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What do business tycoon Li Ka-shing and Cantopop star Andy Lau Tak-wah have in common? Both are prominent figures from Hong Kong who have been dressed by Benny Woo.
The veteran tailor has more than six decades of experience. He witnessed the rise of Hong Kong’s once-booming, world-famous tailoring industry. But he has also seen its gradual wane in recent years as fashion trends change and shoppers disappear.
In November, the 77-year-old decided to close Benny Woo Sartoria, his street-level shop in Sheung Wan. He relocated to a unit in a commercial building to continue serving his existing customers.
“Business used to be great. Managerial staff at big international companies would always wear suits,” he said. “But that is no longer the case after the pandemic.”
Tailoring’s heyday
To his customers, the seasoned tailor is known as Master Woo. He came to Hong Kong from Shanghai at the age of seven and began his career as an apprentice under his father at 14. Three years later, in the 1960s, he started working independently.
“It was so easy. If you resigned in the morning, you could start working somewhere else by the afternoon. Back then, a police officer made about HK$200 a month, while I could earn up to HK$1,000,” he said.
His clientele consisted mainly of American tourists, who would order more than a dozen suits at a time. This was because it was cheaper to have them made in Hong Kong than in the United States, he said.
Business would begin to dwindle in the late 1970s, as fewer American tourists came to Hong Kong after the Vietnam war. Mainland China’s opening up in the 1980s also made apparel production cheaper.
Vietnam war
Katon Lee Kai-chun is an assistant professor at Lingnan University who researches tailoring in Hong Kong. He explained how the Vietnam war helped encourage the rise of suit-making in Hong Kong.
“American military personnel came to Hong Kong for what was known as ‘rest and recuperation’. One of the main things they did was buy suits,” Lee said.
Hong Kong would become known as a centre for suits with quick turnarounds, sometimes being completed within 24 hours. According to Lee, after the Vietnam war ended, demand for suits dropped sharply. Some tailors were forced to seek alternative livelihoods, such as working as building porters.
He noted there was a major dearth of tailors in Hong Kong from the 1980s onwards. Wages were too low to attract new blood into the industry. But there was a slight revival around the turn of the century when tailors began focusing on high-end suits.
End of an era
In the early 2000s, Woo opened his own shop in Central. He sold it after a few years because it was not very profitable. He then joined Ascot Chang, known for its shirts, to help launch its suit line.
In 2018, he decided to try running his own tailoring business again. But changing tastes meant there was not enough business to support the shop’s high rent.
Woo lamented the industry’s decline. He noted that most of the work was now outsourced from Hong Kong.
Reflecting on his long career, Woo said he was fortunate to have had the opportunity to appreciate the fine craftsmanship of suit-making. He added that his greatest regret was not being able to pass on his decades of experience to the next generation of tailors.
“As long as I’m fit and able to get things done, I’ll keep at it,” he said.
