If you thought Sham Shui Po in Hong Kong was the bomb for shopping for fabric and accessories, wait till you head to this area in Guangzhou! With the Zhongda fabric market and other trading buildings, this is really one of the largest markets you could ever access!
A highly recommended visit for you if you happen to be in Guangzhou and love shopping for material to make stuff with, or if you are sourcing fabric and accessories for your business.
I only had a few hours there before my flight (I probably only covered the tip of the iceberg), but here are some areas that you can check out.
p/s I’m going to be including some Mandarin words in case you need this for reference to show the hotel concierge or cab driver.
1. China Fabrics and Accessories Center (广州国际轻纺城 — Guangzhou guo ji qing fang cheng）
The closest subway station to this area is the Sun Yat-sen University stop (中大 — Zhongda), exit D. If you take a bus, you can get off at the Zhong Shan University bus stop (中山大学站 — Zhongshan da xue zhan) and you’ll see this huge red sign at this road called 纺城北路 — FangCheng Beilu. Follow the road in to the China Fabrics and Accessories Center!
The signboard along the way builds up anticipation…
This is what the building looks like from the outside of the C district.
In the basement (-1 level), there are all kinds of zippers, metal pieces for jewelry or corners of bags and clutches, d-rings, collar pieces, crystals, digital fabric printing services, and the list goes on forever. The sheer number of stores there is overwhelming so definitely be mentally prepared!
On the ground floor, the textile madness begins. Here there are swatches/ headers that show the fabrics that the stores can make. Some of them can be bought if they have existing fabric in stock. Some have to be ordered (the order size depends on the store). Technically, these storefronts are showrooms for factories so if they do not have existing stock, they may offer to make it for you in a minimum order quantity. The price for small cuts of existing stock and mass production will be different as well.
If they do have existing stock to sell to you, keep in mind that many may not keep their existing stock in the store itself so they may need between an hour to one day to bring the fabric to the shopfront for you.
If you are ordering fabric for your factory to make samples with, you could have the material sent direct to the factory or have them pick it up from here.
Does this not make you want to buy a ton of jersey knit fabric?
While going gaga over the fabrics available, be very careful to watch where you’re going. There are a lot of bicycles and vans moving along swiftly and you definitely don’t want to get in their way!
The second floor and up are a lot quieter than the basement and ground floor. In general, the fabric in this building pertain to apparel making – you’ll find pure cotton, blends, fur, wool, waterproof polyester for raincoats and winter jackets, etc.
And if you are hungry, there’s a McDonalds on the fourth floor and a Circle K convenience store on the sixth floor. Most of the stores were open on a Sunday when I visited.
Can you believe this is just a small part of entire district of textiles available? Continue on to part II of the fabric and accessories markets in Guangzhou for more…
Hi, I’m going to guangzhou and loved yur post.
Do you know the opening times for the markets?
Hi Maria, to be honest when I asked the locals around about the market, no one seemed to say a definite opening time. I went around noon and stayed till around 5pm and everything was open then. As a safe bet, I’d suggest you do the same! Hope you have a great time there!