Hello and welcome back to our show Dreams, Passion & Your Hong Kong Story. Today we have with us the dynamic father-son duo, Mr. Manu Melwani and Mr. Roshan Melwani from the famous Sam’s Tailor of Hong Kong. The story of Sam’s Tailor began as early as 1957 when Manu Melwani’s father, Sam Melwani, moved to Hong Kong and set up his tailoring shop. What started as a tailor shop soon became a flourishing business, today led by Sam’s sons Sham and Manu, and his grandson Roshan. Sam’s Tailor is premier supplier of bespoke tailored casual, business, and formal attire, famous for the A-list clientele it has attracted over generations, from Queen Elizabeth to Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, and Boris Becker. Mr. Melwani, you were quite young when you moved to Hong Kong with your father. Many Sindhis who came at that time took up tailoring and moved into trading and real estate. Can you tell us what made them succeed? In the shipping business, textiles, factories, tailoring was our middleman work, buying like a fish from the sea and selling. We were Indians who knew how to talk to people very well, committed to showing the customers salesmanship. A lot of Gujaratis, Marwaris, and Parsis built universities and Star Ferry, and we were well known with them. We were making uniforms for military people, army, navy, airport. My father was very interested in making uniforms for the British. In 1952 my father came from India. I was born in 1948. He worked for five years, then started his own business in October ’57. In ’59 we all came to Hong Kong and started this small business. My father was only one person, then I used to do school work and help my dad, my sister and brother too. What made Sam’s Tailor so distinguished? There was an army barracks just across the road, Whitfield Barracks. There were about 7,000 to 8,000 tailors in Hong Kong, Chinese, Shanghainese. Competition was high, like fish. But our profits were very low, we were modest, we didn’t want high profits, and we paid attention to what the customer asked for. Then I came into the business after school, and customers told me, \”Your dad doesn’t understand modern uniform styling, why don’t you learn how to make uniforms?\” I learned from customers. Then I went to London, to Savile Row, to work with Tommy Nutter and a few tailors. I didn’t ask for a salary, which they liked. The first thing they taught me was how to clean the floor and how to stitch. They didn’t let me tailor right away. For two weeks I cleaned floors. I asked the head cutter, and he said, \”We want to see how your hands work with the needle and the iron.\” That experience was very important: how much stitching is needed, what thread tension, what angle to hold the needle, 65 degrees. Savile Row is where designers work. I worked there for a few months, and then my mother called me back to Hong Kong because my father needed help. So your reputation grew internationally by word of mouth through the British Army? That’s right, and that’s how we got to royal families. Nowadays we do it quietly. Roshan, how was it growing up in Hong Kong as a third-generation Sindhi? Was entrepreneurship in your blood? I think entrepreneurship runs through everyone born in Hong Kong. Growing up, walking into my grandfather’s and then my father’s shop, seeing the brisk trade and energy, it sweeps you in like a global marketplace. When I graduated from NYU, I worked for Herbert Smith, a big British law firm in Hong Kong, then worked in London for just over a year, and then returned to the family business. The ease of doing business in Hong Kong is unparalleled, no red tape, sensational infrastructure. In London, I was recruited because of my Hong Kong entrepreneurial mindset, where at 5 PM on a Friday you don’t clock off until Monday morning. You are dialed in all the time. But the skill set I developed navigating bureaucracy abroad allowed me to maneuver the Hong Kong landscape easily, because here everyone wants to make things happen. I speak to universities worldwide, and I don’t think it matters what specific degree you study; what matters is being open to learning, gaining experience, and applying it. Returning at 23 was the ideal time for me to test my feet. What challenges have you faced? There are fresh challenges every day: SARS, swine flu, 9/11, the 2019 protests, and now the pandemic. Supply chain issues showed how dependent the world is on regional hubs. On a daily level, working with my father is a challenge, two completely different generations and mindsets, but Hong Kong is filled with generational family businesses to draw counsel from. How do you differentiate Sam’s against fast fashion? We are super fast. Rather than browsing aimlessly, you spend 36 hours or less with us, guided by me through the process. People have predicted the demise of the suit for 30 years since dress-down Fridays in the ’90s, but the suit is alive and kicking. People wear suits to make a statement. What is next for you? Continuing to work hard. I get up between 4 and 5 AM every day and do community work. Our production is finite, because nobody grows up wanting to be a tailor, but after 63 years we remain relevant. In rapid-fire questions: Favorite dining? 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana for formal Italian, and Henry’s at the Rosewood for casual. How do you unwind? Spending time with my kids anywhere, or intimate dinners with friends. I don’t drink alcohol, so bars aren’t my scene. First time doing something recently? Running the vertical 10k race from Central Pier up to Victoria Peak on October 1st, 2018. If not Sam’s, where would you buy? G2000, a great, evolving Hong Kong brand. Three words to describe your Hong Kong life? Fun, brave, and full of surprises. What makes you proudest of Hong Kong? Its relentlessness, infrastructure, and bounce-back ability. There is no experience like Hong Kong.