A Detailed Guide to Buying Men's Business Clothes in Bangkok

[mandchez]

Hello,

 

I thought I would give back to the community since I've gotten some valuable information from here. A little bit about myself: I spent 5 months in Thailand as an exchange student in Spring of 2018, have a girlfriend from Bangkok that helped me with a good 90% of this knowledge, and am making this guide during a return visit in January of 2019.

 

 

Before I begin this guide, I'd like to preface it with some information about tailors, clothing quality and dollar value.

 

***TAILORS***

Tailors are dirt cheap in Bangkok. Clothes in Thailand do not fit most westerners properly off the rack, and **it is extremely worth it to get all of your shirts and pants tailored here**. Getting your pants hemmed ranges from 30-60 baht/pair of pants. Getting your dress shirts tailored ranges from 100-150 baht/shirt.

 

The tricky part about getting your clothes tailored is finding local tailors and then communicating with them as a foreigner. Make sure to have Google translate ready and a Thai keyboard installed if you are going on your own. DO NOT go to shops selling suits asking to get your items tailored. You will get charged more.

 

One place I personally went to tailor all of my dress shirts was on the bottom floor of PATA Department Store. Hidden next to the Tesco Lotus, a lady that owns a shop there tailored all 9 of my dress shirts for 100 baht each with one day turn around. (Note that you will have to wait a day or two to get your clothes back).

 

***CLOTHING QUALITY***

While there are a lot of hidden gems in market places, there are also a lot of traps. I followed the following guide when assessing whether to buy a clothing item or not. The jist of the guide is to look at the stitching of clothes and opt for items made primarily out of cotton (some spandex mixed in for comfort is fine). If you are buying a suit, make sure it is made primarily out of wool. http://www.theluxestrategist.com/actually-practical-guide-shopping-high-quality-clothes/

 

***DOLLAR VALUE***

Lastly, I wanted to preface this guide with the dollar value of westerners compared to Thai people. I had the luxury of being taken shopping by my girlfriend who has lived her whole live in Bangkok and probably played a role in myself getting these fair prices. If you are getting charged 2x the suggested price I paid for tailors or +- 100 baht for clothes, be kind and don't haggle.

 

To put some perspective, a student with a bachelor's degree in Thailand can expect to make 15-20k baht per month upon graduation. That is a measly $600/month or $7,200 per year. The minimum wage in Thailand is 300 baht or $9 per day. Most westerners have the luxury of making Thailand's minimum daily salary in an hour. It's not worth it to haggle.

 

 

 

 

Now onto the actual shopping part of the guide. I will begin by listing the top two places I recommend and then mention some other suggested shops I have not personally tried/more niche business clothes options.

 

***Pratunam Market/Platinum Shopping Mall for Smart Casual and Business Casual***

First off, these places are exhausting. Both are wholesale markets and both are extremely huge (the outdoor Pratunam Market seems endless). Many Thai merchants buy their products from here wholesale to resell in more convenient locations of the city. I actually interviewed a store owner in Platinum Market and discovered that a good majority of these clothes either come directly from the factory or are imported from China. (The clothing item's origin is usually evident by the tag)

 

Platinum has a huge selection of clothing for men and women and can easily be a one-stop shop for most business clothes needs. Nice button up shirts are easily found for 250-500 baht, along with slacks for 500+ and polos for 300+.

 

Pratunam outdoor market is cheaper than platinum but extremely crowded. While both places are crowded, you'll be holding hands with the person next to you in this market. I was able to find some nice slacks here for 320 baht each. Shop locations have no sense of organization here, so I would recommend walking aimlessly. Note that you will get exhausted at this place because of the crowds, heat and selection. It is also imperative you check the clothing quality in Pratunam. Pants for $3 are not worth it if they fall apart after a few uses.

