This post was updated on April 20, 2019. I’ve added a couple more recommended Bangkok silk shops.
I’m asked where to find and buy Thai silk in Bangkok more than any other question about this legendary fabric.
Interested in Thai silk? Read my posts: “Thai Silk: A Buyer’s Guide” and “Thai Sericulture: Making Thai Silk“. Just published: A Compendium of Thai Silk Shops on Instagram
Over the decades, I have come and gone from this confusing megalopolis countless times, but I rarely purchased Thai silk fabric there. That’s because I buy almost all my silk where it’s woven, either Esaan (Northeastern Thailand) or Lamphun Province.
But I understand that many of you cannot travel to the rural villages that produce Thai silk. Many of you are travelling to Thailand for the first time and will spend a few days seeing the sights in Bangkok and then head south to the dazzling beaches of Phuket, Krabi or Samui.
You need a silk shop in Bangkok that you can trust for authenticity and a fair price.
So recently I posed the question to my wife’s niece who has lived in Bangkok for 30 years, “where’s the best place to buy good quality Thai silk in Bangkok at a fair price?”
And I must add that my wife’s niece is not a debutante with fabrics, especially Thai fabrics. She started her own apparel company in Bangkok 25 years ago making school uniforms and has been quite successful. She knows Bangkok and its fabric shops and loves Thai silk.
I described to my wife’s niece in detail exactly what I was looking for. Silk shops that I could recommend to my blog readers who may be looking to buy the fabric for the first time. I wanted to recommend a Bangkok silk source where they could not only purchase with confidence that they were buying authentic Thai silk at a reasonable price, but where they could also learn and develop their own expertise about the fabric.
We drove to mid-town Bangkok and struck gold. While I’m sure there are many fine silk shops scattered across Bangkok, I enthusiastically recommend the following:
The Silk Zone
2nd Floor, Old Siam Plaza
Parurad Rd., Wang Burapha Phirom
Pra Nakhon, Bangkok
The Silk Zone is actually a couple dozen independent silk shops located on the 2nd floor of the Old Siam Plaza. It’s the largest concentration of silk shops in a single location that I’m aware of in Bangkok.
But my recommendation is based on more than just the quantity of silk shops in near proximity to each other. Every silk shop at the Silk Zone offers a modern selection of quality brocades, mudmees, dupioni, and plain weave Thai silk fabrics. I inspected their inventories closely and all shops offered authentic Thai silk at market rates.
I spent the afternoon talking to different silk shop owners and they all happily allowed me to closely inspect their inventory. This includes spreading out the fabric, touching it, and comparing bolts. This is exactly how I shop for silk in the rural villages of Esaan.
Here’s a few specific recommendations of silk shops at The Silk Zone:
- Tim Thai Silk: Room S-206. Phone: +66 (0)84658 8887 or +66 (0)2623 9898. A small but very good silk shop. The owner used to be a sericulturist for Jim Thompson in Korat.
- The Queen of Thai Silk: Room 203-4. Owner: Vannipa Ponata. Phone: 02-2212244. Very good quality silks, and also some cotton fabrics. The owner specializes in Praewa Silk from Kalasin.
- Chalong Thai Silk: Room S-208. Phone: (Cell) 061-51788867/Store: 092-7142952. A great silk shop for plain weave silk. Every color of the rainbow. A decent selection of mudmee.
- Mai Tho Goen: Room S-214. Phone: 091-029-1193/081-492-9877. Very high-end brocades. Top quality silk fabric and a very friendly owner who loves to show her wares and talk silk.
More Bangkok Silk Shops
If you read my blog, I’m very choosy about who I buy my Thai silk from. Given my high standards for authenticity and quality, I’m also recommending the following Bangkok silk shops:
Kham Koon Silk Shop
J.J. Mall
Floor G, Room G224
Chatuchak District, Bangkok
Tel: 09-66-145-922
Open everyday 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Instagram: @khamkoon_official
This is one of the finest silk shops in all Bangkok. Kham Koon specializes in Praewa silk which is known as the Queen of Thai silks. (I wrote an entire blog post on Praewa silk that you can find here.)
