We left Hue on the afternoon bus and arrived in Hoi An around 6pm. This really is a gorgeous little city, one of the very few places that wasn’t bombed during the war. The town is littered with hundreds of tailors and this is the place where many people get themselves suited and booted for an extremely reasonable price. So you can guess what we did? Yep that’s right, first thing the next morning we trawled the towns old market for a suitable tailor. It’s so easy to be overwhelmed by them all vying for your business, so when we our heads spinning we left the market and found the charming Banana Split Cafe just around the corner.
Over lunch the owner started chatting to us and it wasn’t long before she insisted we pop into her cloth shop next door. We were a bit cautious at first as everyone in town is, or knows a tailor that they recommend. But after lunch we did indeed pop into her Cloth Shop Number 68 and it wasn’t long before we were looking through magazines and albums for ideas and the stacks of fabrics they had on offer. These girls can copy any style you want. Anything from Gucci to Ozwald Boateng or from any photo or, as we were to find, a description or roughly penciled sketch! It was all a bit too much at once, so we left to clear our heads. We promised to come back later when we had an idea of what we wanted.
It’s hard to take a stroll around Hoi An without being stopped every few feet by Moto taxis (”where you going sir”), Hawkers (”Name your price sir”) or Tailors (”Come into my shop sir, it’s the best in town”) so to get away from it all we dived into a cafe/bar for the afternoon to try and wind down and discuss what clothes we were going to get made up. With the help of a free WiFi connection and the start of Happy Hour it wasn’t long before we knew what we were going to get - me, a ‘copy’ of a Ozwald Boateng two button suit and Sandy, well Sandy was going for the works: a Breakfast at Tiffany’s number and a full wardrobe of 60’s Grease lightning dresses!
Armed with our printouts and hand drawn designs off we went back to Cloth Shop 68 and spent the rest of the evening drinking tea and going through our designs with the girls. They really loved Sandy, especially when she started dancing to try and describe the exact way she wanted her dresses to flow! Soon all of them were dancing around the shop singing Sandy, Sandy (all in a Grease styleee) - absolutely bonkers to watch!!
A bit before hand, on the way back to Number 68, we were propositioned by another shop to have a look at their “exceptional” cloth and fabrics. Now, just coming from a Happy Hour we accepted and soon got to looking through more fabrics etc. Before we knew it I’d agreed to a winter coat (for when we get back to old blighty) and 5 bespoke shirts! After all the measurements were taken I described how I wanted them and they told me to come back the next day.
After all the energy spent, the next day we decided to take it really easy. You couldn’t really walk around town without being hassled (all in a nice way mind) but it was getting quite annoying so we decided to cross the river and chill on the other side. There wasn’t really much going on but we found a book shop and a bar called “The lazy Gecko” run by an English guy who has set up shop in Hoi An. Who can blame him, after our few days there it wouldn’t be a bad spot to hole up for a while. It made a pleasant change from the hustle and bustle on the other side. In fact, from our vantage point on the river you could see them all buzzing about their business! Next door to the Lazy Gecko we sat and watched a real craftsman building some magnificent furniture from bambo, a real treat to see.
Eventually we made it back to our tailors. The shirts were spot on and the winter coat was feeling good. It was at least 34c outside and there was me walking outside sweating in a thick warm duffel coat, I got a few odd looks! Still, you’ve got to make sure it fits nice and snug?!.
Next it was on to try the suit, and I’ve got to say it was looking good. It was amazing what they can turn around in 24 hours. It was also amazing to see what they had done with Sandy’s dresses. All from a few sketches, pictures from magazines, and a bit of dancing to get the flow right!
It’s going to be hard going back home, once you’ve tasted bespoke there’s no turning back - especially at these prices!
All kitted out it was time to move on again. We were really running out time now as we had to be in Ko Chang(Thailand) to meet up with our good friend Claudia on the 19th. And we still had a 24 hour bus ride to Ho Chi Minh followed by a trek across Cambodia to look forward to before we could relax on the beach!