Tailor Made

For 44 years Lee Gang Guk, 69, has worked as a tailor from his shop in downtown Gwangju. He didn’t always want to be a tailor. However, growing up as young boy in the devastation of Korea during and after the Korean War, he and other youth had to support their families and could not attend school. Lee dropped out of school before middle school and walked eight kilometers to work at the Daeheung tailor shop.

“When I began learning to tailor at Daeheung 54 years ago, I was a little boy and I started by running errands,” said Lee. “I delivered box lunches to senior tailors. I’m afraid to say that there was no special motivation for me to be interested in tailoring. Instead, I naturally got accustomed to tailoring and it became my job.”

He worked as an apprentice for ten years, and eventually opened his own shop. His first customers were government officials requesting suits.

Being a tailor for over five decades, Lee has been a keen witness to changes in men’s fashion over the years. During Park Jung Hee’s presidency, men wore jaegunboks, which were shirts with short collars and white scarves wrapped underneath. Nowadays in Korea, many young men like wearing short tight clothing—a trend that Lee says he is not particularly fond of.

“The modern suit has a style like a ready-made suit,” said Lee. “Though there has been no change in terms of fabric, in the past people preferred a bit bigger size and a more comfortable style.”

Lee has earned a reputation as a passionate tailor amongst older Korean men and foreigners in Gwangju. Many of Lee’s customers choose fabric from Cheil Industries. It is less expensive than imported fabrics and the quality is similar. To make a custom-made suit a customer must be measured and return three more times for fittings. He feels that the waistline is the most important aspect of a suit when tailoring.

“An accentuated waistline gives the suit a great shape and helps a man look slim,” said Lee.

Lee has one son and two daughters, none of whom became tailors. However, Lee is happy about his children’s decision not to follow in his footsteps.

“When I learned to be a tailor, life was hard and there were many economic difficulties,” said Lee. “My children had more choices. I wanted them to study in school and they did.”