also point out that Roshan is a bit of a character on Instagram and you should check him out.
Raja Fashions
Ground Floor, 34-C Cameron Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, with a larger Raja Luxe showroom at 2nd Floor, Cammer Commercial Building, 30-32 Cameron Road. Founded 1957, now run by third-generation Raja Daswani. This is the tailor most first time visitors have already heard of, and the review count shows why. They hold a serious cloth library, they dress men and women, they run a genuine 24 hour service for people whose diary is a mess, and they still tour the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and the rest of the map so you can have a follow-up fitting at home. Suits in recent seasons have been quoted from about HK$3,880 to HK$8,880 (US$500 to US$1,140) depending on cloth, with plenty of room to climb once you touch Zegna and the better English mills. They are a commercial machine. Used intelligently, that is a virtue. Book the Cameron Road shop in the morning if you want the 24 hour turnaround, pick cloth you can name, and do not let speed talk you out of a second fitting. Flagship telephone: +852 2366 7624. Raja Luxe telephone: +852 2311 5612. Website: raja-fashions.com.
Empire Tailors
3rd Floor, Fontaine Building, 18 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, a short walk from Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Exit N1. Founded 1983 by Anthony Asaf and still a family tailor. The thing that separates Empire from half the pavement shops is the open workshop. You can see the work happening, which is rarer than it should be. They do menswear only. They would rather take the time than win the 24 hour race, and that temperament shows in the finished jacket. A 2 piece in the current market typically sits around HK$4,500 to HK$9,000 (US$575 to US$1,155), lower on their own simpler cloth and higher once you move into named Italian mills. Hours are roughly 11am to 7pm Monday to Friday and 11am to 6pm Saturday, closed Sunday. If you want to watch a Hong Kong tailor’s shop function as a shop rather than as a show, this is a strong stop. Telephone: +852 2723 2673. WhatsApp: +852 6448 4245. Website: empiretailors.com.
Bobby’s Fashions
3A Carnarvon Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, near MTR Exit D2. Open since 1952, which puts Bobby Daswani’s shop in the same post war generation as the better-known names and, in some years, ahead of them. They make suits, shirts, tuxedos, overcoats and leather for men and women and they have the sort of long client list that does not need a billboard: Jackie Chan and Kobe Bryant have both been through the door. Reviews in 2026 still sit at the very top of the local pile. This is a tailor I am comfortable naming to a guest who has already been burned once by a cheaper shop and wants a grown up counter. A 2 piece typically lives in the honest mid range of about HK$4,000 to HK$8,500 (US$515 to US$1,090) rather than the fantasy bargain basement. Ask for the cloth mill. Ask how they handle a correction after you fly home. Then let them get on with it. Telephone: +852 2724 2615 or +852 2366 0182. Website: bobbysfashions.com.
William Cheng and Son
8th Floor, 38 Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, 2 minutes from Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Exit A1. William Cheng arrived in Hong Kong in 1950 and opened in 1958. His son Sandy has run the shop since 1982. They are a Quality Tourism Services shop, which is not a small thing when you are trying to sort the serious operators from the rest. The client book is heavy with business people and with families now on their third generation of orders. Cloth runs through Zegna, Loro Piana, Vitale Barberis Canonico and Dormeuil. They travel to London and Australia for existing clients, which tells you how they think about the relationship after you leave. A 2 piece typically sits around HK$5,000 to HK$10,000 (US$640 to US$1,280) depending on mill and construction. A good tailor for the visitor who wants less theatre and more pattern archive. Telephone: +852 2739 7888. Website: williamcheng-son.com.
L and K Custom Tailors
2 Carnarvon Road, on the Nathan Road corner, Tsim Sha Tsui, near MTR Exit D2. Michael Lalwani and Kenny Mirpuri started the shop in 1982 and they have been on the highest rated lists for years for a reason. Suits, shirts, dresses, the full spread, and they are used to visitors who can give them a few days rather than a few weeks. Recent package work has been quoted from about HK$4,900 (US$630) for a suit, extra trousers and 2 shirts. A standalone 2 piece more commonly sits around HK$4,000 to HK$8,000 (US$515 to US$1,025). The location is easy, the English is easy, and they will not look at you blankly if you arrive with a photo of a jacket you liked in 2019 and a request to make it behave on a different body. Treat them as a working tailor for people who actually wear the clothes, not as a souvenir stall. Telephone: +852 2369 7278 or +852 2369 7277. Website: lktailor.com.
