Virtue Tailor Shop offers expert dressmaking

Fashion Week is virtually every day at Virtue Tailor Shop in San Antonio as its owners are expert seamsters from Saipan’s old garment industry.

Owner Qian De, a native of Fujian, China who first came to Saipan in 1997 to work in a garment factory, said their business specializes in making dresses, gowns, and suits for all occasions.

Virtue Tailor Shop also makes curtains and does digital T-shirt printing, embroidery, or any other customized clothing, including hats. They also sell jewelry and bags on the side.

Aside from him and his wife Hong Mei being veterans of the garment industry, Virtue Tailor Shop is also equipped with a professional custom machine.

The equipment allows them to craft or make any type of clothes or garment from scratch.

They also don’t scrimp on materials as all fabrics they use come from Guangzhou, China.

Customers also have the option of bringing their own fabric for them to customize.

As for the cost, Qian said their price range is based on the style and fabric customers want customized.

Qian said he established Virtue Tailor Shop in May 2011 after the last of the garment factories on Saipan closed down, as he no longer had work and had a young family to feed.

Good thing that making good quality clothes were in such high demand on island that Virtue Tailor Shop had no trouble carving its own niche in the local economy.

Nearly 13 years since and even through super typhoons Soudelor and Yutu, COV-ID-19, and the ensuing economic crises, Qian and his wife have persevered with the business because, in own his words, “our customers need us.”

As for calling their tailoring business Virtue Tailor Shop, Qian said the name is actually derived from combining the Chinese meanings of his and his wife’s first names.

Virtue Tailor Shop is located across Royal Crown Insurance in San Antonio and is open Monday-Saturday from 9:30am to 8:30pm and Sunday from 9:30am to 8pm. For more information, call (670) 235-5511/ or WhatsApp (670) 483-7762.