Hong Kong tailor touts London trade

Raja fashions takes digital photos of customers which are used back in Hong Kong

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A top London hotel is not an obvious place to find a tailor that will make business suits or other formal attire.

But Raja fashions from Hong Kong sets up business once a month dragging the cloth, designs and salesmen halfway across the globe.

Tailors from the former British colony have been making this journey for years, yet it is only recently that the business has boomed.

Raja used to sell just 100 suits in three days, but now they sell over 1,000 with a constant stream of new and old clients.

"Initially you have a lot of resistance, for us we are Hong Kong's largest tailors, we have our clients buying with us in Hong Kong, so they know us from Hong Kong," says Raja Daswani of Raja Fashions.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO CNN's Richard Quest gets a suit from a tailoring business that takes measurements for suits in London then has them made in Hong Kong (May 6) Play video

"When we come over (to London) they recommend their friends, or they buy themselves or their families (buy), so the trust is there."

It is the first time client Mark Simpson has made the trek to suite 504 to order a suit to be made in Hong Kong.

"I think it is almost as convenient as using a London tailor and overall the experience has been great," he says.

After more choosing, measuring and indecision the high-tech nature of the business takes control.

Photos are taken so the tailors cutting the cloth in Hong Kong will know the exact shape of the client.

A workroom in Hong Kong is where the measurements are put to good use -- the suits are either made in the city itself, or just over the border in mainland China, where labor is even cheaper.

Hong Kong tailoring is known for being quick and relatively cheap with hundreds of suits a week coming from these workrooms.

Cheap labor in China enables the suits to be made more economically in Asia than in London

The finished suit is packed and parceled and sent to London by courier three weeks after the fitting.

At the London College of Fashion lecturer Alan Cannon-Jones assessed the $400 suit made in Hong Kong.

He says the collar may be a bit loose, the cut a bit generous, but Cannon-Jones gave high marks for the well-traveled suit.

Obviously because of the wait involved this way of buying clothes isn't for everyone.

However, at $400 it is a very good way to get a made-to-measure suit as if it had just taken it off the rack.