Cost of Clothes in Pattaya

[ben99 0]

Hi guys and girls.

 

I'm considering traveling light and purchasing some clothes, on my second or third full day.

 

Sort of quality I'm after is the British 'Next' type of thing or perhaps some of the better stuff in Marks and Spencer.

 

So as a general rule of thumb, a nice shirt in the above stores might cost £25, a pair of shorts, £20 and a fashionable pair of trousers, £30.

 

What would similar quality clothes cost in a good department store in Pattaya?

 

Thanks in advance

[dotcom_OD 0]

There are many places to visit to go shopping for clothes. It also depends on whether the designer label means much to your spending budget. Example there is a genuine Lacoste store at 2nd road between South Pattaya road and Royal plaza mall.

 

There are places like Mikes mall (the 3 leve or is it 4 level one) you can get anything your heart desires from real Levis, Ecco shoes, etc, etc.

Big C, Carrefour, and Royal Plaza all have stores, food stalls, restaurants, with the addition of a grocery in BigC and Carrefour. My personal prefernces were Big C and Royal Plaza.

 

Near Thepprasit road is the outlet mall and Tesco Lotus. I do not have much to tell you, but my girlfriend prefers shopping here for the bargains of designer label stuff from Adidas, Nike, etc, etc. You will see billboards on the way to Pattaya, from Bangkok airport on the highway.

 

There are also night markets on Friday nites I believe near the Soi Diana/Soi Buakao(sp) I could be mistaken, ask any of the bargirls of hobbyists you see in Pattaya.

 

On the main streets, mainly Beach road and 2nd road both have stalls galore.

Lastly, I am not too sure of the location as I was always driven there by a Thai friend of mine. On Tuesday and Friday, there is a market also I believe at the end of the Soi Buakao area, I beleive it was way past the Central road and we turned right then right again till we hit a somewhat dead end that curved around. Dirt floor with makeshift tables, with Thai hawking wares from blouses, jeans, sandals, wallets, belts, flowers, plants, etc. This I found to be the cheapest place for real bargains buying.

 

If it is clothes that you seek, there are many tailors, that will custom make any suit, tie, pants, sport coat and shirt to your liking. I did not prefer the middle eastern touts, so I did seek out a Thai master tailor that did 2 suits for a friend and a sport coat for me.

Finally, to add, haggle when you can. usually the pricepoint is like 1/3 off. You have to feel your way with the seller. I could sense how low he/she would go to sell their wares. That is just an average. If you prefer take a Thai with you, bargirl or male friend and have them haggle for you. Remember to tip them for their efforts.

 

happy shopping...I hope there are other hobbyists, who would add the exact locations of the night market and the Tuesday/Friday day market...They are worth the time and effort for the bargains.

Edited February 14, 2006 by dotcom_OD

[pattysteve 34]

Yea the tues/fri. market is indeed well past central.i guess it has to be,seeing as

Soi Buakao only starts there.

 

The market is at the opposite end,almost at the juncton of Soi Buakao and Sth Pattaya Rd.

 

Happy shopping

Edited February 14, 2006 by pattysteve

[eddy35 202]

I always shop for Clothes Pattaya....never the copies but always the original stuff.

 

Mike Shopping mall has a lot of quality brand names. On the second ( or third ) floor there are a lot of stuff available. Prices are 1000/2000 baht for a shirt. About the same for a quality pair of throusers. be sure not to buy near the stairs outside because there are just copies and fakes.

 

Be aware that you can buy the same stuff in the Outlet mall at Sukhimvit road for much less. In the Mall there is a shop with shirts 500/1500 baht and throusers in the same range. They have brands like Valentino, Cerruti 1881, Daniel Hechter, Pierre cardin etc....

 

Big C has a few good shops as well. Camel Adventure has a great shop there, good quality for little money....and really cute girls work there :-)

Levi's, nautica, lee Cooper, adidas, Nike etc...are also in Big C

 

My last advice is that you should watch out for promotions in the malls. There are always some brandnames offering their products with discounts up to 70%. Royal Garden Mall and Big C have promotions all the time.

