In like many COOs (children of owners), Justin Chang, deputy managing director of Ascot Chang, did not grow up having their family factory as his playground.

In fact, the third-generation owner of the global suiting company shyly admitted in an exclusive interview with DAILY TRIBUNE that he did not know anything about the business until he went to Cornell University in New York.

“My father kept it quite separate — work life and family life. I just knew it was kind of making shirts, but I never knew the kind of reputation, the luckily the good reputation our brand, our family brand has garnered over the years,” he recalled. 

“I never knew about the kind of quality standards. My father never really talked about it, and it wasn’t until, I did go to school for kind of fashion design fashion management. I went to Cornell University in the US, and back then they had a small program called Textiles Apparel Management, and my father said, ‘Hey, you know, we are in the tailoring garment industry, maybe you’d be interested?’ And then so I gave it a try. And even then I never really understood where, you know, what our brand was about. My father never boasted about it or anything, never said, oh, we’re the best this and that and he was just like, oh, you know, maybe we make shirts.”

It was a summer in their store in New York when Justin realized just how big their family business has become.

“I started meeting customers who were like, oh, you know, you’re the son of Tony, my father. Your grandfather cut me my shirt in Hong Kong. I bring my sons to you guys. You guys make the best shirts. And it wasn’t until that, that it really hit home that we have something special. And since then I’ve, you know, kind of fallen in love with the business.”

Carving his own niche

After working for two years in New York, Justin came back to Hong Kong, where it all began.

“It’s a brand that was founded by my grandfather in 1953. And there’s some core principles that my grandfather really stressed to my father and then he’s since stressed to me, which are the quality of the product has to come first. And what does that mean? So for shirts, it’s about super fine stitching, 21, 22 stitches per inch, something that makes it actually quite difficult to sew, cotton fabrics,” he shared.

“I spent maybe three months in the factory. Really taking apart shirts, sewing it back together. Definitely cannot make it to the same level as our seamstresses can, but at least I know how it’s put together, how it works, and it’s helped me a lot because you really can’t be in this business without knowing all the details.”

Since then, he has traveled to the markets where their brand is available, including four to five times in the Philippines, where Ascot Chang has an exclusive lounge at the Philippine luxury department store chain Rustan’s.

“I’d say first time really was in 2013 when we became part of the Rustan’s family… I did have a very nice family vacation in Palawan one year. Very friendly, very hospitable people. They’ve treated us very, very well,” he shared some of his fondest memories in bringing the family business to the Philippines.

“This is what we’re all about, bringing kind of that Hong Kong level of bespoke service to the Philippine customer and hopefully, you know, the customers like it and we couldn’t be happier with this kind of lounge. It kind of feels like our, you know, it feels like almost one of our stores in Hong Kong.”

Since joining the company, among Justin’s contributions is to listen more to customers — especially the new generation. 

“It’s really the first thing is always listening to our customer. I think we’re lucky to be in bespoke where I’d say like 70 percent of my energy is devoted to following up on customers orders, meeting customers, listening to what they need, listening to what they’re looking for in terms of their shirts, their workwear, their everyday use and then just trying to solve for those problems or for that they might be having those pain points.”

From listening to their customers came ideas for new features and silhouettes that are ushering their brand into a new era.

“I would say the Ascot collar is definitely one of them. There’s a few other things I’m working on. There’s another one that has had some success, which is the safari jacket in the last five years, especially trunk shows like this one in Southeast Asia. It’s been really well received.”

Since his grandfather’s time, tailoring has evolved — from the cutting to the fits.

“Obviously now, compared to my grandfather, it would be much more tapered… if I look back at some of the archives, my grandfather cut a very slim shirt back in the ‘50s and 60s, okay? And then it wasn’t until like the ‘80s, ‘90s where the trend became like this very big loose fit shirt and suit. So you know, fashion works in cycles and funnily enough, if you look at some of the trends that Gen Z customers are going after, they’re going back toward the padded shoulders, wide shoulders, boxy fit. So it’s interesting how fashion works always. It’s a circle,” he expounded.

“There’s always something new, but there’s always a reference back to something before, and, so I think looking at that, you realize that trends will always be changing. Trends will always kind of move forward, but the things that don’t change are really the craftsmanship, how we make the suit, how we tailor the suit or how we make a shirt.”