Quality comes with a price so I highly recommend you shop their IG page (link above) which will detail their inventory and prices.
Any hotel concierge or cabby will know where J.J. Mall is located. This mall is located next to the famous Chatuchak market, so you can easily turn your “silk safari” into a great day of shopping!
Maneerat Thai Silk
Maneerat Thai Silk
Bon Marche Shopping Center-Room B101-136
Nontaburi District, Bangkok
Phone: +66-81-875-5494
Instagram: maithaingamthaisilk
Maneerat Thai Silk has excellent mudmee silks from Chonobot, Thailand-where the finest mudmee silks are woven in The Kingdom. You’ll also be able to find here brocaded silk, plain weave and dupioni. You can shop with confidence that the Thai silk is authentic and fairly priced. Before going, please do peruse their Instagram page (link above) for prices.
Bon Marche Shopping Center is located in Central Bangkok and any cabby should know how to get there.
Tips for Avoiding Ripoffs!
Let me just mention a few important facts about buying Thai silk fabric:
- Thai silk is not sold at night bazzars, tourist markets, or “walking streets”. Ninety-nine percent of alleged Thai silk at these locations are polyester ripoffs. At best you’ll find something called “noi silk” or “raw silk” (a misnomer) which is the cheapest, lowest quality silk in The Kingdom and shouldn’t even be confused with real Thai silk.
- The Golden Rule-know your silk vendor. You may be a novice at buying Thai silk, but that shouldn’t stop you from making a wise purchase. The best way to protect yourself from buying a counterfeit or paying way too much is to know your seller. Only buy from vendors who appear legitimate (Example: A vendor that has a dedicated silk shop and a large inventory of silk fabric is probably legit.) Never buy from a guy at a night market whose total inventory is on a card table or spread on the ground. Yikes!
- The Price Test. Thai silk is an expensive fabric. There are no bargains with Thai silk, only fair deals. Prices can easily range from $100 (US) for a 1.5 meter bolt of mudmee silk all the way to $3,000 for a bolt of the finest brocaded silk. You can’t buy a bolt of Thai silk for $10-$20. (That wouldn’t even pay for the silk yarns needed to weave it.) That’s why it’s never sold at tourist markets. (If you went to a tourist market and bought a “Rolex” for $50, do you think its authentic?”) The price test is nothing more than using common sense.
- Authentic Thai silk is rarely bargained for, and even then the price reduction is usually less than 5%. If a “silk” vendor first offers a bolt at $100 (US), but when he sees you heading for the door, lowers his price to $75, run, don’t walk out the door. If you buy from this type of vendor, you’re going to get ripped off and end up with a pile of polyester.
For more info about Thai silk and other Thai fabrics, please peruse “The Thai Fabric Chronicles”. And remember, Thai silk is a gateway to an old-style Thailand that’s quickly disappearing. In the world of Thai silk, the journey is always as rewarding as the destination.
The Thai Fabric Chronicles
- A Compendium of Thai Silk Sellers on Instagram
- Thai Traditional Fabrics: 3,000 Years in 15 Minutes
- An Intro to Thai Fabrics
- Thai Fabrics Part 2: Handwoven Textiles
- Thai Silk: A Buyer’s Guide
- Thai Fabrics Part 4: Hill Tribe Wares
- Thai Fabrics Part 5: Mudmee
- A Fabric Safari to Mae Chaem
- Jim Thompson (The Original Thai Silk King)
- A Silk Safari to Ban Ta-Sa-Wang
- A Cotton Safari to Pasang
- Thai Sericulture: Making Silk
- Thai Pillows: An Information Resource.
- Fakes Tests for Fake Thai Silk
- Thai Fisherman Pants: An Owner’s Manual
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