 

 

Good luck !!

 

Eddy

[ben99 0]

Thanks for advice guys and girls. Will be very useful.

 

I'm in a bit of a dilema reagarding my daily Baht allowance. After hotel, airport pick up/return and clothing allowance my 'playing' money is either:

 

5000 a day for 4 weeks

 

OR

 

2500 a day for 8 weeks.

 

Obviously, 5000 a day is enough for a good time and Long Time Bar Girl, but I wonder how I might cope on 2500 a day.

 

How many of you guys could have a good time on 2500 a day? I like a few beers and one woman most days. Do you think 2500 is enough?

[pattysteve 34]

Hi Ben,

 

If you stay in holiday mode for the whole time 2500B is a little on the tight side.

 

Say for instance BG a day including bar fine and a breakfast 1500B.Leaves you 1000B for your own food and booze.Can be ok but not enough for crazy nights in GoGo's.

 

Definately dont ring any bells

 

Steve

[ben99 0]

Hi Steve

 

Yes, my feeling is 2500 is a bit stingy, as I enjoy buying a drink or two for my woman. I'm starting to conclude that for a holiday, if you can't afford 4k a day, then one may as well stay in U.K. and do some overtime!

 

Oh boy, am I gonna have some fun with 5k a day! My only fear is having to much alcohol and gettign ripped off my bar girl in hotel room, when I fall asleep. Guess, I will have to be very careful.

[pattysteve 34]

Hi Ben,

 

Forget the staying home doing overtime,being in patters with 2500B a day is still

a whole lot better. I spent much less than that,but wasnt in holiday mode.

 

As far as getting ripped,make sure your BG always leaves her id at reception.

[pattysteve 34]

Example of a quiet day.

 

bought small chicken,a club sandwich,4 small cakes,had a curry for lunch with samosa starter.Went out at nite 4 beers bought 2 ladydrinks.Sundries 20 cigs,3 baht bus trips and over a pound in tips.Total spend for the day 500B OMFG.

[eddy35 202]

My experience is that the longer you stay, the less you will spend each day. If you stay 8 weeks in Pattaya, you won't go out every night......you will change your daily routine.

If you stay with the same girl for a longer time, you might be able to get the price down. I used to pay about 20.000 baht per month + barfine. Sometimes they even quit the bar to save you the barfine. It might be possible to save some money there.

5000 baht per day is a good budget.......2.500 is a little tight but possible.

[bangkapiboy 5]

[torrenova 644]

Don't bother. Why fly round the world to go shopping in 30c+ heat and find no changing rooms, no return policy and largely questionable quality. Bring what you need from home, buy something if you see something you like but have the holiday you came for !

[ben99 0]

That's a good point.

 

Really, no changing rooms? That's daft.

 

I'm always taking things back to the shops. Wrong size etc.... and am quite fussy over fit.

 

Do the department stores allow returns?

 

If I bring clothes from home, how many shirts should I bring? 7? or more?

Edited February 15, 2006 by ben99

[ranger 0]

ben , you will find if you go to the authentic dealers that eddy35 talks about they all will have changing rooms.

 

The Jeep shop on the 2nd floor of RGP has some real good deals.

 

I bought a pair of trousers there last year for 1900baht (£27) the exact same

style in the Jeep shops in the UK was £70.

 

They have some nice shoes there also around 1/2 UK prices.

[eddy35 202]

Ben,

 

Don't worry about the sales service.......they have western standards.

 

I once bought a Cerruti 1881 Jeans and the zipper didn't work properly. They replaced the jeans without questions ( It was a 50% discount promotion jeans )

They had to order a new one from BKK because my size was not in stock anymore.

This year I bought some clothes for my son in Mikes Shopping......they turned out to be too small. I could change them without questions.

