Zhongshi Garment Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Fenghua-style (Fengbang) tailors were a tailors' guild formed in Shanghai in the early 20th century, known for making refined men's clothing (Western suits, Zhongshan suits, overcoats, etc.); they changed the loose, broad-belted form of traditional Chinese men's dress and came closer to urban life in both function and aesthetics. The Fengbang tailors were a part of Shanghai-style (Haipai) costume culture and held an important place in the history of modern Chinese dress. By the 1930s and 1940s, clothing shops opened by Fengbang tailors spread throughout Shanghai; specializing in refined men's clothing, they became the pillar of Shanghai's ready-made clothing industry, among which 'Bolomon' (Peiluomeng) was the outstanding representative of the Fengbang style. The founder of the Bolomon clothing shop, Xu Dachang, was a native of Zhoushan, Zhejiang, born in 1895; he came to Shanghai as an apprentice in the early 20th century, and after completing his apprenticeship opened the Xu Dachang Western Suit Shop on Nanjing Road in 1919, registered the 'Bolomon' trademark in 1928, and in 1934 relocated and renamed it the Bolomon Western Suit Shop. Since the 1990s, the Bolomon Fengbang tailoring craft has developed distinctive characteristics in every process step—measuring, calculating, fitting, designing, cutting, and sewing—and has become second to none in the trade, the leader and outstanding representative of refined men's clothing.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Thanks to its profound historical accumulation, Bolomon became one of the first batch of 'China Time-honored Brands' enterprises.
Six stages: measure, calculate, fit, set, cut, sew
Tailoring is divided into measuring, calculation, fitting, setting, cutting and sewing, each with its own knack; together they are unmatched in the trade.
The Xudachang suit shop on Nanjing Road
The shop opened on Nanjing Road in 1919 was the forerunner; the Peilomeng trademark was registered in 1928 and the shop moved and renamed in 1934.
Red gang tailoring on the docks
The Red gang served foreigners on wharves and steamships; because they differed from the native cutters of Chinese dress, they were named Fengbang.
Leadership in finely tailored menswear
The firm built itself on suits, Zhongshan jackets and coats, and ranks among the pillars of Shanghai's tailoring trade and the first group of time-honoured brands.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Initially the Fengbang tailors served foreigners at the docks and on foreign ships; to distinguish them from the 'Bengbang tailors' who made traditional Chinese clothing, people called them 'red-style (Hongbang) tailors,' among whom those of Fenghua, Ningbo origin were the majority, and so they were also called 'Fengbang (Fenghua-style) tailors.' The Nanjing Road area where Bolomon is located was the most concentrated district for Shanghai's modern Western-suit industry; the Ningbo-Fenghua-origin masters among the Fengbang tailors mostly moved from service jobs at docks and on foreign ships into shops, running parallel without conflict with the Bengbang tailors who specialized in traditional Chinese clothing within the same city, each occupying a street frontage and comparing skills.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Bolomon turned the six process steps—measuring, calculating, fitting, designing, cutting, and sewing—into codified rules one by one, second to none in the trade, and thus, starting from an individual Western-suit shop born of an apprenticeship, became one of the first batch of China Time-honored Brands. Xu Dachang came from Zhoushan to Shanghai as an apprentice, opened his shop on Nanjing Road in 1919 after completing his apprenticeship, registered the Bolomon trademark in 1928, and relocated and renamed in 1934; the shop name itself is a microcosm of how modern Shanghai men's wear moved from craft to brand. Bolomon and the various Fengbang houses shared the same street frontage, and the masters who first worked for foreigners at docks and on foreign ships brought their measuring experience back to the city shops, thereby opening the path of Sino-Western blended ready-made clothing.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Xu Yongliang 04-1921
- Lin Ruixiang 04-1922
- Bao Wenqi 04-1923
- Chen Yuqiu
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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