How to Get Custom Made Clothing in Hoi An, Vietnam

I just spent 5 days on Hoi An, Vietnam.  I knew that I wanted to get a bunch of clothes made there, but I didn't know anything about how getting clothes made works, or even the process of seeing a tailor.  I feel like I've learned a lot in the last few days, and so I thought I'd put my advice here for future travelers.

The process:
The process of getting a tailor made suit is a follows.

0) Look at trip adviser for up-to-date reviews of various shops.  Remember that most hotels have deals with a specific shop and get commissions to refer people there.  This means these shops are more expensive than other places, and might not necessarily be very high quality. 

I loved this shop:  

Thien Thanh Cloth Shop
Address: 43 Le Loi St.
Phone: 0510 3 862 182

I did NOT like the place my hotel recommended, please don't go there:

Hai Au Xanh Clothes shop
Address: 481 Cua Dai, Hoi An 084, Vietnam



1) Check out places with good reviews.  Find a shop person who you like and feel you can communicate with (they have varying levels of understanding/speaking English).  Trust your instincts about the person, if you feel like it is too hard of a sell, they are trying to get you to buy things you don't like, or that your styles clash -- go somewhere else.

2) If you have time get something small made at several difference places on your first day to see which tailor you like the best.  Then go back to the place you like the best to get more.

3) Pick out a design from one of the catalogs, or have them reproduce a piece you already have (bring it with you), or bring in your own photograph of what you want.

4) Communicate, communicate, communicate!  Talk about what you like about the item, how you want it to fall on your body, how long you want it to be, what colors you like, how you intend to wear it.  A good sales person should be taking notes and understanding and engaging in this process.

5) Pick out the fabrics (see note on fabric below).

6) Come back the next day for a first fitting.  Don't be too worried if you don't 100% like how the piece looks during this first fitting.  What is more important is how the sales person responds to what you say.  A good sales person should be able to suggest improvements and should be quick to point out the need for alterations.  You shouldn't have to convince a sales person that you need an alteration.  If you find yourself having to insist about things, then don't buy anything else from that tailor.  At this point check the item thoroughly. Is the stitching even?  Are there any holes or stains on the fabric?  Is the line even?  Can you move in it, sit in it?  If there is something you don't like the look of, point it out to the sales person, they should be able to suggest a way to improve the piece or address the problem.

7) Come back late that day for a final fitting. Hopefully everything will look perfect at this point, but you can still ask for adjustments if you don't like how something looks.

8) Go back to the tailor who you liked the best in the first "test" round, and order more from them.

Prices
Tailored clothes in Vietnam (as of 10/2012) are about 1/3 of the price of the same retail item in America.  Suits are $70-$120.  Dresses are $20-$40.  Dress shirts are $10-$25.  Prices depend on the quality of the material and the deal you negotiate.  The more you buy the more of a discount you can negotiate.

Where to Go
The shops with a bigger storefront (i.e. Yally's) tend to be more expensive, but will also be more polished in terms of efficiency and willingness to make changes.  They will also have a wider range of fabrics to chose from.  The tailors inside the market are the cheapest (the market is only open during the day, not evening like most of the shops in town).  I suggest talking to a few of the sales people at a few stores before you decide who to buy from.  The sales person is going to be your line of communication between you and the tailor.  A good sales person will be able to help you understand the pros/cons of different fabrics, help you figure out which colors go well together and go well with your skin tone, and will ask specific questions about how you want the clothes to fit, how many pockets you want, what lining do you want, how wide to you like the arms and legs, how much padding do you want in the shoulders, etc.  A good sales person will also help you understand how to make alterations in the first fitting to address any problems.

Fabric
Before you start the ordering process with a sales person look at their fabric.  Make sure they have the type of fabric you are looking for, in the colors/patterns you like.  Think about the clothes you like to wear at home and what fabric they are made out of.  Not all fabrics are equal.  Examine how thick, soft, etc the fabric is and ask the difference between different fabrics.  Most of the sales people will be hesitant to tell you prices before they measure you.  This is because once you go through the whole process of getting measured and picking stuff out, you are invested in the product and so you are less likely to walk away.  Instead look around the shop that the dresses/jackets they have already made as examples.  Ask how much it would be for them to make the SAME dress for you.  Ask the difference between two items which look similar but have different fabrics.  Go to several shops and get an idea of prices and talk to the shop people before you decide to get something made.

We both got several suits, pants, shirts.  I got a couple skirts and dresses.  We also got custom made shoes. I'll let you know how they hold up to wear.  Pictures to come soon!

Mũi Né, Oy Vey

I think that everyone (at some point) during a long trip hits a point where things just don't go well, and you start to get really sick of dealing with some of the challenges of traveling.  For me this happened in Mui Ne.

We went to Mui Ne because they have amazing Kite Surfing and we wanted to take lessons for a couple days.  However, when we got there we were informed that there wasn't going to be wind for the next 3-5 days.  Then both Adam and I got sick, and felt pretty crappy and unable to do much anyway.  I wont go into the specifics, but lets just say that I had some digestive issues.

