Although the Vietnamese town of Hoi An is most notably known for their monthly Lantern Festival whose images litter social media, another large draw is it’s position as one of the world’s tailoring hubs.
With it’s unique position on the Silk Road, Hoi An served as a major trading port for more than 2000 years, creating an intersection of cultures and serving a growing number of tourists through the centuries.
Although I had done some research and had plans for some custom pieces I wanted to have made during my visit, nothing could have prepared me for the sheer number of tailoring businesses throughout Hoi An’s old town. Luckily I had come armed with a few tailor recommendations from travel blogger ‘Travel for Phoebe’ as well as the hotel we were staying at and quickly realized it was a blessing as it would be otherwise impossible to choose between the hundreds of shops. Shops ranged from high end with sprawling showrooms to indoor markets with individual stalls stacked ceiling high with hundreds of kinds of fabrics. As such, prices could also range, but I can confidently say that having anything made in Hoi An would still be leaps and bounds more budget friendly than most places in the world. Like many shops and restaurants in touristy areas, there will be people from the stores trying to call you inside offer discounts, quick turnaround, etc. I tend to get very overwhelmed and turned off by this type of sales tactic, so unfortunately there were plenty of stores that I may have otherwise been interested in because of the styles they had or fabrics inside, but I would smile and pass on by. It is a complete sensory overload, the among of tailoring shops that exist, so unless you are ok with endless meandering, it might be best to carve out clear intentions so you can narrow down what you are looking for in a store.
The Process:
The tailors in Hoi An work very fast, with most places being able to complete projects within 24 hours, if not sooner. I do suggest visiting a tailor on your first day of arrival to ensure adequate time for fittings and reworks if necessary. We were only in Hoi An for 3 nights (big regrets, we already have plans to go back and stay longer), so checking out the shops that were recommended was the first order of operations once we settled into our hotel and get a Vietnamese iced coffee into our systems.
Between my husband and I, we ended up going to three different shops. The first store we visited, PEACE tailors, my husband had a pair of loose pants and a short sleeve button up shirt made. He chose the styles based on what some of their showroom mannequins were wearing, but hammered out additional details with the tailors. He then chose the fabrics, and they did detailed measurements. For myself I had brought with me my favorite pair of pants (some flowy harem pants I bought off a beach vendor in Mexico) and my favorite dress I bought at a ‘going out of business’ boutique sale in Croatia. For my dress, they quoted 1.2 million Vietnamese Dong, which at the time was about $40 USD. I think that I could have gotten a lower price at some other shops, but with our time crunch I went ahead and decided to have my dresses made there as I know myself and could imagine wandering endlessly and never being able to decide on a store. Based on the type of fabric my pieces were, they showed me my options and I ended up getting a few dresses made. I admit that I wasn’t floored by their options since I wanted brighter colors and a better variety of patterns, but knowing we had limited time in Hoi An I felt like I needed to pull the trigger on a few. As I just wanted them to replicate my dress, we did not do a detailed fitting, but I left the dress with them. We then made a deposit for half of the price of the entire order, the second half to be paid upon delivery. Most places will take a credit card, although this shop told us cash only (although we did notice during our final check out that they did in fact seem to take credit cards, it just likely meant they preferred cash due to the fees.) We then decided on a time the following day to come back for fittings, exchanged WhatsApp numbers, and went on our way.
My favorite shop where I got my pants replicated was actually one of the stalls inside the market. It is honestly incredibly overwhelming inside the market as there are countless stalls one after the next, each with fabrics stacked ceiling high in all textures and colors. I cannot tell you how I actually chose the store that I did, but I ended up getting a quote for my pants for 600,000 VDN, roughly $24 USD. I loved their array of prints and chose 3 different patterns that I was ecstatic for. They took credit cards so I went ahead and paid for my entire purchase and we exchanged WhatsApp numbers. She contacted me the next morning and I went in to try everything on. They were perfect, and I love every single pair and I have regrets I didn’t get more pants made and that I didn’t have my dresses made with them. I loved their energy and honestly wished that I had given them all of my business instead of the higher end shop. Tipping a tailor is generally not expected in Vietnam, especially for high end stores where a service fee may be included. However, if you get exceptional service, it certainly would be appreciated.
My husband went to one other store, ———–, and had a suit made. It was a two piece suit, single breasted, as well as a short sleeve shirt. In total it came to around $150 USD for a custom suit, that was ready in 24 hours. After the initial fitting the following day they made some additional adjustments to the button colors, hem length and the waist. The finished suit was bagged in a sturdy suit bag for our travels and it felt like a very premium experience.
I was incredibly impressed at the speed and value of the pieces we had made. In some ways I was overwhelmed at the possibilities as several of the shops did not even have books of styles available but merely had ipads so you could look up whatever you wanted and they could replicate. I was relieved to have had specific pieces I wanted replicated because at some point I was looking through Pinterest and the endless options of possibilities became more than I could handle and I ended up passing on anything getting made altogether.
If you have the luxury of time I would absolutely recommend shopping around a bit and making sure that a shop is reputable, but also has the kind of fabrics, colors and patterns you like. Because the process can be overwhelming, I think it best to come with images of styles or pieces you would like, or pieces you would like replicated. For simpler pieces like my harem pants or a simple dress I would highly recommend the ladies at ___________ inside the market. I loved their fabrics and fun prints and I really enjoyed working with them. For pieces like a fitted suit or a fancier dress I would recommend __________.
We did not take advantage of this, but Hoi An also has tons of custom leather shops where you can have shoes, bags and other leather goods made. As we were not in the market for leather goods I did not get any price quotes, but I was definitely tempted seeing the variety of styles and colors available for sandals and bags.
