Three men's fashion start-ups made in Hong Kong

Since the 1950s, many Hong Kong businessmen have depended on the city's multitude of custom tailors to create their working wardrobes. More recently, however, a host of style-conscious, homegrown tailoring brands are bringing fierce competition to the scene.

Milk Shirts, which was launched in 2012 by London College of Fashion graduate Sheetal Pritmani, is the epitome of a 21st century business: it cuts out the tailor completely and is mostly based online. It specialises in just one item that Pritmani calls the "holy grail" of men's fashion - the white shirt. "I'd been to tailors in Hong Kong, but I found it a very hectic experience, so the idea of taking the traditional experience and modernising it and taking it online fascinated me. I wanted to create something that was more private, personalised, unique and user-friendly," she says.

Initially Milk Shirts offered only classic white shirts, available in two fits (classic or slim) from the ready-to-wear collection or made to measure. For the latter, customers are required to submit six essential body measurements which are then stored in the system for future orders (Pritmani says they have a 95 per cent success rate with fit). Orders are completed in 10 to 12 days.

Unlike many local tailors that use workshops across the border, Milk's are made in Hong Kong from start to finish at a small, family-run workshop that dates back almost 50 years. While many of the 20 plus tailors trained in Hong Kong and Shanghai, Pritmani says they have moved with the times and adopted a more fashionable approach to suit the modern customer.