HONG KONG—Most businesses struggle when nobody wants to buy their products. Most of Hong Kong’s elite tailor shops have the opposite problem.
“We are seeing an increase in demand in the United States. Tailor-made suits are becoming more and more popular,” says Anthony Asaf, the founder of Empire International Tailors. Empire is one of Hong Kong’s most successful custom made tailors, since 1983.
This would be good news, if their breed of skilled Hong Kong-born tailors wasn’t slowly dying out and retiring one by one—with no replacement in sight.
“Maybe there are younger tailors across the border but it’s not considered original. Hong Kong is all original. The more experience you have the better. These guys are in their 60s they have been doing it since they are 14,” says Mark Asaf, Anthony’s son, who takes an active part in managing the business.
