CYC Singapore’s oldest custom shirt- maker, CYC was founded in 1935 by Chinese immigrant Chiang Yick Ching and his wife Foo Ah Neok, who came from Ningbo (near Shanghai), China— hence the company’s original name, the CYC Shanghai Shirt Company. The couple moved to Swatow (present- day Shantou) before heading to Singapore to seek their fortunes. The shirt- maker’s reputation soon spread, and the brand became popular in Indonesia and Malaya, prompting CYC to expand its product lines to include ready- made shirts.

In the 1960s, CYC began to open new retail outlets in Selegie and North Bridge Roads: these were among the first shops in Singapore to be air- conditioned. More shops in Tanglin, Katong, Thomson and High Streets were to follow in the 1970s. CYC continued to prosper until the 1983– 84 recession, when it had to face the imposition of an exit tax on Indonesians, who made up a large part of its clientele. CYC also began to lose its market share to cheaper imports and an influx of new brands, and was forced to close some of its branches.

Chiang Loo Fern, the founder’s eldest granddaughter who had started work on the shopfloor at the age of 12, took over management of CYC in 1992. She re- focused the firm’s business on custom- tailoring, rather than competing in the mass- market. Thereafter, the company set up a new division to make corporate uniforms. Corporate clients included the Conrad and Raffles group of hotels, retailers such as Takashimaya and John Little, and government bodies such as the Central Provident Fund Board, the Housing & Development Board and Singapore Armed Forces Reservists’ Association. It also went into custom- made women’s wear, and the manufacture of suits and T- shirts.

Its list of private clients is said to number up to 10,000, and to include local dignitaries such as Singapore’s Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. CYC currently operates two exclusive outlets at Raffles Hotel and Republic Plaza II.

Picture credit: Timothy Auger