Want to send clothing back to Australia, is it best to send by post and if so approx cost per kilo or just pay excess luggage and carry ourselves. Any idea of excess luggage rate with VN Airlines to Australia ?
1
higuys
Speaking of my own personal experience only and my wife had clothes done by one group of tailors only but everything she had done in Hoi An went straight into the rag bin when we got home... Quality looked real good in Hoi An but when we got it home it was all useless. She really enjoyed the process of having clothing made for her so I guess we got some value out of it but what we ended up with was nothing short of rubbish. And there was a couple of business suits for her, some dresses and pants, left a bit of a hole in my wallet.
When you get postage rates to Australia be prepared to fall over backwards.
2
angeldust
hi #1, i'm interested in what you mean by "Quality looked real good in Hoi An but when we got it home it was all useless." what do you mean by useless? any chance you can elaborate? thanks.
3
normc
Well #1 needs to give the name and address of the place where they got their stuff made otherwise it does no good not being specific.
4
violets
The post office in Hoi An is pretty good at packing. The price varies, I think according to the size of the package. Under a certain size (sorry I don't know exactly) it seems quite cheap. Check with the airline about how much you can carry home. My ticket says 30k and the travel agent told me that Vietnam airlines are always pretty lenient- she says because vietnamese need to carry so much stuff to and from Vietnam. Other airlines seem to be getting much tougher on baggage.
The qua;ity of clothing in Hoi An is variable. Even within one outlet because so much work is outsourced. It's pretty hard to cut well, particularly given the short time in which most tailors operate. I have found Yaly to be quite good, but they are more expensive. Even there the cut is not particularly good, so I would avoid anyhing too fancy, particularly cutting on the cross, which will drop in time if it's not acurate. Try to be very clear what you want and leave time for fitting and altering. Also look carefully at the quality of the fabric.
5
valeriee
all the cotton clothing ( dress and shirts) where i gave a model, so it was a repliqua, was good. all the clothing chosen from a catalogue or with an "original " cut, or made of heavier fabric were not good, but i noticed that already on the spot. i would at any time have some clothing made again in hoi an, but only silk and cotton and only with a model.
vietnam airlines allowd me 40 kg on my return trip to france.
6
jparker
I've expereinced no issues with any clothes made at Yaly. They included winter coats, work shirts, business shirts, formal dresses, summer dresses, denium and cotton skirts. They are more expensive but worth a visit to get an eye in for what is good.
7
higuys
Posts #2 & 3 - I'll fill in what I can. Sorry I can't be specific as I was more of an uninterested observer. However I hope people take my original post as a bit of a warning that you can get bad clothes there if your not carefull. I was much too busy doing I dunno what to pay any attention to where she was going on her tailoring spree.
I will say this. My wife had a fantastic time getting the clothes made. She met all the women and kids at the shop, went to dinner with them, went to their houses and met the old folks, gave the kids english lessons... all that stuff. Although my wallet ended up lighter to the tune of about US$100 the whole process took almost 5 days. So 100 bucks for 5 days of being treated like a princess isn't bad value. And she got a bag of cleaning rags for us to take home.
The warning signs were there I guess. Straight up they made a light pair of pants for her to wear as a gift and within minutes of her putting them on and walking around the fabric had balled-up in the crotch. She even said she was worried about this. She had a very large amount of new clothes at the end and when it was all thrown on the bed in the guesthouse and randomly tried on in a very excited state with her modeling and "I can wear this with those shoes, and this will go with that scarf..." as I said it all looked good. We were out of there the next day and home 1 week later.
The problems were terrible balling up of any fabric the rubbed. Linings in the suits were a mess and when one suit top was put on (as she was leaving for work) there was an awful ripping sound as her finger caught inside the lining somewhere. She took it to the woman who was making her wedding dress and she wouldn't repair it and told her it was no good. Nothing really fitted and another suit top was all squew-whiff. All the freebee's and really cheep stuff that they gave her was worse. So none of it got worn and then one day she stuck it all in a big bag and gave it to me to clean my bikes with. The dream was over... the clothes were dead and all she had left was the memories of the happy days she had with her tailor women friends... Memories last a life time, Hoi An clothes don't.
I hope this helps as I really don't know nothing about clothes.
Pro tip
Lonely Planet
trusted partner
trusted partner