Pan Pacific Tailor Cutting Full-Canvas Suits Since 1977: Meiko Tailor

Meiko Tailor has cut bespoke suits at #02-01 Pan Pacific Singapore, 7 Raffles Boulevard, since 1986, and its full-canvas suits and jackets start from S$1,890 including GST. Master tailor Chung Chi Kwong founded the house in 1977, and every garment is still drafted, cut and finished in Singapore. If a search for a tailor near me lands you in Marina Centre, this second-floor hotel atelier carries five decades of one family's work.

The story starts with Chung Chi Kwong, who began learning the trade at 17 and, after national service, freelanced for more than 30 tailors as a jacket specialist, according to a 2023 SilverKris profile. With his wife he opened the first shop in Geylang Lorong 3 in 1977. The Mei in Meiko refers to her, so the name is a family tribute rather than a marketing invention.

A fire destroyed that workshop in the late 1970s, and in 1983 the couple moved to Kovan, selling ready-to-wear alongside tailoring. In 1986 a regular customer, a senior executive at the then-new Pan Pacific Hotel, invited Chung to open an atelier there. Meiko has been an anchor tenant ever since, riding out SARS in 2003 and a Covid closure when the hotel became a quarantine site.

During that Covid displacement the team turned its production space into a temporary shop and sewed more than 6,000 fabric masks for donation, which brought in fresh orders. Adele Chung left the corporate world and joined her father in 2018, taking on design, women's tailoring and the brand's digital side. A 2025 CNA feature summed the pair up as a heritage tailor, not an old tailor.

Elle Singapore described Meiko in 2025 as a fully made-in-Singapore house that does not outsource any of its production, and the official site says each bespoke suit is drafted, cut and finished in-house. All suits and jackets use full-canvas construction, so there is no fused interlining to pucker or bubble after repeated dry cleaning. The house cites that local labour as the main reason its prices sit higher.

In June 2025 the family opened a second studio on Boat Quay and launched Uncommon Hem, Adele's sub-label built from surplus luxury fabrics, some with more than a decade of history. It absorbed the earlier Adorn & Co line and covers contemporary qipao tops, casual menswear and couture-inspired statement pieces. The Pan Pacific room remains the main atelier and the place for classic business suiting and tuxedos.

Master Chung estimated in 2023 that about 60% of his clientele were local expatriates and business travellers, with many tourists ordering suits during a hotel stay. The Boat Quay launch announcement in 2025 adds international dignitaries and prominent figures to the generations of loyal clients. A hotel address suits that crowd, because a fitting can slot in between meetings without a taxi ride across town.

The fastest-growing group is women. Meiko began as a men's house, but Adele's arrival brought women's suiting, corporate attire, occasion wear and cheongsams, and Elle reported a ladies' bespoke two-piece from S$1,900, taking six to eight weeks from first consultation to collection. Grooms form another steady stream, since wedding suits, from classic tuxedos to three-piece ensembles, are one of the six suit types the house lists.

Meiko works by appointment, and SilverKris noted that a first consultation often lasts a few hours while the tailor studies posture, body shape and the purpose of the suit. Plan a full bespoke suit at four to six weeks, or 40 to 45 working days, with at least one basted fitting built in.

A second basted fitting is added when the body silhouette needs further adjustment, so anyone with sloping shoulders or a recent weight change should leave room for it in the calendar. Tailored trousers move faster, taking from about 14 days. Clients who live abroad can start with the 3D body measurement service, which the family uses to serve customers overseas and ship finished pieces to them.

Every men's suit and jacket starts from S$1,890 including GST, and the final figure moves with cloth and style. The bunch books run from Scabal Super 130s to 250s wools woven in England to Holland & Sherry wool-and-silk blends, Vitale Barberis Canonico Super 150s and Drago SkyFall, made from 14.5-micron merino. Loro Piana cashmere and a dusty rose wool-cashmere flannel cover cooler-weather commissions.

For Singapore heat, the house FAQ recommends Solbiati linen, Loro Piana linen-wool-silk for better drape and structure, or hopsack and fresco wool. A business two-piece in fresco or hopsack is the order that earns its keep in this climate. Double-breasted suits with peak lapels and a lightweight, wrinkle-resistant travel suit are the other signatures, with linings, lapels, buttons and monogrammed initials all chosen by the client.

The hotel's official address places it within the Marina Square development on Raffles Boulevard, so the walk to the waterfront takes minutes rather than a cab ride. From the hotel, Esplanade Theatres on the Bay on Esplanade Drive is a short stroll away, and its outdoor riverside steps make a calm stop after a long consultation, with the Marina Bay skyline across the water and the Merlion a little further along the promenade.

If six weeks is too long, CYC Made to Measure in Capitol Piazza on Stamford Road works from made-to-measure patterns rather than drafting from scratch, which suits a tighter deadline. For Meiko's newer, design-led pieces, the Boat Quay studio is about three minutes on foot from Raffles Place station Exit G, upstairs from a pillar carrying the Meiko emblem, and it keeps the same weekday hours.

Meiko Tailor's main atelier is at 7 Raffles Boulevard, #02-01 Pan Pacific Singapore, Singapore 039595. Take the Circle or Downtown Line to Promenade station and leave by Exit A onto Raffles Boulevard; the hotel is about a five-minute walk. Hours are Monday to Saturday, 11 am to 7 pm, with Sunday by appointment only.

Bookings go through WhatsApp, the Calendly link on the website, or enquiry@meikotailor.com. Price anchors are men's full-canvas suits and jackets from S$1,890 including GST, and a ladies' bespoke two-piece from S$1,900 according to Elle's 2025 report. Allow four to six weeks for a men's suit with at least one basted fitting, and six to eight weeks for women's suiting.