Dai Quang Minh Market

From a handful of small shops to a specialised district for buttons, zippers and ribbons

Located at 31-35 Chau Van Liem Street, Cho Lon Ward, Ho Chi Minh City. According to Thanh Nien newspaper, from a few small shops selling buttons, thread, zippers and ribbons, the market gradually grew into a specialised sewing-supplies district with around 200 traders today, supplying garment workshops, clothing stores and fashion designers all over the city. Ly Kha Quan, 42, who inherited her stall from her mother, told Thanh Nien: "This stall is my whole life and my mother's." Kim Phuong, 56, a long-time stall owner, recalls the golden days when "Customers queued up a dozen metres deep waiting for their goods". Although there are fewer customers now, she keeps her stall because "Here, I still feel alive."

English text: machine translation from the Localis platform — proper names kept in Vietnamese.