 

In all the shops they have changing rooms.............if you buy at promotions stands in the Malls without changing rooms........somebody will accompany you to a nearby boutique so you can try there.

 

have fun,

 

Eddy

[ben99 0]

Ben,

 

Don't worry about the sales service.......they have western standards.

 

I once bought a Cerruti 1881 Jeans and the zipper didn't work properly. They replaced the jeans without questions ( It was a 50% discount promotion jeans )

They had to order a new one from BKK because my size was not in stock anymore.

This year I bought some clothes for my son in Mikes Shopping......they turned out to be too small. I could change them without questions.

 

In all the shops they have changing rooms.............if you buy at promotions stands in the Malls without changing rooms........somebody will accompany you to a nearby boutique so you can try there.

 

have fun,

 

Eddy

Sounds good then. Stick to the proper shops!

 

I'm planning on traveling REALLY light, just a standard ANTLER backpack/daypack, just big enough to stuff all my essentials in and a couple of shirts. Bag will be accepted as hand luggage on plane and I won't have to worry about anyone stuffing drugs into my main luggage, as I won't have any!

 

I also have my Pacsafe waist wallet and Travel safe.

 

http://www.pac-safe.com/product.aspx?pId=646

 

http://www.pac-safe.com/product.aspx?pId=647

 

http://www.pac-safe.com/product.aspx?pId=655

 

No one is going to rob me! Well I hope not.

[piero 1]

In Pattaya you don't need to have many clothes because you are at most undressed with lovely girls...

[Eneukman 1]

As I now live here, my intention is to buy clothes I need from the local shops along Jomtien Beach Road - Hawaii shirt for 150/200 baht. t-shirt for much the same. Granted the quality may not be the same but if I can get a quarter the amount of wear from them that I would get from something costing 6 times as much, I'm happy. Also, because of the heat, I tend to go for looser fitting clothes.

 

The Tuesday/Friday market is on Soi Buakao. It's quite close to the junction with South Pattaya Road. It's a while since I've been there but t-shirts etc were available for 150 baht or so. I would normally try to barter but bot worth it at that price unless I was buying a few.

 

Alan

[gk10002000 0]

My buddy and I had a few shirts made custom. One thing I noticed is while there are many tailor shops, most are just fronts for some tailor or tailors who are centrally located somewhere else, not in the back of the shop. Avoid those. Try for a thai tailor if possible.

 

label stuff is not a great buy. some of the malls are no bargaining so not worth much to go there in my opinion. regular or routine wear is about 1/2 prices in america for decent quality.

[eddy35 202]

Label stuff is great buy because even without bargaining and promotion discounts.....it is still 40% less in price then in your home country.

 

Sometimes I consider it expensive when I am in Thailand ( you start to calculate in Thai price level quickly ) but after my return in farangland I realize how cheap it really was. Where can I buy a Valentino, Cerruti, Daniel Hechter, Pierre Cardin etc.... shirt for less then 1000 baht?

 

For the custom tailors......Those Indians are just selling and measuring the Clothes.....they are all made by Thai Tailors. So it really doesn't matter where you go, most come from the same producer anyway. It's important you chose the right material. The labour is very cheap in Thailand so the price difference is just depending on the quality of the material. Never buy tailor made shirts, you can buy label shirts for less money then the tailor made. Suits are a great buy, if you have a jacket that suits you well, just take it with you to Thailand and let it copy by the tailor in the material you chose.

[RedRackam 0]

Ben, both 5000 and 2500 are fine so you should spend 6 weeks there or so.

 

5000 is easily enough for a great/day night if you don't go crazy and buy everyone drinks.

 

2500 for a slower day, afterall do you want to be completly trashed every night?

 

Why not do 2-3 days ON and 1 day OFF, that sort of thing. If you eat cheap then this can easily be done.

 

And as for keeping your money safe, why take it all cash. If you're in the UK go and open an account at the Natiowide because they've got a really good cashcard that makes it very cheap to use when abroad.