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Menswear on the move

SINGAPORE — Since 2014, tailor Kenneth Chia has been providing a tailoring service that is rather offbeat.

SINGAPORE — Since 2014, tailor Kenneth Chia has been providing a tailoring service that is rather offbeat.

His mobile menswear service, A Gentleman’s Tale, is run from a customised van that even features a mobile showroom.

As a mobile tailor, Chia has had some interesting “house calls”.

“My most outrageous request was to measure a shift-worker — at 2am in a car park,” he recalled with a smile.

Thanks to his willingness to accommodate such requests, Chia now counts Jaguar, Aston Martin, Land Rover and Bentley as corporate clients.

And next month, he is set to open a physical store — in a shipping container. “It goes with my unconventional way of doing business,” said the 32-year-old, who focuses on business attire.

Chia oversees a tailoring facility comprising tailors, cutters, and seamstresses in Singapore, which helps to turn out his impeccable bespoke pieces.

Asked about why he started out in a van, and Chia said that at the time, he was not unlike other travelling tailors who relied on public transport — hoofing around on buses, trains and taxis — to meet clients.

Realising there was a niche in the market to cater to the always-busy executive, he saved up enough to buy a van. The van “showroom” comes complete with a full-length mirror, a rack for clothing samples, a pull-out tray and cabinet filled with fabric swatches and samples, and even a pop-up changing room. LED lighting was also installed for a more accurate fabric selection.

This holistically equipped mobile showroom lets him measure and fit clients at any spot he can drive up to.

Taking a cue from his mobile service, Chia’s shipping container will be housed in a carpark in River Valley Road.

“Professional businesswear is my forte, and this is what I will continue to offer,” he said.

And these offerings will soon be extended to womens’ clothing too. “Although menswear is my mainstay, in the pipeline is a focused ladies’ wear service,” said Chia. He is working on a capsule collection of ready-to-wear clothing for women.

He explained that although his clientele comprises mostly men, some of their wives and girlfriends, seeing their partners’ tailored clothing, have turned to Chia for tailored jackets and skirts.

Later this year, he will also be launching an online platform for those seeking tailored clothes.

To ensure a perfect fit, Chia uses a thorough 18-point measurement system, taking care not to miss each body’s unique characteristics such as the slope of the shoulders, the arch of the back, and the overall body frame when fitting a client.

Using such measurements and his notes, a pattern is created from scratch.

Regular shirts and trousers are turned around in about a week. Jackets require two or three fittings, and their entire tailoring process takes about three weeks, from the initial measurement to the finished garment.

Chia’s bespoke clothing — depending on the quality of the fabrics used — starts at S$86 for a shirt. Trousers are S$126 and up, while jackets start at S$496. A two-piece suit starts from S$596.

A Gentleman’s Tale will open at 299 River Valley Road in early June. For enquiries, call 8742 1282.

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