The process begins on Wednesdays, when sellers stock up and price clothes at VND20,000 to 25,000 apiece.

Saturdays, that price tag drops to VND5,000 at Hoang Hoa Tham Market in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh District.

The price continues to slide on Sundays to VND10,000 for three items, sending customers swooping to the floor to snatch up clothes scattered in piles.

And on ‘Low-price Tuesday’? Yes, as little as VND1,000, usually for children’s clothing with stitching errors.

“Sometimes I spend half a day choosing a T-shirt,” said shopper My Hoa, who lives near the market. “But it loses color in the first wash. However, I don’t get upset because it’s so cheap.”

At such low deals, women can sate their shopping addictions with just a few thousand dongs, said Phuong, a worker from Tan Binh Industrial Zone.

A seller named Nam explained the big discount helps clear out unsold clothes to make way for new goods.

Pham Van Hai Market in the same district is not as cheap, but the price floor is VND5,000.

The low-priced clothes in these two markets are secondhand and imported in bulk from Cambodia, where they have been divided into sorted and unsorted groups.

The unsorted group contains all manner of clothes and accessories, from hats to shoes, which are classified as wholesale once they reach HCMC.

Clothes are displayed on street pavement for sale off (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

Stock clearance

Ngoc Ly, an intermediary for those who want to open stalls in District 5, said that some clothes are much cheaper than they appear. “They are, in fact, not inventory but taken from tailor shops or imported,” she said.

Some small tailors make a living by providing the so-called “clothing inventory.” Hai, owner of a shop in District 12, told Tuoi Tre, “We find cheap cloth to make clothes and sell them wholesale to pavement stalls at VND15,000-20,000 per item.”

Another kind of low-cost merchandise is real inventory, that is, clothing produced at industrial warehouses and fetching VND100,000 apiece.

These wares come from garment companies or plants that encounter financial trouble, or from shops going under. Their inventory sometimes rivals that of luxury shops, but the businesses have to slash prices to move stock. When that happens, inventory shop owner Duyen is ready.

“Right after a company announces a stock clearance, I have to rush there or else others will take it,” said Duyen, whose shop is on Bach Dang Street in Binh Thanh District. “Although the clothes are sold on the street, they go fast because they’re good quality.”

At Ga Market in Phu Nhuan District in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: Tuoi Tre)