Singapore · Textile / Tailoring / Garment Making
洋服 (yangfu, 'Western clothing'); 裁剪 (caijian, cutting)
The cutting and sewing of made-to-measure shirts, trousers and suits in Singapore by family-run shophouse tailors, a trade built by Chinese migrant tailors from the 1880s. At its center is the cutter: the shop's master tailor (the towkay) measures the customer, cuts the cloth and fits the garment, while a back room of tailors, each at their own machine, sews it. Two lines survive: the Cantonese-led Chinatown shophouse trade, and the shirt-and-suit houses that grew from it, such as CYC (founded 1935) and Meiko Tailor (founded 1977, full-canvas jackets).
Risk level: Endangered · Not inscribed
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