The Best Tailor Shops in Hoi An, Vietnam

There are so many tailor shops here. So to tell you what would be the best tailor shops are in Hoi An, Vietnam might be impossible. I also have no idea if there are better tailor shops elsewhere in the world. All that said however…

After spending 3 days walking around and looking at tailor shops here in Hoi An, I can safely say that the 4 tailors/clothing shops we bought clothes from are all places you could go and be very happy with the end result.

What follows is my review of the custom clothing we had made and our experience with 4 tailors.

If you’re looking to have clothes tailor-made in Hoi An, this post will likely be very helpful for you.

Hoi An Tailor Shop #1: Dai Duong Ocean
(84 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street – Hoi An)

At Dai Duong Ocean, I had 2 suits made.

Positives:
The ladies here are SO fun to chat with and tease. Their English is awesome, and I feel like an absolute giant compared to them. They are really fun and the suits turned out great.

Negatives:
On one of the pairs of pants, the pockets didn’t lay flat due to the way they were tailored. I tried them on one day and showed the issue. The next day when I came back to try them on again, they were already in a bag. I asked them to take them out so I could try them on again, and (clearly from their reaction) no alterations had been made. But they sent them out for alterations (again) and when I got them back (the third time), they were right.

Custom tailored cashmere suit with silk lining = $75.

By way of comparison, one suit like this with a silk lining, and custom-tailored in the US, would cost more than $350.

Here I got two custom-tailored suits for $150.

Hoi An Tailor Shop #2: Thu Van Cloth Shop
(130 Tran Phu Street – Hoi An)

Carrie had them make 2 pairs of pants and I had them make a jacket to go over my new suit coats.
Carrie is really excited about having both pairs of pants that fit really well (difficult sometimes with her long legs and short torso) and I love the jacket. The clothes turned out great.

Positives:
Thu Van Cloth Shop pulled us in because it said something about being recommended by TripAdvisor or some other guide book outside the door. We ended up inside this shop longer than planned simply because we were tired of the street noise and it was quiet inside.

They did a great job with the clothes they made for us.

Negatives:
For the people working here, it seemed like a job rather than something they really want to do. As such, I don’t know if I would use them for future orders.

They seem very competent and nice – good at their job even if it’s not what they really want to be doing. Carrie thought the same.

2 pairs of custom tailored pants = $30 each *2 = $50
1 custom tailored wool coat = $60

Hoi An Clothing Shop #3: Lana Tailor
(94 Le Loi Street– Hoi An)
Our best experience with a tailor in Hoi An

Carrie saw a jacket outside this store that she really liked both the color and the cut. So we went in and were helped by a very nice woman named Lan (pronounced Lahn). We chatted for a bit, but decided to come back later.

When we came back, Lan had checked out our website (scoring some brownie points with us) and had actually watched our wedding video AND the video of the fish eating stuff off my feet in Thailand.

BIG brownie points scored by Lan.

We bought a custom jacket and shirt (for Carrie) from a unique material in orange/black.

We were planning to buy the jacket anyway, but it was so great that Lan took time to go and check out our site in the time between when we left and when we came back.

Shirt + jacket = $40

More about Lana Tailor and Lan later on in this post.

Hoi An Tailor Shop #4:Thu Van Cloth Shop
(25 Tran Phu Street – Hoi An)

The main reason we wandered around Hoi An looking at multiple clothing shops is that Carrie had a very specific coat in mind. It wasn’t so much the cut of the coat as the texture of the material that she wanted.

Trying to explain “texture” with spoken language (when we know just 1 word in Vietnamese), or with drawings, or with crumbled up pieces of paper, is a bit complex.

In the end, Carrie found a fabric that was close to what she wanted at NY NY (15 Le Loi Street – across from restaurant Bo Bo and near an ATM).

Positives:
Carrie got close to exactly what she wanted with the coat, and it looks really great.

Negatives:
When the coat came back the first time, it had some kind of brown stain inside the coat. The ladies there told us it was from chalk and would wash out easily with just a little water.

It seemed somewhat sketchy that it would actually come out with just a little water.

We asked them to wash it out for us (as we wanted to make sure it would wash out).

When we went back to pick up the coat (the next day), it was clear that someone had worked pretty hard to get the brown circle out. There are very slight traces of it still in the end product, but it’s on the inside of the jacket and really only noticeable if you saw the first spot to begin with.

Custom coat = $42

Buying more clothes in Hoi An
During our positive experience with Lan at Lana Tailor (Hoi An Tailor Shop #3), we decided to get a couple more things. This wasn’t planned, and definitely went outside what we thought we’d spend on tailors here in Hoi An.

But Lan was so nice, and the clothing is great, and it’s definitely less expensive here (tailored) than it is in the states (from the store and non-tailored).

So I got three custom shirts (My first dress shirts with no pockets, and the sleeves work for both cufflinks and buttons), and Carrie got 2 more pairs of pants.

I negotiated a little bit for my three shirts.

I got them for $54 (from $58) and Carrie got her pants (one silk pair and one with hand-sewn custom embroidery) for $25 and $35. Total = $60.

Total spent at Lana Tailor = $60 + $54 + $40.

$154 total is the most we spent at any clothing shop in Hoi An.

Our experience with Lan left us with great feelings about someone we can work with going forward.

Hoi An Tailors – Conclusion:
Again, you will likely get great clothing at any of the 4 shops we visited in Hoi An.

We were happy with all the clothing we got. Just make sure that when you’re trying on the clothes (that you ordered the previous day – it’s unbelievable to me that the turnaround time is that quick on custom tailoring), that you’re particular about making sure the clothes fit, look, and feel right.

Overall, our favorite clothing experience overall has been with Lan.

She seems to enjoy her work (even if it’s 7 days/week), and seems to really enjoy giving a great customer experience.

Lan also took time to check out our website, and we learned a lot about Vietnam from our conversations with Lan.

One of the women in her shop even French braided Carrie’s hair while we were there.

We’ve definitely enjoyed the little bit of time we’ve gotten to spend with Lan and we hope to get to spend more time with her in the future, either to have clothes tailor made or just to get to know her better.