Things you need to know about Fashion Market in Sham Shui Po
What is Sham Shui Po fabric market?
the holy grail of deadstock fabric
Sham Shui Po is a fabric market located in Kowloon and is one of Hong Kongs best-kept fashion secrets. Designers looking for deadstock - Sham Shui Po fabric market is your holy grail. Basically, it's where Chinese mills, from fast fashion to high-end, sell off their deadstock. See I told you, mills never throw away fabric. Mills make swatch cards with a small cutting of every fabric they have available. Anyone can go into the Sham Shui Po fabric market shops, pick up swatch cards, and order anywhere from 1-100's of meters of fabric.
a place to pick up last-minute trends
The fabric is typically produced about 6 months or more before the clothing ends up in the store. So, shopping the Sham Shui Po fabric markets is a great way to hop on last-minute trends. This is because you are able to see other brands leftover or damaged fabrics before you can see them at trade shows or in stores. One season when I shopped the markets I noticed quite a few lace options with neon embroidery details, my client was quickly able to develop the fabric and not miss out on one of the following seasons hottest trends.
an important sample making resource
Buyers make their decisions based on physical samples up to a year before the style will end up in the store. The samples are supposed to be a representation of what will be sitting on their racks in a year. Sometimes, because fashion is crazy and things are always changing, there isn’t enough time to work with a factory to get the small amount of sampling fabric you need in time to make the sample garment. That’s where the seemingly never-ending supply of fabric at Sham Shui Po fabric market comes in handy.
fun for tourists
For tourists, Sham Shui Po fabric market is a great place to buy a couple of yards of fabric and have a local tailor make you a unique custom piece that you can design yourself. There is no shortage of tailors in Hong Kong. Because there is a tailor on practically every block, check out our private tour ‘Fashion Sourcing Insider Experience in Sham Shui Po”
geographic significance
Shenzhen, part of mainland China, is a quick train ride to Hong Kong. If you take the train, crossing the border from Hong Kong to China is actually a short footbridge that you walk over. That's how close they are! There is a lot of crossover between the mainland and Hong Kong despite the never-ending immigration lines that take hours to get through. Many people in Shenzhen actually send their children to school in Hong Kong every day.
Shenzhen is a modern city. Everything is new and massive. And, it is a city built for manufacturing. Westerners love Hong Kong, most Chinese companies know this. So, they set up their offices in Hong Kong, and do all of their manufacturing less than a half-hour away in Shenzhen.
Did you know that when you go a tailor in Hong Kong, more often than not they send the sewing work to be done over the border in Shenzhen? Nothing really gets made in Hong Kong anymore, wages and real estate space for a factory are too high.
Sham Shui Po, capitalizes on this geographical closeness to Shenzhen. Shenzhen has its own fabric markets too. But, Sham Shui Po fabric market takes advantage of the fact that there is a large Western-based fashion industry audience either visiting or living in Hong Kong, that needs quick access to fabrics.