The London Lounge

Hi

Forgive my irreverence re the title of my post but, I am Australian.

I'm travelling to Hong Kong in early february and have my heart set on being measured for a linen suit at Sam's while I'm there.

Has anyone been here before? I mean having Sam produce a linen suit?

I remember having a linen suit as a very young 20'ish year old man and now in my mid fifties I confess to having little knowledge of the fabric.

I would be delighted if anyone can offer some enlightenment about linen and secondly their experience with Sam's in Hong Kong?

Many thanks

O

If you go to Sam's door then take two lefts and a lift ride to the 2nd floor, you will find WW Chan. They carry W Bill, as well as several other good English books of Irish linen. They will also do a nice job making it up-- although you might have to e-mail ahead to make sure that it's in stock. I'm guessing that this will be a problem with a lot of HK shops.

Sam's are awful, don''t disappoint yourself. They do reasonable work for their Hollywood customers and appalling work for everybody else.

WW Chans will do a very competent job for you, as will Gordon Yao at the Royal Palace Hotel in Tsim Sha Shui East, about 3 minutes by cab from WW Chans. Both have good cutters and tailors with 3-5 decades experience each, based in Hong Kong. Prices fairly similar.

I am follow Aussie, like the other said give Sam a miss.

You can purchase linen suiting here from The Cloth Club to take to Hong Kong. Gordon Yao will do CMT but not WW Chan. Both houses can source W Bill linen which is a good alternative.

Sams is absolutely dreadful and solely exists to rip off tourists. Don't fall for it.

Gordon Yao (Royal Garden Hotel on Mody Road not as above is excellent and will do CMT, Chan is of a similar standard but won't do that.

Consider this another vote for Gordon Yao. He has made a few LL cloth suits for me (no linens, though, as of yet) and he also carries a full line of linen from other producers.

I know that Gordon himself also travels (at least sometimes) to Australia. He's fully fluent and conversational in English, and makes a wonderful suit.

I worked with WW Chan on a couple of pieces, as well, but thought that their house style was a bit stodgy. I didn't know enough to ask, and the jackets on my armholes are very low. (Achingly British, I would say.) Atractive for what they are, but I definitely prefer higher-armholed, longer-waisted jackets. The fact that they won't use LL fabrics makes Mr. Yao a no-brainer for me when I'm having something crafted in HK.

Was that your Brisa DB Yao posted on Styleforum recently?

rogiercreemers wrote:Was that your Brisa DB Yao posted on Styleforum recently?

Yes, post 215 and 216 are both LL Brisas and both now hang proudly in my closet. I'm really pleased by the quality of Mr. Yao's work, and I see that at least one other member must be, as well, since I saw a tweed herringbone posted in the same thread.

It is a wonderful suit, and I must say I especially like the shape of the lapels. However, you have made my life slightly more difficult, in the sense that I had anticipated turning this PoW into a blazersuit and wear the coat as a separate. Now, your suit has sort of made me wondering whether or not I could pull it off as a DB odd jacket...

caldwell wrote:

rogiercreemers wrote:Was that your Brisa DB Yao posted on Styleforum recently?

Yes, post 215 and 216 are both LL Brisas and both now hang proudly in my closet. I'm really pleased by the quality of Mr. Yao's work, and I see that at least one other member must be, as well, since I saw a tweed herringbone posted in the same thread.

Gordon can be thoroughly recommended: I have had about 15 suits, several jackets and pairs of trousers from him over the years.

Is Gordon Yao still going?

Many thanks!

Just picked up a Reid and Taylor deadstock PoW three piece from him last Saturday. Not a fast email responder, though.