Rashmi Custom Tailors
12th Floor, Block A, Suite A3, Burlington Arcade, 90-94 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. Same arcade as Sam’s, different floor, different tempo. Opened in 1987, open 7 days, walk-ins welcome, and they have built a reputation on getting visitors in and out without the circus. Suits, shirts and sport coats for men, with women’s work available. A 2 piece typically sits around HK$3,000 to HK$6,500 (US$385 to US$835) depending on cloth. The shop is easy to miss if you only look at ground-floor windows, so give yourself the lift ride. Fast is their habit. Fast is useful. Fast is also the moment to slow down and name the cloth. Telephone: +852 2311 5362 or +852 9745 7058. Website: rashmi.com.
A-Man Hing Cheong
Shop A3, Lobby Floor, Bank of East Asia Building, 10 Des Voeux Road Central. Founded 1898, which makes this the oldest continuously running tailor on the men’s list and one of the oldest in the city. The style is English, conservative and built to last. Colonial governors used to dress here. The labels still carry a colonial-era lettering that some people find charming and some people find pointed. Either way, the work is the point. Suits commonly start around HK$10,000 to HK$15,000 (US$1,280 to US$1,925) and climb from there. Two fittings and about 5 days is the traditional promise when the shop is not slammed. This is not a 24-hour tailor and it should not be. Come here if you want a jacket that will still make sense at a wedding in 2040. Telephone: +852 2522 3336. No public website of any use. Ring the shop.
W.W. Chan and Sons
Unit B, 8th Floor, Entertainment Building, 30 Queen’s Road Central. Shanghainese tailor, 1952, Red Gang lineage, hand work preferred over machine shortcuts. They will cut English or Italian, and in recent years they have refined a Napoleon shoulder that sits better on an Asian frame without looking like a costume. Suits from about HK$14,000 (US$1,795) for a 2 piece, often HK$14,000 to HK$22,000 (US$1,795 to US$2,820) once the cloth gets serious, and you should plan days rather than hours. This is the tailor I point at when a guest says they have already done the Nathan Road circuit and they want to understand what the phrase “Hong Kong tailor” used to mean before the cruise ships arrived. Telephone: +852 2366 9738. Website: wwchan.com.
Yuen’s Tailor
Shops 207 and 208, 2nd Floor, Barrack Block, Tai Kwun, 10 Hollywood Road, Central. Bonny Yuen opened near Shek Kong Barracks in 1974 and by 1977 the British Ministry of Defence had them inside Stanley Fort. They made uniforms you could march, sit and fight in. After 1997 the military work vanished and the brothers kept the craft alive, including proper kilt making, which is still almost unique in this city. The moment you mention kilts, anyone who has been here long enough knows which shop you mean. If your memory of Hong Kong goes back a bit, you may remember them in the passageway inside Central Market that led onto the Mid Levels escalator. That was their shop from the mid-1990s until the market closed in 2003 for the long renovation. A lot of office people walked past that counter every morning without knowing they were passing one of the last garrison tailors in the city. I used to drop in every now and then just to talk shop. They were very friendly, even though I never bought a thing. Moving into Tai Kwun later made complete sense. The Barrack Block is the old Central Police Station compound, colonial Hong Kong in brick and granite, and that is the world this shop came from. Ordinary suits and jackets typically sit around HK$8,000 to HK$18,000 (US$1,025 to US$2,310). A full Highland set can run around HK$30,000 (US$3,845) and it is meant to be inherited. Hours are typically 11am to 7pm Monday to Saturday, closed public holidays. The setting inside Tai Kwun is worth the visit even if you only look. If you do commission something, you are buying a piece of garrison Hong Kong that most visitors never realise is still being cut. Telephone: +852 2815 5388 or +852 5130 3794. Email: yuenstailor@gmail.com. They live on Instagram more than on a shop website.
Two Extra Names I Would Not Leave Off A Longer Men’s List
Ascot Chang, Landmark Prince’s in Central and other shops including Elements, remains the shirt specialist most professionals in this city actually use (The shirt I got married in was Ascot Chang). Founded 1953, Shanghainese roots, collars and cuffs as a religion. Ready shirts commonly sit around HK$1,200 to HK$2,200 (US$155 to US$280). Full bespoke shirts and suits sit higher. If the suit can come from one of the tailors above, the shirts can come from here without any loss of face. Landmark Prince’s telephone: +852 2523 3663. Website: ascotchang.com.
Baron Kays did not make this list. I have taken quite a few guests there over the past 15 years when they had already chosen the shop themselves. Perfectly civil. I still prefer the tailors above for a first recommendation.
