Asia - MR to Asia? Bring home smiles from a tailor!

At least half the fun of an MR to Asia is tailored clothes. Most westerners never get the opportunity to do this, but we FT can buy custom measured garments, made from fabrics we choose, in the style and color you like, for less than US off-the-rack retail prices. I've used 2 different tailors in Hong Kong, 2 in Shenzhen, 1 in Beijing, and 1 in Singapore. My favorite is Andy: http://www.expresstailor.com.hk/ . Excellent product & service ^ . Forget the online prices, show up in his shop at the Kowloon terminus of the Star Ferry, and negotiate! :D I paid $200 USD each for fine English worsted wool suits. Well, actually, 5 of them! More for cashmere. $25 for tailored oxford cloth cotton dress shirts. More for silk. Superb quailty. He occasionally travels to the US, but at higher prices. The prices I have been able to negotiate were similar in SIN and BJS. Who at FT has done better? I'm always looking to improve my negotiation skills??

Much better prices in Shenzhen ^ ^ right accross the border from HKG. Yes, they're both China, but this is a serious border crossing. US citizens do need a Visa, easy to get, $50-100, check other threads. Same day service: you pick the style at 10 AM, choose from the zillion bolts of fabric at 10:15 AM, measurements at 10:30 AM, fitting at 6 PM, done at 8 PM. :-: Literally half of HK prices: $100 USD for the tailored suit I wore yesterday to an important meeting. Pants with a lining, very comfortable. $12 USD for dress button down shirts. See http://www.shopinshenzhen.com/ . "A pocket guide to shopping in China's warehouse city." Buy Ellen's little book, it is worth its weight in gold. Shenzhen shopping really is sensory overload, you must plan ahead exactly what you want. They will impulse you to death. Shopkeepers very pushy, but nice.

Now back home, it stimulates happy endorphins to put on a custom made garment, for which I paid a very modest price, and wear it all day. Part of me gets transported back to good travel memories.

I have never done it but I have seen a million of those guys in Bangkok

I've got a trip to HKG coming up in Feb where I hoped to get just this! Thanks for posting it!

I've used 2 different tailors in Hong Kong, 2 in Shenzhen, 1 in Beijing, and 1 in Singapore.

Can you give me some more information dealing with the person you use in SIN. I would love to get a suit made for me before I leave here on Tuesday. Give me some idea of what I'm looking at for prices and any ideas you have.

Thanks

Shenzhen's an amazing deal if you speak Chinese....

Shenzhen's an amazing deal if you speak Chinese....I speak no Chinese (OK, she-she) and had no trouble communicating in Shenzhen at the mall. I type in the price I'm willing to pay on a calculator screen, they counter, we pass it back & forth until stalemate, then I turn to walk away, and suddenly my price is OK OK OK!!

Can you give me some more information dealing with the person you use in SIN. I would love to get a suit made for me before I leave here on Tuesday. Give me some idea of what I'm looking at for prices and any ideas you have. Thanks

I stayed at the Marriott (pagota roof). The tailor I used was in the same block, on the same side of the street, in a rabbit warren of shops. "Solito Fashions" Far East Plaza #02-95, Singapore. Tel 67328468 according to their label inside my shirt. I paid $45 USD for silk shirts. 1 day service. Nice, but not the best negotiating I ever did.

As this is about shopping in Asia, and not really about a Mileage Run, I'm going to move this to the Asia forum.

Please continue to follow this thread there.

Dave, a.k.a. dmfriedman
Moderator, Mileage Run

Can you give me some more information dealing with the person you use in SIN. I would love to get a suit made for me before I leave here on Tuesday. Give me some idea of what I'm looking at for prices and any ideas you have.

Thanks
I just had a suit and two shirts made at Mode et Creation, 4th Floor, Far East Shopping Centre (545 Orchard). Anthony is the tailor, and he seems like a good guy. Total was S$820 (I believe the suit alone was S$650). Not one of those 'same day' tailors, but worth it, IMHO. (And if you have to leave before the items are ready, they'll send them to you).

Anybody got an adress for made-to-measure clothes in Shanghai?

Greetings - Dirk

Decades ago when I did this, the standard advice was to bring thread with you from the U.S. The claim was that these folks used substandard thread that caused the clothes to fall apart a lot sooner. Still true? How would you know?

[QUOTE=Bernoulli 777]I've used 2 different tailors in Hong Kong, 2 in Shenzhen, 1 in Beijing, and 1 in Singapore. My favorite is Andy: http://www.expresstailor.com.hk/ . Excellent product & service ^ . Forget the online prices, show up in his shop at the Kowloon terminus of the Star Ferry, and negotiate!garment, for which I paid a very modest price, and wear it all day. [QUOTE]

That is SO funny, that's the same tailor I used when I had my suits made year before last. My dad also gets his shirts done there (he's a big and tall with long arms). And you are right: bargain, bargain, bargain! I love that my name is sewn inside the suit, too. I always say once you've had suits made, you will never go back to off the rack... :D

As for the thread remark, I have not had any trouble with it...

