At Sam's Tailor, the swarm of cell phones in the hands of his assistants are almost as important as the tape measures, needles and fabrics that made his grandfather's business famous.

Without this reinvention and the profits accumulated over the decades, the tailor's shop could have been wrecked, like much of this once thriving industry.

It "cannot fill the void that exists because for so long people have not been able to enter Hong Kong freely (...) but it has kept us in the minds of all our customers globally “, he says.

Few places have been as isolated as this city during the pandemic.

During this period, Roshan Melwani focused on internet sales and tried to attract new customers with lively live social media sessions.

"If I didn't have 60 years of money behind me, I wouldn't be able to function," he explains.

"Before the pandemic, I had a minimum of twenty people I worked with every day, sometimes up to forty people, six days a week."

Some have remained loyal, like Tim, an American businessman who updated his entire wardrobe during the pandemic and is now looking for a bolder item.

It's a burgundy three-piece, with an inner lining printed with pin-up images that Mr. Melwani shows on screen.

Tim and his wife hesitate and finally allow themselves to be seduced.

"Yeah, let's go," Tim slices, before deciding on the rest of the details and sending them off to the sewing studio.

- The good old times -

Before Covid, Sam's Tailor was a must stop for many visitors to Hong Kong.

The walls of the small room are adorned with photos of his illustrious clients: Bill Clinton, Boris Johnson, George Bush, Meghan Markle, King Emeritus Juan Carlos I, Bruno Mars, Russel Crowe...

Discreet and concentrated behind his counter, his father Manu Melwani thinks back with nostalgia to the golden age of the profession, before express fashion and the advent of a more casual style.

Manu Melwani measures fabrics in his Sam's Tailor store in Hong Kong, October 25, 2022 © Peter PARKS / AFP

"In the colonial era, all the executives, the bankers, wanted a tailor-made suit," he recalls.

"The young people now want to go to the hanger, take it and go again".

His business had held up despite the difficulties and was "at full capacity".

"But when the virus started in 2019, boom! She collapsed and is still not back on her feet," he explains.

A feeling shared in the industry, which flourished in the 1950s with the arrival of skilled tailors from Shanghai, following their Western clientele who emigrated after the victory of communism in China.

Hong Kong tailors have earned their acclaim for their quality pieces, efficiency and low cost.

Within a day or two, a traveler could get a bespoke suit at a cheaper price than in London or New York.

"Should I cry?"

If express fashion and changing trends had already affected the sector, the pandemic was particularly brutal.

“We have never faced these difficulties before,” says Andy Chan, president of the Hong Kong Tailors Association.

Roshan Melwani shows details of a suit to a remote customer at his Sam's Tailor store in Hong Kong, October 25, 2022 © Peter PARKS / AFP

Hong Kong only scrapped the costly mandatory hotel quarantine in September, long after rival business hubs like Singapore had reopened to the world.

The city went from 65 million visitors welcomed in 2018 to 91,000 in 2021. And despite the gradual reopening, only 80,000 people arrived in October.

"We estimate that during these four years, 40 percent of tailors closed down," Chan said.

But he doesn't think this is "the end".

"The whole world has changed. We are just faced with something interesting, exciting, new," he says.

"We can feel sorry for the pandemic but we have to survive. Life goes on."

Hyperactive, Roshan Melwani also refuses to be defeated.

"I'm losing money but what can I do? Should I cry? (...) I don't have time to feel this pain, I have to give my all to get us out of trouble.

© 2022 AFP