The Top Ladies’ Tailors And Custom Clothing For 2027
The old post had a separate ladies’ list and people wrote in to say it was useful. That is not a surprise. A woman walking into a Nathan Road suit shop is still, too often, treated as the person standing next to the man. The cloth books are the same. The cutter is not always thinking in a female shoulder, a female bust point and a female hip as a first language. Say so at the door. Watch how they listen.
There are two different jobs on this side of the trade and it helps to keep them apart. One is western tailoring: jackets, trousers, skirts, coats, evening dresses, the clothes you wear to work or a wedding in Wichita. The other is the cheongsam, the Cantonese dress the rest of the world calls a qipao. That second job is a Hong Kong speciality in its own right, with its own sifus, its own silk, and a fitting that has nothing to do with a men’s block pattern. I have put both on this page because guests ask for both.
Raja Fashions
Same Cameron Road shops as the men’s entry. Raja is one of the few Tsim Sha Tsui tailors that treats women’s work as a proper half of the business rather than an afterthought. Jackets, trousers, skirts, dresses, coats, and Indian formalwear sit in the same cloth library as the men’s suits. Ladies’ jackets and dresses typically follow the same cloth bands as the men’s work, about HK$3,880 to HK$8,880 (US$500 to US$1,140) and up once the mill gets serious. If a couple arrives together, this is often the simplest first stop because nobody has to be sent down the road. Book in the morning if the diary is tight. Name the cloth. Ask who is cutting the women’s pattern, not just who is holding the tape. Flagship telephone: +852 2366 7624. Raja Luxe telephone: +852 2311 5612. Website: raja-fashions.com.
Bobby’s Fashions
3A Carnarvon Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. Bobby’s has been making ladies’ garments for decades and they say so without being prompted, which is rarer than it should be. Jackets, dresses, trousers, coats and leather. Ladies’ work typically sits in the same mid range as the men’s, about HK$4,000 to HK$8,500 (US$515 to US$1,090) depending on cloth and the garment. If a guest has already been talked into a cheap package elsewhere and wants a grown-up second attempt, this is a tailor I am happy to name. Ask how they handle a correction after the flight home. That answer matters more on a dress than it does on a navy jacket. Telephone: +852 2724 2615 or +852 2366 0182. Website: bobbysfashions.com.
L and K Custom Tailors
2 Carnarvon Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. Suits, shirts and dresses, and they are used to a visitor arriving with a photograph and a deadline. Ladies’ jackets, dresses and skirt suits typically sit around HK$4,000 to HK$8,000 (US$515 to US$1,025). This is practical women’s tailoring for people who need the garment to work on a real body, not on a hanger. Easy to find, English across the counter, and they will not look baffled if the brief is a skirt suit for a Tuesday in July rather than a ballgown. Telephone: +852 2369 7278 or +852 2369 7277. Website: lktailor.com.
OM Custom Tailors
Shop LG56, Lower Ground Floor, Peninsula Centre, 67 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East. OM keeps turning up on visitor lists specifically for women’s work: suits, dresses, formalwear, the lot. Useful when the stay is short. Ladies’ suits and dresses typically sit around HK$3,000 to HK$6,500 (US$385 to US$835). The 24-hour habit is real. So is the usual warning. Fast is fine if the cloth has a name and the second look is in the diary. Do not skip the fitting because the shop is confident. Telephone: +852 2366 2603. WhatsApp: +852 9022 2857. Website: omtailors.com.
Rashmi Custom Tailors
12th Floor, Block A, Suite A3, Burlington Arcade, 90-94 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. Open 7 days, walk-ins welcome, women’s work available alongside the men’s. Same arcade as Sam’s, different floor. Couples use them because both can be measured in one visit. Ladies’ garments typically follow the same band as the men’s, about HK$3,000 to HK$6,500 (US$385 to US$835). Give yourself the lift ride. Slow down at the cloth book. Telephone: +852 2311 5362 or +852 9745 7058. Website: rashmi.com.
Irene Fashion
Flat B, 2nd Floor, Welley Building, 97 Wellington Street, Central. This is a women’s tailor first, not a men’s shop that also keeps a few dress bunches. Decades of made-to-measure work for women: jackets, professional clothes, evening wear, wedding gowns and cheongsam. W.W. Chan’s ladies’ section has lived in this world for more than 50 years, and Irene is the name that keeps being given when a resident wants a cutter who thinks in a female pattern from the first chalk mark. Expect Central prices rather than Nathan Road prices, commonly from about HK$8,000 to HK$16,000 (US$1,025 to US$2,050) for serious jacket or dress work, and more for a wedding gown. Book. This is Central, not a Nathan Road walk in. Telephone is often routed through W.W. Chan on +852 2366 9738. Website: wwchan.com. Instagram: irenefashionhk.
