Author: York Lo

York Lo: Promotors – the first manufacturer of television sets in Hong Kong Booth of the Promotors at the 29th HK Product Expo in 1971 featuring its TV sets. (HK Memory) 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of TVB and the launch of free wireless TV broadcasting in Hong Kong in 1967, which turned television from a limited media channel for a […]

York Lo: Founding Fathers of the HK Fur Industry: Stephen Fong of Siberian Fur and Michael Sun of Hong Kong Fur For a city with a sub-tropical climate, Hong Kong seems an unlikely place to emerge as the world’s biggest exporter of fine fur garments and accessories with export sales of over HK$2.5 billion and local sales of HK$125 mil […]

York Lo: Famous HK Tailors (Part Two) – the British (Sayle, William Powell, Diss Bros, James. T. Shaw and Mackintosh’s) and the Indians (Tajmahal’s, Mohan’s, Harilela’s, J. Kima, Raja and Sam’s) The second groups of tailors to be covered in this series about prominent HK tailors are the British and the Indians. THE BRITISH Although currently there are no major […]

York Lo: Famous HK Tailors (Part One): the Cantonese – Tak Cheong, A Man Hing Cheong, Yee On Tai, Tailor Cheung, and Others   Earlier in the group, a SCMP article was posted about the rise and fall of the tailor industry in Hong Kong but the article primarily told the story of Sam’s Tailor. The following series of articles […]

York Lo: Millie’s (妙麗)– the Iconic Handbag and Shoes Brand Left: the iconic Millie’s neon sign on Nathan Road at night; Right: Millie’s founder Alan Lau on the cover of Economic Digest at the height of his success in 1982 In the 1970s and early 1980s, Millie’s was the leading handbag and shoes manufacturer and retailer in Hong Kong. Its […]

York Lo: Flip Flops Across the Globe: How HK Exporters John Cowie and Nylex Left their Global Footprints with Plastic Sandals In the 1950s, plastic sandals (known as flips flops in America, jandals in New Zealand, thongs in Australia, slops in South Africa etc) became popular around the globe. Modeled after Japanese sandals known as zoris, some of the first […]

York Lo: Tale as old as Wine: the Rise and Fall of Chinese Distilleries in Hong Kong Wing Lok East Street/Morrison Street in 1965 where the giant signs of Chinese distilleries such as Yan Wo Yuet and Wong Kwong Shin Tong were visible. From the 1900s to the 1960s, Hong Kong had a thriving local Chinese wine industry that not […]