Forums > Living in Kunming > Where to buy (cheap) fabric? Heavy duty nylon for sailboat covers and accessories? Hmm, that may be difficult. Do they have nylon fabric? Pretty sure. Is it strong enough? don't know. Is it waterproof or water-resistant? No idea.
Luosiwan is retail market orientated (home use, consumer, prosumer and small industrial) (private owned shops or run by factories putting their products there). Do they have industrial and heavy duty products? Yes, but limited. But considering you're not anywhere in a sail-boating surrounding, it may be harder to find what you are looking for. I definitely recommend checking the market out. You never know what you find. I bet there's someone selling it (there is always the odd-one out), but it may only be 1 or a handful of shops. There are also a lot of outdoor sporting and camping stores, but I don't think they sell fabrics, let alone per meter or roll.
An alternative for that is Taobao. If you know that you want big quantities, ask them to send you some samples.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Where to buy (cheap) fabric? YES, at Luosiwan you can get custom fabric covers, curtains and other things made. If it's a cover you can just pull over the sofa they can make it. Just bring the old covers in.
Does it really need staples, nails, sewing and putting in place (for you to bring the actual sofa there), then NO.
They prefer big orders, so don't expect a priority treatment or discount for a single item. But they do work fast.
Wholesale / retail prices per meter of fabric:
2 yuan to 500 yuan per meter.
Sorry, but it's not a straight answer because as I said, they have thousands of fabrics. You can buy the cheapest of cheapest linen, bedsheet fabric, bathroom nylon or upgrade to curtains with real gold thread.
Think of it this way: European / American store prices divided by 2 to 4 are retail price.
About the price: ask a couple stores and you'll get a feeling for what the price should be. They're not there to rip you off, but to do business. They prefer you to come back. Of course there's always the odd-one out who asks more.
(Cheap) sewing machines: also at Luosiwan. They have sewing-machine shops (and machine repair shops) at the fabrics department, curtain department and the electronics department (they are a bit scattered around because it's an electronic device meant for fabric).
Not all stores have in-house tailors or tailors on speed-dial. Ask if they can do custom sewing for you. There are tailors available in each department who are on call for the shops. The tailors don't own shops themselves there.
Whatever you order, make sure they write it down in detail and add a business card. Make a photo of the order and the prices listed. (so they cannot change it).
Forums > Living in Kunming > Where to buy (cheap) fabric? Luosiwan wholesale market has about a thousand or more fabric shops and tens of thousands of fabrics to choose from.
The bigger the quanitity, the cheaper the price of course. If you buy a small quantity, you pay a little more or closer to normal retail price.
Fabrics: Section A, B and C, floor 1,2 and 3 I believe.
Curtain fabrics: section D, E and F, 2nd floor
Metro stop: South Bus station (line 1/2)
Forums > Travel Yunnan > New Provincial Museum in Guandu? It's still under construction. I live next door to it. The metro stop is: Xinyao Lu or New Asia Athletics Park. It's a 10-15 minute walk.
I'll post it in the listings so people can find it. It's huge (Gugenheimer and LACMA size huge!)
In New Asia Athletics Park - Guandu (next to Guandu Old Town) the following projects are currently undertaken:
- New Provincial Museum
- New Kunming Theater (opposite the museum)
- New Provincial and Kunming Police Headquarters
- Olympic size swimmingpool (directly next to New Asia Athletics Park subway stop)
Forums > Travel Yunnan > Big bubble envelopes for shipping Most quality shipping companies have foam-wrap and bubble-wrap at hand. I don't think we ever paid for it.
We ship things regularly and use a ton of that stuff. If you want you can pick some up from us or find a shipping company near you like STO or Sf-Express and just bring your item(s) and they'll wrap it for you on the spot and fill in the address-card and send it on it's merry way.
Mapping Yunnan's surprisingly hectic airspace
Posted byI remember the mention of Paris too as the first intercontinental flight directly connecting Europe.
Chinese consumers of rare animals now face prison
Posted byIs there a list available of animals the government sees as endangered or forbidden? Not that I'd ever eat anything like those, but I want to know how far their list reaches in regards to foreign animals and if Yao Ming's efforts paid off. Thanks!
Great Britain in Kunming schedule of events
Posted byUK Brands at the Green Lake Hotel was already wrapped and gone Thursday even though it's advertised to continue till Sunday.
Great Britain in Kunming schedule of events
Posted byDon't bother going. It was already closed, done and over on 3 days earlier (Thursday). Even though they advertised it would be till Sunday.
Kunming's illegal street racing scene
Posted byHmm, sounds like every day driving in KM. Risking your life in an attempt to get to where you have to be.
It feels and looks just like a Demolition Derby here.
(Today a guy threatened to ram our car twice! because he was jealous that we were driving 5 Kph faster than him and using our "indicator light" to offend him...)
It becomes really sad when drivers here don't care about making life hard for people who are ill, pregnant or disabled. Or cause injury or death to others because it is of no concern to them or is simply beneficial to them. I've seen it happen. No deaths yet, but close enough...
Golden rule:
"What you don't know won't hurt you."