William Cheng and Son
8th Floor, 38 Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. The same QTS tailor as the men’s list, and they have been cutting for women since William Cheng opened in 1958. Quiet, businesslike, good at keeping a pattern on file so a jacket can be reordered from abroad. Ladies’ jackets and suits typically sit around HK$5,000 to HK$10,000 (US$640 to US$1,280). A sensible choice if the brief is a working wardrobe rather than a souvenir dress. Telephone: +852 2739 7888. Website: williamcheng-son.com.
Linva Tailor
Ground Floor, 38 Cochrane Street, Central. If you have ever watched Maggie Cheung walk down a corridor in In the Mood for Love, you have already seen Linva’s work. Master Leung Ching-wah has been making cheongsam here since the 1960s and the shop became a pilgrimage site after that film. Traditional cuts, serious silk, collar shape, hem and split height all argued over properly. A custom cheongsam typically sits around HK$4,000 to HK$12,000 (US$515 to US$1,540), with rare silk and heavy embroidery climbing fast. Expect more than one fitting. This is not a 24 hour errand. Give it days. That is the point. Telephone: +852 2544 2456. Older listings also used linvafashion.com. Facebook is often the live shop window.
Mee Wah Qipao
76 Queen’s Road West, Sheung Wan. The Kan family have been making cheongsam in Sheung Wan since the 1930s. Three generations, hand work from measurement to cut, silk and brocade in rolls along the wall. Owner Kan Hong Wing still works in the old way. Hours are typically 11am to 6pm Monday to Saturday. A full custom piece is often quoted in days rather than hours, commonly 3 to 4 if the shop is not slammed, and typically sits around HK$3,000 to HK$8,000 (US$385 to US$1,025), more once the silk and the embroidery get serious. This is the oldest serious cheongsam room I am comfortable putting on a tourist page, and it is still a working shop, not a museum. Telephone: +852 2543 6889. After hours: +852 9831 5836. Website: meewahqipao.wordpress.com.
Frey
Shop G04, 9 Queen’s Road Central. A modern women’s tailor rather than a Nathan Road suit shop. Founded in Hong Kong by Frederieke van Doorn after years in men’s tailoring, Frey cuts workwear, jackets, trousers, skirts and coats for women who are tired of borrowing a men’s block and hoping. Ready-to-wear plus a create-your-own service. Jackets and tailored pieces commonly sit around HK$3,500 to HK$9,000 (US$450 to US$1,155) depending on cloth and whether you are buying off the rack or creating your own. Appointment culture, Italian cloth, a different tempo from Burlington Arcade. Put it on the list if the brief is a working wardrobe for a woman who lives in jackets, not a cruise-ship evening dress. Telephone: +852 9172 0701. Website: frey-tailored.com.
What I Tell Guests On The Day
Give the job 2 visits if you can. Morning measurement and cloth on day 1. Late afternoon or next-day fitting for the jacket or the dress, with time left to correct the shoulder, the bust, the collar or the sleeve pitch before you fly. A 24 hour garment is a product designed for people who will not be here tomorrow. Sometimes that is you. Often it does not need to be.
Do not buy 6 suits on the first afternoon because the package looks cheap. Buy 1 jacket and 2 trousers, or 1 suit and 3 shirts, or 1 dress and a jacket, wear them hard, and order the rest later from the pattern they should have kept. The shops that want a relationship will be happy with that. The shops that want a lump sum will look disappointed. That disappointment is information.
Summer in Hong Kong is hostile to heavy cloth. If you are walking from Central to the Star Ferry in July you want high-twist wool, fresco, a tropical open weave, or linen if you accept the creasing. Super 150s and Super 180s look lovely in the book and then collapse in Mong Kok humidity. A cutter who talks you out of the finest number on the page is doing you a favour.
Chinese New Year remains a bad week to commission anything. Shops close. Cutters go home. Do not arrive on the 2nd day of the year and expect a fitting on the 3rd.
A cheongsam is not a western dress with a high collar. The hang, the binding, the pankou buttons and the way the dress sits on the hip are a separate craft. If that is what she actually wants, start at Linva or Mee Wah, not at a Nathan Road suit shop that keeps two rolls of brocade by the door.