 

***Mall Shopping excluding Platinum***

Although I have not personally tried these places, I have been suggested here by my Thai friends. Many students at the university I studied at purchased their clothes from Uniclo in a mall called Central  Pinklao. Having visited it myself, the shirts seem of good quality but similar to western prices. You can find some items on clearance for 500 baht +. These are good quality clothes, but you are also paying for the brand (imo not worth it).

 

Another place recommended to me was a store called A to Z. It was described as a lesser tier Uniclo and can be found at a mall called Fashion Island near Siam Park City.

 

Finally, I would recommend a place called Bata in MBK Mall for business shoes. You can find some higher quality business shoes on sale here for $15. Bata is known for its quality amongst Indians and Thais, and if you do not purchase business shoes here I would recommend getting some quality sandals from here.

 

***Suit Shopping***

While I know there is a lot of debate as to where to find a suit tailor in Bangkok, I ended up going with a place called GMC Style in Amarin Plaza. It is recommended you spend at least $300 to get a quality custom suit at one of these shops, and I would recommend reading this lengthy post before assessing your suit needs.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/asia-thailand/thailand/read-this-tailoring-in-thailand

 

GMC Style is trusted by many Thais with the owner telling me he gets about 90% Thai customers and 10% ex-pats. What you pay is what you get here, however. Suits can range from 4k baht - 15k baht.

 

A potentially cheaper option is to go to a shop called Suitcube and buy an off the rack suit from here then get it tailored. Suitcube apparently has good reviews, but I have not tried this place and do not know what quality suits they sell.

 

***Supermarket Shopping***

Surprisingly, you can often find quality smart casual clothes at major supermarkets. There are Tesco Lotuses and Big C's everywhere. It doesn't hurt to take a peek at the sales they have.

 

 

 

**SUMMARY**

If you got through this whole guide, then congratulations! I hope it wasn't as exhausting to read as it was to type. But in case you don't have 15 minutes to spare, here's a quick summary of everything I just wrote:

 

Tips:

-Get your clothes tailored

-Recognize quality clothing

-Keep perspective of where you come from and don't haggle too much

 

Shopping:

-Big C/Tesco Lotus has smart casual clothes.

-Platinum/Pratunam Market has wholesale business casual and smart casual clothes.

-GMC Style is trusted by Thais for custom suits; suitcube is an alternative for those looking to spend less

-Uniclo and A to Z are decent places in malls to find clothes although similar to western prices.

-Bata is good for shoes.

 

Price guide in baht:

-Slacks - 350 to 700

-Shorts - 250 to 500

-Dress shirts - 250 to 500

-Smart casual pants - 200 to 400

-Tailored shirt - 100 to 200

-Tailored pants - 30 to 60

 

Welp, that is everything. This took longer than I expected to type up. I will maybe be back later to fix typos/clean it up later. I hope this helped everyone.

[moontang]

Poly-wool blend is way too hot for BKK....

[fruitman]

In ALL the malls they have a promotion area, it's aways worth it to have a look there...Mostly they are on the top floor or in the basement.

 

Brands like Arrow also have promotion often but still aren't that cheap. But there's always one brand in promotion...

 

Also it's good to have an expat discount card , like the One card or so...but there are many more of them...because the staff can't speak english i let my wife pay all and give her the cash later...paying by creditcard can also give 10% discount on top of all...

 

Also some brands are ALWAYS in sale, like the 50% for Pierre Cardin...don't let them fool you...for blouses you have to be lucky to find them half price but one day they'll go in the sale.

 

Usually you can go to any mall like Paragon Central World and just look how busy it is in those fashion shops...if it's cheap it's busy...

 

Muji is something similar to uniqlo...from japan and good quality for all their products..they also give discount sometimes. But those japanese shops have only small sizes, not for westerners like me.

[Metapod]

Suit advice from someone that knows literally nothing about tailoring or Thailand? Amazing..

 

GMC Style is great if you like a poorly constructed polyester suit. Not the type of place you go to if you actually want something of quality.

 

[Vacuum]

Many farangs use wifebeaters/Chang t shirts, shorts and flip flops....