Menswear Maestro Mark Cho on 10 a.m. Cigars, Collecting Watches, and Dressing for ‘Casual Mode’
In the cloistered world of classic menswear, Mark Cho has made himself increasingly indispensable. In 2010, the U.K.-born entrepreneur cofounded the Armoury in Hong Kong with Alan See, an old-school—in the best sense—men’s haberdasher; that same year, Cho also became the co-owner of Drake’s, the heritage English tie-maker that has since rolled out a full apparel line with stores in London, New York City, and Seoul.
Through the Armoury, which now includes N.Y.C. locations in Tribeca and on the Upper East Side, Cho has become a prolific patron of tailors and artisans worldwide. The shops regularly host visits from bespoke tailoring greats such as Florentine Liverano & Liverano and the likes of revered Japanese shoemaker Koji Suzuki. The Armoury’s in-house label, meanwhile, is produced by an international network of craft-focused experts.
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Cho is the agent that binds them all together. He also serves as the business’s affable front man, appearing in short videos uploaded to the Armoury’s YouTube channel that showcase its clothing—plus his earnest enthusiasm for everything it has to offer. He also uses the channel, as well as his frenetically active Instagram presence, to share his other interests, such as watch-collecting and cigars.
The past 12 months have proved a banner year for Cho, as they saw the 10th anniversary of the Armoury’s arrival in New York, plus the brand’s debut in the Pedder Arcade, a new mixed-retail concept housed in a colonial-era building in central Hong Kong.
What apps do you use the most?
Kindle for reading and then Instagram and YouTube. I still do a lot of the content for the Armoury myself, and I answer all of the comments myself, too.
Do you have any personal rituals?
I start a lot of my days with a coffee and a small cigar. Cigars are very meditative to me. I enjoy coming into the Armoury Study, which is our cigar lounge in Hong Kong, at about 10 o’clock—before the shops have opened—and just getting some work done with a short little cigar.
What’s your favorite cocktail, and how do you make it?
I’m sure everyone’s going to say this sooner or later, but I like the gin martini at Dukes Bar. It’s just gin—a lot of gin—a very little bit of vermouth, and a very little bit of Amalfi lemon.
What is your exercise routine, and how often do you do it?
If I’m trying to behave myself, I try to exercise every day. I just get on the exercise bike for half an hour, and then I do push-ups and sit-ups until I can’t do them anymore.
What do you do that’s still analog?
Mechanical watches. They’re probably one of the most analog things in my life.
What’s the most recent thing you’ve added to your collection?
I’m very enamored by a Rolex I just got. It’s a Rolex 118208, which is a very short-lived variation of a Day-Date. And it’s sort of a funny Day-Date, because it actually looks more like an Oyster Perpetual or a Datejust.
What in your wardrobe do you wear most often?
Probably the Armoury Sport Chinos. That’s our cotton chino. It’s versatile—we designed it so that it looks good with the tailored clothing, but it also looks good just with a polo shirt or a T-shirt and some light knitwear.
Do you have a uniform for certain occasions?
I feel like I should—but I don’t. If I’m in “casual mode,” I’ll be in one of our safari jackets and a button-down shirt or a polo. But these are such loose frameworks that it’s hard to really call it a uniform. To me, clothing should be about expression. You don’t express yourself in the same way consistently. And as a result, you don’t necessarily have clothing that you always go back to in the same way. Things get remixed depending on how you feel, what day it is. It gets so ephemeral.
What do you most crave at the end of the day?
I crave people leaving me alone for a couple hours. There’s this Chinese term called sleep revenge, and it’s for people with very little control over their schedules. So, in order to get “revenge” on that, they basically just give up sleep. When you’re sitting there at three a.m., kind of just zoning out on YouTube—that.
Who is your guru?
There was a sort of psychologist-economist named Daniel Kahneman, and I absolutely love his work. I love the way he thinks. He sadly passed away very recently, but to me he was the absolute definition of a guru.
How do you get to sleep?
I have this habit of watching old TV shows that I’ve seen a million times, because I find the monotony of that puts me to sleep really easily. I deal with jet lag a lot, because I’m always flying around. So this is a really important part of my routine, to make sure I go to sleep relatively smoothly.
What’s always in your hand luggage?
One of the most useful things is the Xreal Air 2 Pro augmented-reality glasses. There’s a screen inside, so I can connect to my phone to watch movies or read in the Kindle app, or I can connect to my laptop and use it like a big-screen monitor.
What’s worth paying for?
Taste. There are always going to be people who know more than you, and they’ve developed their taste because they’ve seen more than you. And you could hope to see as much as they do and hope that you have the sensitivity to some sort of topic. Or you can rely on people who have great taste, and you just pay for that taste.
Last boxset or Netflix binge?
3 Body Problem is absolutely amazing. Just a masterpiece. I finished the show and was like, “I’ve got to read the book.” And then I read it, and it was just incredible. One of the most beautiful pieces of work I’ve ever come across.
What kind of music makes you happy?
I still listen to a lot of Britpop. I grew up in the U.K., with Blur, Oasis, and Radiohead, and I still listen to a lot of that. It’s funny that it still appeals to me.
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