Is it cheaper to buy clothes in Beijing?

[lsquare]

I might be going to Beijing for a summer Mandarin program and I was thinking I might do some shopping there, but I'm not sure if it's worth it. How are prices for western goods compared to NYC? If prices aren't that favourable then maybe I"ll wait until the end of the year when I have a chance to go to NYC again.

 

[seok]

I recommend taking your crappiest clothes to Beijing for the summer program.

If you'll be in a summer program, your laundry situation will be less than ideal (i.e. ripped clothes from overspinning washers, no dryer and not enough space to even properly hang your laundry batch to air dry, etc.)

I will postscript the advice by saying that you should bring a set or two of nice outfits for the special occasions, and use the dry cleaner to have them washed.

If you're a typical forumite, you won't be impressed with the sartorial offerings in Beijing...

 

[Gong Tao]

I don't know about Beijing specifically, but I would not advise you to look for clothes in China. The quality of the clothes sold at most stores in China is very low. Chinese 'prestige ' brands are still not great and are not cheap at all. There are custom tailors but most are not very good, and the fabrics available are not very good either. I believe that western brands sold in China are no cheaper than elsewhere (and you will have a a hard time finding anything that fits, anyway).

If I remember correctly there is a styleforum member with a handle like Little Green Spots who runs a bespoke tailoring shop in Beijing, and he could give you more specific information, and information about his own shop.

 

[mack11211]

babygreenspots is the member name.

 

[LabelKing]

I don't know what a Mandarin program encompasses, but I believe Beijing is very hot in the summer.

Also, imported brands are not cheap in China, and besides most of the brands are uninteresting--things like Gucci, Versace, Dunhill.

 

[lsquare]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

I don't know what a Mandarin program encompasses, but I believe Beijing is very hot in the summer. Also, imported brands are not cheap in China, and besides most of the brands are uninteresting--things like Gucci, Versace, Dunhill.
I'm not going to let the weather deter me from going. The last couple of summers involved going to work and attending more summer classes at my university. I'm tired of taking History and Political Science courses. I have had an on and off thing with learning Mandarin and I want to intensify the learning process and my dad is thinking about financing my trip. Thanks for the information. I guess I'll just save my money then. I just thought things would be cheaper as a result of the exchange rate.

 

[josepidal]

On a tangential note, I know women who've had success having dresses made a lot more cheaply in Beijing.

 

[cglex]

No, western clothes are decidedly more expensive all across China. My son spent a year and a half in Beijing, Harbin and some other city I keep forgetting. Obtaining clothes was always a problem. Western, particularly European designer clothes, are all the rage and sell at a premium to US prices. In Hong Kong, there was a line around the block at 10PM to go into Gucci's. Local clothes are cheap for the poor masses and designed to fit Asians and not westerners. Most of the cheap western knock off clothes fall apart after several washes/cleanings.

 

[Spencer Young]

You'll have a semester to find a Jantzen equivalent. Maybe off the rack clothing isn't so great, but if you can find a good tailor who can accept future orders easily...

 

[lsquare]

Originally Posted by cglex

No, western clothes are decidedly more expensive all across China. My son spent a year and a half in Beijing, Harbin and some other city I keep forgetting. Obtaining clothes was always a problem. Western, particularly European designer clothes, are all the rage and sell at a premium to US prices. In Hong Kong, there was a line around the block at 10PM to go into Gucci's. Local clothes are cheap for the poor masses and designed to fit Asians and not westerners. Most of the cheap western knock off clothes fall apart after several washes/cleanings.
Believe it or not, I'm Asian. My aunt told me that I would find a lot more clothes that would fit me better in China or Hong Kong. The problem is that I won't be going to Hong Kong. I would love to go there, but I don't have money to get a ticket to go there and my dad is only going to buy me a ticket to Beijing if I do go there to learn Mandarin. I just want to say thanks for the information guys. This will help me decide how much RMBs I'm going to buy if I end up going.

 

[babygreenspots]

I would not recommend buying any clothes in Beijing. The prices for decent quality are high and the selection is poor. There are occasional exceptions to this, since tolerable factory overproduction items etc. can make it to retail sometimes. This is kind of rare though. Even in this case, the products of forum level quality are still overpriced. Overall, you would do far better in the US or Europe.

Most tailoring in Beijing is quite third rate, but I work on promoting a tailorshop (that I also use) that produces very nice suits and other clothing at a moderate price. We also have the widest selection of imported English fabric in Beijing. Please contact me when you are here if you want more information. I can also direct you to custom-made shoes and leather bags outlets, etc. I think these are the more interesting shopping options here. For OTR, Beijing is really a vacuum.

Another course of action you can consider is buying clothing that may not be perfect in fit at discount in the States and having it altered here. For example, you could get pants of any size within reason and have them completely altered for around 4-10 dollars. You may be a 32, you could buy pleated 34 pants in a good fabric and have them made into slim flat fronts. (not saying pleats are bad - just an example)

Please see my blog.

 

[Toiletduck]

I thought you were in Shanghai. oops