Out Of Left Field, Because The Subject Deserves It
The Hong Kong Tailors Association has been living with a shrinking pool of master cutters for years. One widely quoted figure puts the drop in master tailors at about 40% since 2010. Rents did that. Age did that. The mainland workshops did that. When a 70 year-old cutter retires, you do not replace him with an app. You replace him with a younger person who may be very good and is still not him. That is why I keep sending people to family tailors with a son or a grandson already in the room.
There is also a quiet split in what “Made in Hong Kong” now means. Measurement in Tsim Sha Tsui and sewing in Dongguan in Mainland China can still produce a wearable jacket. It is not the same jacket you get when the canvas is padded 8 floors above Nathan Road by someone who will see you again on Thursday. Ask the question. You are allowed to ask the question.
Women’s tailoring in this city has always been the poor cousin of the men’s trade, which is daft, because half the people who ask me the question are not men. The shops that take women seriously show it in the first 2 minutes. The shops that do not will measure her as if she were a smaller version of him. That is your cue to leave.
I do not wear tailored clothes myself. I have said that on the site before and it still surprises people. I walk every day, I work in the heat, and I have never felt the need to stand in front of a mirror in Burlington Arcade for my own sake. That does not stop me knowing a good shoulder when I see one on a guest. It also means I have no pet shop to protect. The lists above are not an advertisement. They are the lists I would hand to a couple from Wichita, Kansas on a Tuesday afternoon if they asked me where they should spend real money.
One last superstition, because I was born on Friday the 13th and Hong Kong has trained me to take these things seriously. Some older clients still pick a lucky date for the first fitting. The cutter will not laugh. If a date matters to you, say so. This city has always understood that clothes and luck travel together.
Final Thought For 2027
Hong Kong tailoring is not dying. It is thinning. The pavement circus is as loud as ever. The serious rooms are a little quieter, a little dearer, and still capable of sending you home in a jacket or a dress that makes the rest of the wardrobe look borrowed. Start with one of the tailors on this page. Take the extra fitting. Write the mill name on your phone. Leave the tout on Nathan Road talking to somebody else.
I want this last point made without any wriggle room. I have no vested interest in any tailor on this list. I do not take a commission. I never have. Most of these shops I have never even walked into. What I do have is 54 years in this city, a lot of friends, and a lot of people I have taken out on private tours who come back and tell me, in detail, what happened when they handed over their measurements and their money. I also know how to read TripAdvisor. Not the star score. The last 12 months, the pattern, and the replies.
I actually know one young chap who stands outside Chungking Mansions on Nathan Road which is a very famous building. His main job is to promote his friend’s tailor shop. He has business cards, the whole nine yards, and he is a really friendly young man. I would not trust a tailor’s shop in Chungking Mansions as far as I can spit.
If you want company getting across the harbour and through the first conversation at the counter, that is a different conversation. This page is here so you can do the choosing with your eyes open
So there you go
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Go here for the Hong Kong Michelin Restaurant Guide which includes the Bib Gourmand Category
I do not do Food Tours in Hong Kong but I know people that do!
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The information above can be shown to restaurant managers in Hong Kong if you are intolerant to gluten and nuts,
I do not do food tours as mentioned above, I have very specific reasons and part of it is that I do not speak Cantonese or write Chinese, I am from Yorkshire in England and I lack the language gene and it is not through lack of trying and yes a lot of restaurants do not have English menu’s or staff who speak conversational English.
.. and yet I have eaten at close to 1,400 restaurants in Hong Kong since January 2nd 1972, my wife was born in Hong Kong and we have been together over 40 years and her first language is Cantonese and a lot of her family are Chinese or half Chinese so I have never had much of an issue!
This does not translate to doing food tours though, yes, I could do them, no problem there but they would never ever be as good as the food tours done by my friends (see the 3 links above) most of their awesome guides are locally born Hong Kong Chinese and obviously food culture is part of their DNA, it is impossible for me to compete with that!
So please feel free to contact them for food tours
I do not do Hiking Tours in Hong Kong but I know someone that does!
I do not do Hiking Tours, never have and never will even though I used to go Hiking a lot when I was a lot younger, The Hong Kong Government is promoting hiking tours so I urge you to contact my friend Sabrina at Hong Kong Trails and Tours, she is a long time Hong Kong resident and and a very experienced hiker with close to 700 Hikes in 15+ years under her belt, please click on the link below
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