Special Report from Asia: Ho Chi Minh City Part 2
I had planned on publishing the second part of my report from Asia much sooner, but the fact is, the first tailor simply didn’t work out as planned. I wanted to get a casual, short-sleeved linen shirt, roughly based on a design available on mrporter.com.
Well, I did get 2m navy blue linen fabric from a local market (around $9.5) and showed the desired design to the tailor (see photo on the left) on my iPhone. He seemed very understanding, took notes and I got measured – I actually had a good feeling.
I picked up the shirt 2 days later for a first fitting and unfortunately it was horrible. I don’t actually know why he bothered to take measurements and look at my design wishes.
It was just a thing generally resembling a shirt, but it’s far too wide around the torso, the shoulders are too wide, armholes too low, lose sleeves, horrible collar, lose threads, etc. – just nothing fit and it didn’t look anything like I wanted it to.
I discussed the changes with him and then waited another 2 days. The final product is still basically unwearable. I decided not to make a fuss and paid the agreed 200.000 VND ($9.5). So, all in all, my first try cost me $19 (fabric + tailor) and I learned a few things.
- Be better preparedKnow exactly what you want, leaving no detail uncommented, provide print-outs or even better, a shirt you like that can be copied.
- You get what you pay for$20 just doesn’t get you a great shirt, at least not in my experience.
Well, I am not giving up. I’ve got a few good recommendations and I will visit a couple of other tailors. I will also be in Bangkok next week and will try to see some tailors there as well. Any recommendations for Bangkok and generally, tailors in South-East Asia are very welcome!
In other news, there is also a great chance for winning an Indochino suit at the moment, head over to their Facebook page to find out more.
![[expired] Win 3 shirts from Indochino!](https://indochino-review.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Desktop6.jpg)
