Source:
https://scmp.com/business/companies/article/3083685/working-home-sagging-tourist-visits-amid-coronavirus-snip-hong Companies
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
Roshan Melwani, manager of Sam’s Tailor in Tsim Sha Tsui, has seen business slow down because of the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Winson Wong
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.
Hong Kong’s economy fell into a technical recession last year after it was hit hard by months of anti-government protests and a trade war between the US and China. It contracted by 8.9 per cent in the first quarter of this year as the coronavirus took hold, the worst on record. The city’s economy is expected to shrink by 4 per cent to 7 per cent for the full year.
Against that backdrop, retail sales in the city plunged to a historic low in the first quarter, with sales declining by more than 40 per cent in both February and March. Tourist arrivals also fell by 99 per cent in March as the city shut its borders to nearly all non-residents after visitors from mainland China and overseas declined sharply in the second half of last year.
For tailors and other sellers of apparel, February and March were even starker. Sales of clothing in Hong Kong dropped 71 per cent year on year to HK$1.7 billion (US$219 million) in February and 67 per cent to HK$1.8 billion in March, according to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department.
Lyra Wong, managing partner at Royal Tailor, said his business began declining in September as protests forced his small shop in the Entertainment Building in Central to close for several days, but fell as much as 80 per cent in March and April as the pandemic stopped visiting businessmen and mainland clients from coming into the city.
Wong’s shop normally employs four tailors, but only has enough work for two right now. He said he knows of four to five tailor shops in Central, Admiralty and Tsim Sha Tsui that have closed as a result of the slowdown.
Foot traffic has improved in the past week as the city’s civil servants and other office workers began returning to work, but it could be another two or three months before business returns to normal, as customers hold off on big purchases during the economic downturn and travel to the city remains depressed, Wong said. About 30 per cent to 40 per cent of his business comes from visitors from overseas and the mainland.
“Before, we would only have some customers one or two days, making shirts only,” Wong said. “Now every day [we have] customers come inside to make something or ask about something. There have been more customers coming back.”
Kenny Ng of King’s Tailor on Des Voeux Road in Central said his business declined by 60 per cent since Lunar New Year as office workers stayed home and fewer visitors came to the city.
“The foreign customers – businessmen travelling from overseas – is about 20 per cent of our customers,” Ng said. “Now, it is no more.”
Overseas customers – a Swiss client was in touch this week – have contacted the shop by WhatsApp to have clothing made, but not too many, he said.
Bonny Yuen, who has worked a half-century as a tailor in Hong Kong, said February, March and April are normally the busiest time of the year, but business has declined sharply this year. The drop off in business was much worse than the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic in 2003, he said.
“Horrible,” he said. “I’ve never seen that in my life.”
Things have improved somewhat as more Hongkongers start to return to their offices, said Yuen, who runs Yuen’s Tailor at Tai Kwun on Hollywood Road with his brother Johnny.
Yuen said he has been getting requests recently from customers who have seen their waistlines expand in their time at home. One client is a fan of a nightly ice cream – and he can usually decide how many inches to add to their trousers based on how much weight they have gained, rather than taking new measurements.
“My guessing is high level,” Yuen said. “Very experienced.”
Like many small businesses, the pandemic – and diminished foot traffic – has forced the city’s tailors and haberdashers to adapt, from engaging with clients on social media to limiting the number of customers in their shops.
With clients stuck at home, Roshan of Sam’s Tailor said he is engaging with clients through Facebook Live broadcasts and on Instagram. He said he responds to everyone who comments on a post and his father, who has never used email, is now using Zoom to communicate with clients.
“This is not the time to sell. It is the time to engage, to show your human side,” he said.
Some tailors have contacted clients offering to make face masks, while others are taking measurements remotely from bankers who may need a slightly larger trouser when they trade in their sweatpants for office wear when they return to work.
Mark Cho, co-founder of The Armoury and co-owner of British menswear company Drake’s, is posting videos on Instagram and YouTube where he discusses men’s fashion and takes questions from followers. The videos range from book reviews on Italian tailoring to demonstrations on how to properly fold a pocket square or a match a jacket with trousers.
“Making these videos recently it is interesting what people have been asking for, what people have been responding to,” Cho said. “There are a lot of people who just enjoy seeing clothes and seeing people dress. They’re happy to live vicariously through the videos.”
Cho said The Armoury’s business declined by about 60 per cent in the first quarter as it was forced to close its New York stores indefinitely and has reduced staffing at its Pedder Building location in Central, which is now open by appointment only. The Landmark location is the only shop regularly staffed at the moment.
Customers who have come in have not been buying suits or bespoke tailoring as they did in the past, Cho said. Instead, they have been buying tops or sport coats to look presentable in video conference calls at home, he said.
“I’m also actually curious if working from home has now established itself as a norm in how you run an office. If that’s the case, we will need to develop some working from home type clothing,” Cho said. “Our speciality is tailoring, but our job is to actually outfit men professionally. The question is what are those professional clothing.”