Tailor Made – The Fabric Market

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Tailor Made: The Fabric Market
Family Guide
Family Guide
Tuesday, 07 July 2009 06:07
Written by Daisy Wakefield
Shanghai 2009
Streets Ahead
Custom-made clothing is widely
available in China, due to moderate
labor costs and plentiful fabrics –
but they do require some time and
a little patience (and sometimes a
lot of patience).
The fabric market at 399 Lujiabang
Lu is the spot where tailors and fabrics converge. Hundreds of vendors line
aisles of stalls where bolt upon bolt of every imaginable fabric await perusal.
Bargaining over the price per meter of the fabrics is expected, and as
always, the more you buy, the lower they’ll go. The tailor will take
measurements, and if necessary, request a fitting for a few days after the
initial measurements. Most pieces can be finished within a week – but often
some adjustments need to be made, which can draw out the process.
Many of the stalls have samples of ready made clothing, such as winter
coats, which can be customized with the fabric of your choosing. Chinese
tend to wear clothing tighter and narrow than Westerners, so make sure to
tell the tailor how tight or loose you want the piece to fit.
Unless you already have a trusted tailor that you have used before, it is
generally not a good idea to take a magazine photo or drawing of a piece of
clothing that you want made to fit. A better idea is to take a piece of clothing
that you already really like and merely want reproduced. You will need to
leave it with the tailor.
* For custom-tailored men’s suits, the most respected place in town is Dave’s
Custom Tailoring, Wuyuan Lu, Lane 288, No.6 (5404 0001), where suits typically
cost from RMB 3,000 – 8,000, depending on the material, and the process will take
several fittings.
* Hanyi Cheongsam makes cheongsams, the classical tightly fitting Chinese dress,
for a price that ranges from RMB 800-10,000, with embroidered cheongsams at the
upper end. There are three branches in town, located at 21 Changle Lu (5404
4727), 227 Changle Lu (5404 2303) and 73 Yandang Lu (5383 3793).
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