I've used 2 different tailors in Hong Kong, 2 in Shenzhen, 1 in Beijing, and 1 in Singapore.

Could you give some detail about the tailor in Beijing?

Can you give me some more information dealing with the person you use in SIN. I would love to get a suit made for me before I leave here on Tuesday. Give me some idea of what I'm looking at for prices and any ideas you have.

Thanks
My preferred choice in SIN is Mr. Latif and De Zlin Custom Tailor in the Tanglin Mall. It is connected to the Traders Hotel and is very close to Orchard Road. I lived in SIN for a few years and bought several suits, jackets and shirts throughout my time there. Even made a trip back a couple years later for more clothes.
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13F

Anybody got an adress for made-to-measure clothes in Shanghai?

Greetings - Dirk
I don't remember the street name, but there are quite a few tailors near the rear entrance of the Rui Jin Guest House. English is fine in Hong Kong and Bangkok, but I found Shanghai tailors spoke little if any. One guy disappeared for five minutes then came back with three girls he found on the street who could translate. I wanted to give some business to such an enterprising guy, but unfortunately none of the Shanghai tailors could put something together in the short time I had.

Has anyone had any experiences with tailors in Ho Chi Minh City?

Could you give some detail about the tailor in Beijing?
I went to the Silk Market, a 4 story shopping mall that just opened fall 2005, financed by HKG $$. It is in the guide books. Similar to Shenzhen Mall. On Dongchangan St. just inside 3rd ring road, SE side of town. Use elevators near south entrance. Go to 4th floor, and the elevator lobby opens into the biggest tailor shop area. Zillions of bolts of cloth. 36 hour turnaround, you go back for a fitting 24 hrs after purchase, then they deliver to your hotel that night.

Decide BEFORE you go on what style, color, fiber, etc. Decide EXACTLY what you want ahead of time, they'll make it. Otherwise, it is sensory overload. Bargain them down to UDS $15 for pinpoint cotton dress shirts. After I paid $25 on Monday, I met some others who got $15 Tuesday.

Better yet, walk all the aisles on 4th floor before you buy. Price other tailors. Investing another hour negotiating could save you $100's. After I had invested 90+ minutes negotiating my multiple purchases (suits for me+GF, shirts for me+GF+sister), selecting 19 different fabrics, I walked past a smaller Tailor shop who had an African American employee who spoke (of course) perfect English!! I would have rather dealt with HIM, alas, too late. China is NOT integrated like we expect in other major metropolitan cities. 90% Han ethnic, + 9.9% other Asian ethnay. Americans, both Caucasian and African-, and other non-Asians do stand out. But Chinese are well mannered, polite, however the young sales girls are trained to be PUSHY!

I went to the Silk Market, a 4 story shopping mall that just opened fall 2005, financed by HKG $$.

Went to the Market a few weeks ago. Quite impressive 4 floors of total counterfeit, fake, bootleg, trademark infringing products. I surely thought it
was owned by PLA not HKG$$. This place is a gold mine for the vendors... they make a ton of profit from stealing companies years of work to establish their brand. Saw one guy on street selling fake Olympic stuff...I bet he didn't last long.

Do they take plastic or is it cash only?

Do they take plastic or is it cash only?
Plastic was fine with the one I used.

Anybody got an adress for made-to-measure clothes in Shanghai?

Greetings - Dirk

I got two amazing suits and a cashmere jacket from Mr. Chen. He speaks no English but travels with a translator.

From Departures:
Mr. Chen (86-21-5218-0621) will also come to your hotel for measurements. Once he has your sizes and patterns made to fit, he is happy to work via fax and mail on additional pieces. He is the best man for traditional tailoring and exceptionally beautiful qipaos.

What forms of payment are valid for HKG? Do they take plastic or is it cash only?What a strange question! Hong Kong has one of the highest penetrations of credit cards anywhere in the world... anywhere selling things that cost more than US$10 (i.e. anything except the smallest food stall) will take them.

This is a chain of tailor shops in Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China. I bought two suits with six shirts for about $1200. I would encourage others to consider Kwan Kee as well.

I just used this tailor after the first post in this forum.
Wonderful place. Great stuff.
Although I didnt bargin like I should I am VERY happy with my 1 suit, 6 shirts and tie for 550 USD.

Plastic is fine for this.
They keep measurements. Work off email after if you wish. And he travels to the states including a visit very near my office in June in NYC 2006.

I'll be in KL next month. Have any of you used tailors in Kuala Lumpur that you would recommend?

Thanks.