Fabric Market :: Shanghai, China

It’s always been a luxury of time to window shop – looking into stores and admiring new collections. Often those clothes end-up in the hands of tailors who skillfully fit them happily waiting bodies. What if those clothes were made for you instead but being fit to your after the fact?

At the Shanghai South Bund Spinning Materials Market (a.k.a “The Fabric Market�?) each person is confronted with three floors of Shanghainese tailors and their rolls of material to make whatever you can imagine – or printed out and brought with you or thought of on the spot. Located south of The Bund and the Old City, on 399 Lujiabang Lu (Lu is road in Mandarin) and easily gotten to by taxi or local bus, the possibilities in the fabric market are endless and often overwhelming.

The some of the more popular items made in the fabric market are custom button-down shirts, coats (from thick winter P-coats to trendy summer trench coats) and suits. Depending on the material and your bariginning skills most people will be able to get a woman’s shirt for anywhere from 70 to 90 rmb. At each tailor’s stall you can choose from a dozens of materials, and half a dozen different collars and cuffs for your shirts. Once you decided your style, the measuring begins.

Most items in the fabric market can be made within a week as the default date. If you have a tighter schedule, more tailors will be happy to accommodate you.

Although the conditions in The Fabric Market are far from luxurious (their public bathrooms are something to avoid), the concept of having custom clothes makes up the difference. And, if you choose not to have your made with the masses of other foreigners, you can simply go to the market, find the material you like and then hand it over to any of the dozens of private tailors that have made their fortunes off foreigners love of custom clothes.