Midnightsun

In November I will be in Hong Kong for approximately twenty-four hours en route from Bhutan back to the U.S. I will arrive at 6:30 A.M. and will leave the next morning around 10:00. To make things easier, I will be staying near the airport. I expect that I will be able to leave the airport and travel to downtown by 9:30 A.M., and I'll spend the entire day there. I'd like to do general sight-seeing (I have never been to Hong Kong), but I am intrigued by the idea of having a suit made to order. Is it possible to do that with an A.M. measurement and a return to the tailor later that same day? If so, where would any of you recommend that I go?

Kathie

I do not recommend that you do this. To gat a custom-made suit that looks good and fits well, you need a minimum of three fittings, over at least 5 days, preferably a week. Yes, there are places that will make you a suit in 24 hours, but it will not be a quality job.

Rather than staying at the airport, I'd suggest you stay in the city and have the chance to see and experience some of Hong Kong.

Pebbles3

It really depends what you kind of suit and quality you expect/want plus if you are willing to pay the extra/additional surcharge. There are quality tailors out there who can do it, but they don't come in cheap. Keep in mind that you get what you pay for. Same applies for tailor-made shirts, suits, dresses etc.

Here is a good article (incl. an overview of the most popular tailors in Hong Kong) what you should consider when doing a tailor made shirt/suit in Hong Kong etc: http://www.nextstophongkong.com/tailor-made-suits/

In case you opt for getting a custom made suit, you might want to take a suit with you (as a reference or blue-print) and in case you can't pick up the item at your preferred time ask if they deliver it to your hotel or if they have the option to send the suit to your home overseas.

Kathie

Keep in mind that having a tailor copy an existing piece of clothing does not yield a custom-made garment. It yields a copy of a mass-produced garment. And if you let them mail you your suit, you will not have had final fittings and changes required in all custom-made garments.

Also, tailoring in Hong Kong is expensive. You will pay more than you would for an off-the rack suit in the US, so you will want to make sure you are getting a well-made suit. You won't get a well-made suit in a day.

DonTopaz

I've never known of a tailor who both advertises same-day turnaround and also produces anything close to a quality suit. But your cause is not lost.

While it's true that you get the very best results from multiple fittings, you can still get an excellent made-to-order suit in a single visit. Dozens of Hong Kong-based tailors make yearly trips to the U.S. in which they measure their customers in a single visit and produce top-notch, well-fitting, clothing. The key is that you almost surely won't be able to take the suit back with you -- instead, the tailor would ship it back to you a few days later. You should be very aware that there are several different levels of quality among HK tailors, with prices to match.

Having a great fit is not the only advantage of a having a suit made in HK. First, there's the amazing feeling of being able to choose from the hundreds of different fabrics -- summer-weight, year-round, light colors, dark colors, solids, stripes, Italian woolens, linens ... the choice seems endless. Plus, you get to have exactly the style and features you want. If it's your first made-to-order, you almost surely won't even be aware of the options available to you -- there's a wealth of information in the AskAndy site, especially in the http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/f...spoke-Clothing forum.

Now it's possible that, as Pebbles3 suggests, you might find a decent tailor willing to produce a 1-day suit for an additional charge. Were they to do this, they'd send it to your hotel by messenger when it's finished at night. However, unless you find a tailor with a good reputation who would do this, you might well be throwing away your money.

I've had suits made at a few places in Hong Kong. Best by far were from W.W. Chan -- top-notch materials and tailoring, with prices to match. I've also had good luck with Peter Lee at Lee Baron, which is a step down in quality/price compared to Chan. I used to have suits done by Ash Samtani (roughly same price level as Lee Baron), but his quality deteriorated over the years. All of these mentioned also make trips overseas.

Cicerone

How Hong Kong manages to keep the old chestnut alive that both fast and good quality tailoring is still alive and well in Hong Kong is beyond me. I certainly do not see that, and I have lived her more than 12 years. The tailors must be paying the guidebooks to keep publishing that nonsense….

I can’t stress strongly enough what a waste of time and money this would be if you have only 1 day in Hong Kong. Even if you had a week, spending time on this would be questionable. There are so many other interesting things you could do with that time. Take the amount you would spend on the suit and do something useful with it and your time.

Good quality tailoring is still available here, but it is neither cheap nor quick.