Hoi An Tourist Traps

Hello, I would have listed this under shopping, but thought here was more appropriate.
My fiance and I travelled to Vietnam, from South to North. Hoi An was high on our priority list- mainly for the tailored clothes that you can have made at unrealistically low prices.
We were walking down one of the main roads and a lady started talking to asked us if we wanted to have come clothes made by a friend of hers. We were weary at first because of the reasearch that we had done regarding tailors in Hoi An (yes, on this website), but then said yes because of her demure nature. We followed her down the road, past the market..to this huge textile place. (I wish I could remember the name of this place-sorry =(. It must have been some sort of 'collective' as there were a good fifty or more people each working on the clothing, and the selection of textiles were piled high up to the ceiling. This day, I put in orders for 2 Ao Dai (Vietnamese Dress), and my fiance 2 suits, and 2 shirts. Well, it ended up that out of 3 days we had to go back everyday for a fitting. Now, I have had experience in clothing making so I know that if you take enough and/or proper measurements, you shouldn't have to come back 3 times. This was the first warning sign. The last day, I had mentioned that I would like embroidery on my Ao Dai. I had a photo of it, and because I didn't want anything to go wrong, I even made the stencil for them to use and specified the colour.

We told her that we would be going on a 1/2 day trip in the afternoon and wouldn't be back until her store was closed. She said that she could drop everything off at the hotel to our room. When we got back that evening, we waited for her but she did not come. It was about 10:00pm. We went down to the lobby and she had left the clothing with the front desk. Before we even opened everything, we knew we had trouble. My fiance's adjustments had not been made, the buttom holes on his shirts were not cut-through, my 2 Ao Dai pants were 3 inches shorter than specified, the stitching was poorly done (understatement), and they were stained with dirt.
Oh, not to mention that regarding Nghia's suits, the drycleaner himself commented on the low-quality material and craftsmanship on the tailoring. His exact words: if you get this drycleaned again, there will be puckering everywhere".

I was lucky that my fiance was not so upset by this experience at first. He said that he would buy me another Ao Dai when got to Hue, to save some cost on the money that I lost. It was clear that I couldn't wear these. In Hue, by suggestion of the Hotel receptionist, the best place to have Ao Dai made: Nha May Chi.. I had 2 made again (I wanted to put the wrongs to a right) and they fit like a glove. I also had on made for my mother and they had them complete in one day, only alteration needed was the length of my pants. I was so surprised and relieved!

What I would suggest for all thinking about having clothing made and Ao Dai made in Hoi An is to avoid this area completely. There are plently of good tailors in the smaller towns like Hue, that can do a better job at better prices. With Ao Dai, they have tailors who have done this for generations, and know how these should be constructed to fit the body perfectly. The market for Hoi An is so saturated with average tailors that the good ones are far in between. Even after we did research on the internet and took the names down of the reputable tailors, we either couldn't find their store or they were flooded with tourists. Needless to say that the quality may have been lost somehow. If you're like me, you would rather pay the extra, or in this case, by again so it wasn't a total loss.
Another thing I would suggest would be to take after my fiance's attitude about this. Knowing that I could probably find this somewhere else, he suggested to have made again. He also didn't want this to ruin our trip so he let go of his disappointment until he got home.If you will not be going to the smaller towns, then I would even have clothing made in Saigon (everyone goes to Saigon). Yes, there are fantactic tailors in Saigon. =).

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