We went on one tour, which was beautiful -- we visited the red and yellow sand dunes.  But other than that Mui Ne was kinda a bust.  Oh well.  Hopefully this will be the low point of our trip, and the last time we get sick (fingers crossed).

Fairy Stream

White Sand Dunes

Red Sand Dunes

We did meet two women from Sweden and Belgium who were staying in the room next to us.  We spent one evening playing cards with them.  They were overall fun and interesting women.  However, when playing the game President and I discovered that instead of calling the loser a-hole, in Sweden they call them the n-word.  Classy Sweden, classy.

This, along with a long conversation we had at our home-stay with some women from the Netherlands about the traditions surrounding Sinterklaas make me wonder....

The views from the bus ride out of Mui Ne were beautiful, and I had the cutest little girl sitting next to me:

Mekong Delta

Our next stop after Phú Quốc was a tour around the Mekong Delta.  It wasn't the most amazing tour ever.  Our guide didn't talk very much, and the weather was pretty rainy the whole time, which prevented us from doing some stuff.  However, the Mekong is very beautiful and we got to spend a lot of time on river boats, which was pretty cool.  The people were awesome, and we had a really run time hanging out with our tour group.  Plus, we did a home-stay in a little river village where we got to make our own food with locals, learned how to purify river water, and went to a morning food market for the village.

The Mekong Delta region is the single largest exporter of rice in the world.  The delta produces 25 million tons of rice a year.  It also has a 20% of Vietnam's population in this 15,000 square-mile region.  This is impressive considering most of the region is covered in rivers and rice paddies.

We visited two manufacturing businesses.  One that makes rice noodles and one that makes coconut candy.  These businesses were pretty small scale, but we got to see the manufacturing process.

The best part of the tour was the floating market.  This is a functional market (apparently the ones in Thailand are just for tourists) where local farmers bring their produce on boats and local sellers buy in bulk to then take the produce to local markets (like the one in the small village we visited).  It was pretty awesome to see people just approach each other by boat and load up boats with various fruits and produce.

Boy selling bananas

Pho on a boat. 

Overall I would not recommend the Mekong Delta unless you have a lot of time in Vietnam.  Our home stay was pretty fun, but more because of the other guests staying there.  I did experience one of the cutest moments of our trip.  This kitten was actually being taken care of by this dog who was nursing the kitten and letting her use it as a pillow.  So cute!

Some other moments of the trip:

 There was a random boa constrictor at a restaurant on our tour.

Cute puppy.

Stop, Hammock Time!

Performers

Boat Trip.

Phú Quốc II

The rest of our time on Phú Quốc involved touring around the island.  First we rented a motor bike (sorry mom) and rode around to various spots on the island.

We visited Suối Tranh Waterfalls where we hiked through the jungle and took a dip in a little pool at the base of a waterfall.

Next we got lunch in a little village on a river in the middle of the island where no one spoke English and we seriously felt like we were on display.  It was like one of those western movies where someone walks into the saloon and everyone stops what they are doing and looks at them.  We were definitely a novelty there.  Little kids wanted to do nothing but wave and say hello at us.

Next we rode to a beach on the lee side of the island and spent some time on Sao beach.  A beautiful white-sand, pristine beach where there were tons of resorts with beach-side bars and hammocks.  I sipped on a virgin pina colada and played with a cute little puppy at the bar. Adam rode around on a jet ski.

Next we stopped in the most picturesque fishing village on the southern tip of Phú Quốc, An Thoi.  Again people were fascinated to see westerners.  These two girls on a bicycle followed us around while I took pictures of the multicolored boats in the harbor.  A bunch of village boys played soccer on the pier where all the fishing boats were unloading.  Women in cone hats sat together in a huddle repairing fishing nets.  It was one of the more spectacular scenes thus far.

The following day we went fishing and snorkeling at some of the small islands south of Phú Quốc.  The visability kinda sucked, but it was pretty fun to get in the water.  We also were prepared an amazing meal on the boat with the fish we had just caught, noodles, fried rice, soup, fresh fruit and greens.  It was a great spread.  But my absolute favorite part of the day was when we stopped at a shop on the way out to the harbor and I met these little guys.  They were pets of the Australian guy who ran the shop, and they were super sweet.  One even groomed my hair a bit:

 The awkward climb up.

 Some grooming.

However, one got a little too comfortable with me, and decided it was ok to borrow my sunglasses:

 Here she comes....

 My glasses!

 She proceeded to try and eat them for the next ten minutes:

Now I have a lovely memory of my little friends, my sunglasses have a bunch of scratch marks and bites all over them. :)

They liked Adam and my shoe too:

Sorry for all the pictures, but this might have been the best moment of our trip so far.  I just keep smiling every time I think about it.  They were so friggin cute.

The boat trip and snorkeling was pretty fun too.  Although it's hard to compete with the diving and snorkeling we did in Belize and Australia.  Mostly it was just fun to be on the water and swim a bit.

Ahoy!

 Coral

 Yummy, freshly caught lunch

More colorful boats:

Overall our time on Phú Quốc was awesome.  It's a little piece of paradise, and I'm so glad I got to see it before it becomes even more touristy.