Thousands of miles from Washington, the Bush family has stitched close ties with the tailors, who over the years have turned out clothes for not only the current president, but his father and other family members.

“This time, I don’t think he will have time to have a suit made,” said Victor Gulati of Rajawongse Clothier. “Besides, we would have to remeasure him.”

But just in case, Victor and his father, Jesse, are standing by their mobile phones during Bush’s 24-hour visit to Thailand, which ends Thursday evening. The president is on a three-country tour of Asia, climaxing at the Beijing Olympics.

“If he does order a suit, they’ll tell us at the last minute. They always keep these things quiet,” Victor said, recalling the time the senior Bush gave them half an hour’s notice before coming to the shop in 2006 to order jackets for his sons and himself.

The president’s own last order — two suits and five shirts — was executed in 2003 during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, when the tailors had three days for fittings.

Jesse, who enjoyed a breakfast with the president during the summit, indicated that the president’s shape may have changed since, so new measurements would be needed.

The Gulati’s database of such vital statistics includes names such as one-time presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry and ex-U.S. Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge, along with some of the world’s top spies, diplomats and secret service agents.

“They (secret service agents) like their suits a bit loose,” Victor noted.

The shop’s back wall is festooned with letters of appreciation and photographs of happy customers, including the Bushes.

But one would hardly associate such VIPs with the premises, a single narrow room stacked with bolts of cloth in a row of nondescript shop houses along Bangkok’s touristy Sukhumvit Road.

The family set up there in 1974, having started their business 13 years earlier near a U.S. Air Force base in the northeastern city of Ubon. It was the Vietnam War era, which spawned a generation of entrepreneurs catering to American troops in the tourism, sex and tailoring trades.

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