Where fabric markets in Shanghai goes?
There’re 4 fabric markets:
Shanghai South Bund Fabric market, or QingFang Market,
No. 399 Lujiabang RD
Shanghai Shiliu Puhong Qixiang Cloth Market
Address: 168 Dongmen Road, not far from Yuyuan Garden.
CRAZY BUSTLING TIMES
Obviously，fabric market is paradise for hunting cheap stuff, men’s and women’s formal wear, dress shirts, skirts, dresses, but here’s Shanghai, highest cost to be paid for finished clothes, normally, about 300RMB used as production cost except cloth- for suit including salary for tailors, sales, administration staff, rental fee of factory and shops. If they sell suits priced 350-500RMB, that means they don’t pay for all the above necessary production process and staff, no any factory, owner of the booth is the tailor can talk with you as sales and tailor, no any cloth in stock , use cloth brochure from cloth supplier who also produce for them and charged them about a hundred for a pc of suit, and 35-40 for a shirt. When all the people crazy about highly-personalized tailor find that clothes made there are so cheap that a pc of suit only cost only a cheapest ready-made shirt in the US, or European countries, of course, crazy rush to all fabric markets in Shanghai to compare, to bargain ON 100% cashmere wool cloth. But most customers find that they’re fake and good at tricking when questioning on problem sleeves, too wide shoulder, as soft as no any canvas, no shoulder pads put in to support the jacket…And an open conclusion all foreigners make on fabric market is “fake market”, shorter name for long and hard to remember Chinese name. None of us want to hear we Chinese are questioned on bad quality, on our honesty, neither of owners of the booths emphasize quality and fame. But it’s the fact which happened no one can change, it’s “bang” to themselves and high quality tailor shops, as a result, fabric market becomes paradise for the people with economic plans, tolerant with unexecutive making. Many foreigners know the markets as shopping, finally, just make it as a travelling place, they look, compare, finally give up buying from them.
Why fabric market lost business? What’re the reasons?
Don’t know what formal wear means to those wear them, love them at all.
Partners in suits are highly looked as professional, how could the owners of the booths know how important formal wear means if they never need; A man in beautiful tux at parties looked as rich gentleman, who also invites friends by e-mail saying “BLACK TIE”, Chinese only need formal suits or tux or dress for wedding, only once in life(we all hope we only have wedding once, means we could be happy whole life, those divorced and married then divorced are looked down and gossiped often by neighbors and friends), few know how perfect formal wear means to the high-ups since they don’t need and don’t know English to learn this completely different culture.
No one can fulfill the requirements.
I thinks it’s ok the owners have no their own workshop by cooperation with workshops, but we still have a hope they supply better quality, but why they can’t?
I guess the owners want to sell better quality stuff, at least some of them, but can’t afford the higher charge? Or no good supplier can hire experienced tailors and pay 5000RMB-10000RMB for each tailor; or good tailors have become the owners because it’s very hard to make suits in deadline, now only workers from big factories know how to make clothes do the tough job, the fact is that tailors starting apprentice in 1980s when tailoring was popular worldwide are the nice tailors we’re talking about, but they’re fewer and fewer, young guys don’t like learn the traditional out of date craft at all. Since the suppliers hire only workers not tailors, how could they make nice suits?
REASONABLE TIMES
Business becomes hard for most of the owners, there’re fewer and fewer people coming to their service. We have to admit that the owners are smart enough to find new market, start new shops at building like famous brand do, aiming at selling suits of 3000-4000RMB to Chinese, but they don’t do at all, still sell the stuff priced 500-1500RMB as they do before, because their brand is unknown, since Chinese young guy neither know suits, they earn money and worse fame together in a short time, get their business lost again because of the same mistake.