Suits in Vietnam...

No hard feelings but I think BKK is still the go fellow Aussies though a coupla senior guys tell me there are fantastic tailors in Hanoi.

Xin Chao
I have just signed on here. I discovered Style Forum while searching for Tips. I wanted a new Suit and searched for Tips before having it Tailored. I'm an Expat Canadian and I thought I would add my experience, in the event it might be helpful. I had a Tailor named Vinh make pants and shirts for me 18 months ago and I was quite satisfied so I returned to him. I was able to schedule him to come to my Villa with Samples and take the details here. He said it will be ready for fitting in 6 days and he will return here to do it, so i'll provide a report here sometime after that. I was impressed with his promptness and demeanour throughout.

Although he didn't mention it to me, I later discovered that he has a very simple Website with testimonials from Customers http://www.vinhtailorsaigon.com/
He did say, when I asked, that he is prepared to schedule a visit to any Customer's location in Ho Chi Minh City to take Measurements. I downloaded and Printed photos of the style and detail that I wanted and gave that to him. His Fee for tailoring the Suit is $75 USD, which seems to be the standard fee here. Plus the Fabric of course.

His address, email, and photo of his Shoppe are on his website. His Shoppe is about 300M SW of the New World Hotel (my home for a while) and in the vicinity of what is termed the Backpack area. You will find many Expat workers (Australian, European, NorthAmerican) from Aviation, Teaching, Engineering and other Fields out for R & R in this area. Lots of inexpensive tours are available there also.

or not?

The suit he's wearing is almost reminiscent of the one worn in Good Morning Vietnam.. perhaps not so vibrant under the fluoros.

Yeah i had a chuckle at that too, but I guess when you reach the point where you use a shirtless shirtmaker, you get a little desensitized to tailoring irony. BTW I am yet to meet an expat (English teachers not withstanding, but as a general rule I wouldnt go taking my style cues from them..white socks....) who buys a suit in that part of town. Those places are 24 hour turnaround shops for backpackers to buy fused suits. BTW $75 is top-end-of-tailoring-town here. That is what Dung charges - and his store (and presentation) are incomparably more professional. The shops that look like the one in the picture tend to be 500000-800000 VND ($35-50). Still, I am about to make a jacket, so maybe I will swing by there, see if they will canvas it. Phu-the-cheap, who has done a few things for me in the past refused to canvas my jacket on the grounds that he is 'getting too old to do technical things like that' - hurts his eyes apparently So...to AJHCM...assuming you are an expat here rather than just shilling for the store, suggest you swing by Dung and see the difference in store, construction and so forth for the same price. He is on Le Thanh Ton halfway between Ben Thanh Market and the New World Hotel. The fabric store next door (Minh) is owned by his wife, so collectively they have a decent selection. Certainly the best in town for high end wools. Tailoring fee the same...he takes a month to make them though, and generally worth the wait.

Howard? Fabrics? eBay? Can someone provide a link or more information?

Sorry to resurret this from the dead but how much does dung charge for shirts?

Hi, guys, I've been working in Ho Chi Minh City for a few months, and I'd recommend Lam tailors at 158C Dong Khoi as an alternative to Dung or Cao Minh. I've had a few suits made by them. They seem to be the choice of the diplomatic community here, and even made a suit for my native country's beloved president, George W., when he was in town a year or two ago. Their house style seems to be very strongly English-influenced. They also make excellent shirts. Prices are around $300 for material and labor. Their fabric is generally imported from Italy or England, and most of it is lightweight cashmere, which is understandable, given the local climate. I would definitely not recommend Vinh tailors (http://www.vinhtailorsaigon.com) for suits, but they're not bad for chinos. There is no 2nd (or 3rd...) fitting at Vinh, basically once he's made what you ordered from him, you're stuck with it. He made a few shirts for me with collars that were too wide, and some others that are starting to fall apart. Here are some pictures of my suits from Lam, the first one is a basic 2 button suit made out of cashmere, and the second one is a double-breasted cashmere & mink blend. I'm picking up my first suit from Cao Minh tomorrow, I'll let you know how it turns out.

OK, here's the new suit & shirt I just picked up from Cao Minh. It seems to be fine, maybe a little baggy, but not bad considering I just ordered it 8 days ago. I don't think I'll get another shirt from them, it isn't as nice as the shirts from Lam Tailors, and it's more expensive, too.

Originally Posted by Michael1981

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Sorry to resurret this from the dead but how much does dung charge for shirts?
they come out at $30-50 depending on the cotton. Jantzens are a better buy.

Yeah, $30-60 is what Lam on Dong Khoi charges, depending on the material, and like I said they're better and cheaper than the shirt I got from from Cao Minh, and a hell of a lot better (but not cheaper) than Vinh down in the backpackers' area. He's in the $20-30 range.

Here's the latest from Lam, a 3-piece 3-button all wool deal. It's English wool, and too heavy to wear here, I'll have to wait to get back to California to wear this one. This is the first suit they've made for me were the trousers were lined all the way down to the cuff. I'm not entirely happy with the way the sleeves turned out, they're slightly too short, I think. Also, when I went in to pick it up, they had forgotten to put the buttons on the trousers, so I had to wait a little while extra for them to do that. But on the whole, it's another good experience with them. I'll probably order some more shirts from them in a few days or so. I'm glad to hear that there are others on this forum who like Lam, also. I am planning on visiting Dung on my next day off to order something from him. I hope he has seersucker, I've been looking everywhere here for it.

Originally Posted by AJHCM

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Xin Chao
I had a Tailor named Vinh make pants and shirts for me 18 months ago and I was quite satisfied so I returned to him. I was able to schedule him to come to my Villa with Samples and take the details here.

I also just picked up a couple of pairs of chinos from Vinh that I ordered just two days ago, and he didn't have to drive his motorbike out to my "villa" to measure me, either. Like I said before, he's not bad for basic pants, but I wouldn't get another shirt from him or a suit from him or anywhere on Bui Vien and that neighborhood if my life depended on it.

Dung does have seersucker.

Originally Posted by m@T

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Dung does have seersucker.

Great, I hope that means soon, I'll have seersucker. I'll go to Dung on Monday. I assume he takes Visa?