With more than six decades of experience, veteran tailor Benny Woo has dressed some of Hong Kong’s most prominent figures, including tycoon Li Ka-shing and Cantopop star Andy Lau Tak-wah.

The 77-year-old, who has decided to close his eponymous street-level shop in Sheung Wan by the end of the month, has also witnessed how the city’s once-booming, world-famous tailoring industry has gradually waned amid changing fashion trends and disappearing shoppers.

“Business used to be great. Managerial staff at big international companies would always wear suits. But that is no longer the case after the pandemic. Even if my current rent drops by tens of thousands of dollars, I still would not survive,” he said, having been at the current shop for about two years.

Known as Master Woo to his customers, the seasoned tailor recalled that he came to Hong Kong from Shanghai at the age of seven and began his career as an apprentice under his father at 14. Three years later, he started working independently when they were in high demand in the 1960s.

“It was so easy. If you resigned in the morning, you could start working somewhere else by the afternoon. Back then, a police officer made about HK$200 a month, while I could earn up to HK$1,000,” he said.

His clientele consisted mainly of American tourists, who would order more than a dozen suits at a time because it was much cheaper to have them made in Hong Kong than in the United States, he said, calling that period “the golden age”.