Working from home, sagging tourist visits amid coronavirus snip Hong Kong’s tailoring industry
- Tailors pin their hopes on a return to normalcy in Hong Kong, an increase in travellers to the city later in the year as the pandemic subsides
- Some tailors said their business declined by as much as 80 per cent as the pandemic worsened this year
From “Mad Men” actor Jon Hamm to seven United States presidents, Sam’s Tailor in Tsim Sha Tsui has outfitted visiting celebrities, world leaders and businessmen since 1957.
But, Roshan Melwani, who has worked full-time in the shop since he was 23, and his father Manu have never seen business as slow as it has been since the coronavirus pandemic forced the city to adopt strict social distancing rules and close its borders to most inbound visitors in March.
The shop, which hosted the likes of rock star David Bowie, star soccer striker Harry Kane and actress Sigourney Weaver, normally attracts as many as 40 customers at a time, but had as few as one client every other day recently, Roshan said.
“The issue is not that I don’t have clients,” the 43-year-old said. “It’s just the world over people are not going into work. They’re not buying suits. Now summer is coming, so they’re buying less.”
The coronavirus, which causes the disease Covid-19, has infected more than 4 million people worldwide and shut down vast swathes of the global economy, as cities from New York to Singapore have adopted strict social distancing rules to try to stem the spread of the virus.