Hong Kong's Garment District

I went to Hong Kong ’s “garment district” yesterday. HOLY everything you need to make clothes!! Tons of fabric and embellishment choices. The area is called Sham Shui Po, it is in the New Territories section of Hong Kong. The area consists of 12 streets and is divided into two sections, half are embellishment stores and half fabric stores. Although, the area is in what is called ‘New Territories’, Sham Shui Po is one of the oldest sections in Hong Kong.  The rent is very inexpensive and has some of the oldest buildings and establishments.

Along with the designer I helped source fabric and trims for three categories of Spring/Summer 2014; retro/California dreaming, romantic/floral/exotic and modern/science. We chose various buttons, studs, lace, trimmings, feathers, etc. Our mission was to find embellishments that were new and interesting. After finding embellishments we sourced for leather in panther and colored styles and polka-dot fabric in cotton and silk blend. All these items will go into a “look-book” where buyers from Anne Taylor, Talbot's, Ted Baker and Banana Republic can choose from for their styles. Another designer from the Tungtex’s factory in mainland China will also source and contribute to this same “look-book”.

There is no English writing in this section of Hong Kong, unlike most of sections of Hong Kong where mostly everything is written in English as well as Cantonese. (Picture below).

June, the designer I was with, asked me what I’d like for lunch and if I like ‘spicy’ food. I do, so he took me to a famous traditional Hong Kong restaurant that specializes in soups which come in various levels of ‘spicy’. June ordered for me because everything was written in Cantonese. He ordered a “light” spicy soup with vegetables and fish. This soup was the spiciest thing I have ever eaten!!! My mouth was on fire and lips were burning. The temperature of the soup was very hot as well. I tried my best eating it because I was hungry and wanted to be polite. With every bite, I had to take a couple sits of green tea, even needed to order a second drink. June tried helping by asking our waitress to rinse my soup to help with the hotness because he could see I was struggling…. After the soup was rinsed, it was more manageable. I finished as much as I could, luckily I became full. But, WOW, I would never describe this soup as the “light” option! And this restaurant offers their soup in various options of; light, medium, spicy, very spicy and extreme. I CAN NOT imagine what the other levels are like…….

So be careful if order something ‘spicy’ in Hong Kong – it is not similar to the U.S! Everyone breaks at the same for lunch; it is at 12:30pm sharp. Most people go out to lunch with a group of people. The meals are served with; rice or noodles and chicken, beef, pork, seafood or vegetables. There are many more options for chicken, beef, pork or seafood than vegetable dishes. Usually you can only find one or two vegetable dishes at each restaurant. They also serve warm water with meals instead of ice water. There is this ‘milk tea’ that is delicious. It is made with condensed milk and red tea. It is sweet and tasty! People eat for about one hour and then return to work.   

(*Published this blog awhile ago, but don't see it now. From November with Tungtex.)