HK trip - fabric searching & marketing research

Our flight to Hong Kong is on 30th of July. The first thing I do after we landed in Hong Kong is to change money. There is a small exchange counter at the airport that required zero procedure fees. My budget for this collection is around 5000 HKD due to the fact that evening wear collection usually required a larger amount and a better quality of fabric

We started our sourcing trip on the first day. It’s very convenient to take underground station to Sham Shui Po. I spent the whole day collecting samples and building my collection’s color story.

Sham Shui Po

One of my favorite shops in Sham Shui Po is called Moon Yue which is very different from the typical fabric shop in Hong Kong. Most of the shops only have samples and you have to order it first and it takes times to ship to Hong Kong. The problem is that they might have ten colors of silk chiffon but the one color you want it is not available. On the other hand, Moon Yue’s fabric is all in store and they are all import from European country or Japan. Besides this, every type of fabric only have one or two rolls so it makes the fabric ,especially lace and print, more unique and special.

After I consult with my lecture next day, I started to purchase and order fabric. My main material was cut in Moon Yue and only a few needs to order.

For the next few days we were still going back to Sham Shui Po to collect our fabric and finding trimmings, lining and accessories. The price of the trimmings and zippers are reality cheaper compare to Singapore and there is much more choices.

Sham Shui Po trimming shop

For the last few days in Hong Kong we visit the commercial zone for market research such as harbor city and central. Hong Kong has all the luxury brands as well as boutique with various designer brand such as I.T., Magenta and Kniq. I’m really exciting to see and actually feel the texture of the fabric for some brands that don’t sell in Singapore but related to my design style, such as self-portrait and Delpozo.

Central Street

I.T. shop in harbor city

My favorite shops are from the roadside stores in Central area and PMQ. These small designer shops are well-decorative and each shop has their own unique style. The prices of these garments are very reasonable and they have something special in the design, for example, fabric manipulation, interesting shape and structure and new innovation on traditional clothing. Besides this, the target market of these shops is reality younger so that the style is more bold and modern.

PMQ

For the last day, I went back Sham Shui Po to purchase my lining. I have some remaining budget therefore I choose to buy a better quality silk lining instead of acetate lining. My outer layer is a natural silk wool fabric so it’s better to line with a natural material.

Our Hong Kong Trip is about a whole week, I arrived in Singapore on the 31st of July.