Website: modernizetailors.com | Social Media: Instagram
modernize tailors: then and now
For over 100 years, Modernize Tailors has been outfitting Vancouverites and earned a special place in the hearts of their clientele and the local community. Up until 2017, it was considered the oldest existing family-owned business in Chinatown.
In 1913, Wong Kung Lai set up his tailor shop in Chinatown. Modernize Tailors was one of many tailor shops, but despite the competition, the business thrived. In its heyday, the shop was a seven-day-a-week operation with 20 employees. Sons, Jack and Bill, received their engineering degrees from UBC. But with no real employment opportunities due to the discrimination against people of Chinese descent at the time, the brothers started working in the family tailor shop. They eventually took over the shop with Jack handling the layout and cutting, and Bill taking on the ironing and pressing. When Jack passed away in 2013, Bill kept the business going and went into work everyday.
In 2016, CCHSBC had the privilege of honouring Modernize Tailors and the Wong family for their contribution to the Chinese Canadian community. It was a wonderful celebration with many of the Wong family members in attendance. One year after the celebration (2017), Bill passed away peacefully in his sleep. Bill is survived by his wife of 66 years, Zoe, his children Stephen, Glenna, Susan and Peter, and grandchildren Karen and Michael.
During the last few years of Bill's life, he welcomed apprentice Mia Wu, who is the present-day owner of Modernize Tailors.
In 1913, Wong Kung Lai set up his tailor shop in Chinatown. Modernize Tailors was one of many tailor shops, but despite the competition, the business thrived. In its heyday, the shop was a seven-day-a-week operation with 20 employees. Sons, Jack and Bill, received their engineering degrees from UBC. But with no real employment opportunities due to the discrimination against people of Chinese descent at the time, the brothers started working in the family tailor shop. They eventually took over the shop with Jack handling the layout and cutting, and Bill taking on the ironing and pressing. When Jack passed away in 2013, Bill kept the business going and went into work everyday.
In 2016, CCHSBC had the privilege of honouring Modernize Tailors and the Wong family for their contribution to the Chinese Canadian community. It was a wonderful celebration with many of the Wong family members in attendance. One year after the celebration (2017), Bill passed away peacefully in his sleep. Bill is survived by his wife of 66 years, Zoe, his children Stephen, Glenna, Susan and Peter, and grandchildren Karen and Michael.
During the last few years of Bill's life, he welcomed apprentice Mia Wu, who is the present-day owner of Modernize Tailors.
about the owner
Born and raised in Taiwan, Mia Wu first learned how to sew from her mother on a Singer foot pedal sewing machine. She moved to Vancouver in 2013 to train in fashion design, illustration, and pattern skill at Blanche Macdonald Centre. In 2014, she began an apprenticeship with Bill and worked with him until his passing in 2017. Since taking on Modernize Tailors, Wu has introduced women's wear to the shop and welcomed two apprentices to work with her. She is devoted to staying in Chinatown and keeping the Wong family legacy alive.
I am not from the family but Bill treated me like one [of his own]. He said, in the olden days, the Chinese tailors working for him were all immigrants. Just like me, we all came from different places, all far from home, but rooted in Chinatown so everyone took care of each other. Bill worked until the day before he went into the hospital and passed away that night. He loved his job and had a wonderful life. I appreciate all the support and help from the Wong family and the Chinatown community.
Photo Credit: Blanche Macdonald