How to shop for Kids Clothes at Namdaemun Market (남대문시장) in Seoul, Korea
Korea is a shopping paradise, especially when it comes to clothing. Kids clothing is no exception. While you can find the occasional kids clothing stall at Express Bus Terminal and a couple places in Dongdaemun Market, if you really want to find the best deals and the biggest selection, you should head over to the children’s clothing district at Namdaemun Market.
Directions
Go to Hoehyeon Station (Seoul Subway Line 4), and walk out of Exit 6. Walk straight for about 2-3 minutes until you see a sign for Gate 4 of Namdaemun, and a sign pointing towards the Kids Wear Shopping Street. (You have to look up to see the sign). Once you see the sign, turn right and you’ve arrived!
The main street that has a lot of kids shops – they sell clothing, shoes, hats, accessories, and more. Some shops are outdoors but if you go into any of the buildings on the left side, you will find rows and rows of vendors. Korean clothes are really trendy and cute, a lot of them are like miniature adult clothes. I think i saw a fake Burberry coat but with lots of ruffles on it.
Prices
Most of the tops and shorts are around 5,000 won, while dresses are on average 10,000 won. If it’s really nice, it will cost more – some of the nicer dresses were 15-25,000 won. These prices seem a little bit similar maybe a little cheaper than what i’ve seen on market which is like the amazon/ebay of korea.
Bargaining
A lot of the prices are marked and if you buy those things, and I think 10,000 for a dress and 5000 for a top is pretty reasonable, you will probably not end up bargaining. But I’m sure if you buy multiple pieces you can ask them to drop the price a bit. For instance if you buy two dresses for 20,000 won maybe they will give you 1000 to 2000 won off the total price. Prior to this I only shopped on g-market for kids clothes because i felt very intimidated by these local markets due to the bargaining aspect. But after going here I realized that it’s not as intimidating as I thought.
Where to find the best deals
A lot of stores have a little basket of sale items which will usually be 5000 won or less. This is where you’ll find some really good deals. I pretty much shopped exclusively in these baskets. I think some are sample items and some are maybe older styles. I’m not sure. But I found some pretty good deals in these baskets.
Quality
You get what you pay for! However, Koreans tend not to use dryers for their clothes – most people here hang dry their clothes. So you can’t really expect Korean clothes to last for a long time if you put them in the dryer. If you want the clothes to last you have to hang dry them. This really sucks for me because my 2.5 year old spills stuff on her clothes all the time goes through so many clothes and my girls like to change clothes at least 3x a day just because. I still try to hang dry a lot of their dresses and Korean clothes because I like to pass down my older daughter’s clothes to her sister, and my younger daughter’s clothes go to my niece. So all of my older daughter’s clothes pretty much get worn by 3 kids, so I want to keep them in good condition.
Sizing
Korean sizes are often based on age. So they will ask you how old your kid is to determine what size you need, and Koreans add one year. So my daughter is 5 years old in the US and probably the rest of the world but in Korea she’s considered to be 6 years old. My 5 year old daughter who is pretty average sided for an american kid, maybe on the taller size, wears a Korean size 9. My younger daughter who is 2.5 wears a Korean size 5.
American SIze | Korean Size | Age (American) | Height (inches) | Weight (lbs) | |
Newborn | 50 | Newborn | |||
0-3 months | 60 | 0-3 months | 21 | 6.5-13 | |
3-6 months | 70 | 3-6 months | 21-23 | 13-17 | |
6-9 months | 80 | 6-9 months | 25-27 | 17.5-20 | |
9-12 months | 90 | 9-12 months | 27-30 | 20-22 | |
12-18 months | 100 | 12-18 months | 30-32 | 22-26.5 | |
18-24 months | 110 | 3 | 18-24 months | 32-33 | 22-26.5 |
2T-3T | 120 | 5 | 2-3 years | 33-35 | 26.5-28.5 |
3T-4T | 130 | 5 | 3-4 years | 35-39 | 28.5-33 |
4T-5T (XS) | 140 | 7 | 4-5 years | 39-41 | 33-37 |
5T-6T (S) | 150 | 9 | 5-6 years | 41-44 | 37.5-44 |
6-7 years (M) | 160 | 11 | 6-7 years | 44-46 | 44-48.5 |
7-8 years (L) | 170 | 13 | 7-8 years | 46-48 | 48.5-55 |
8-10 years (XL) | 180 | 13-15 | 8-10 years | 48-52 | 55-62 |
Selelction
The greatest selection can be found in the indoor markets at Namdaemun. Unlike the women’s clothing vendors at Express Bus Terminal, you will find that most of the vendors carry unique clothing. You won’t see a ton of duplicates as you go from stall to stall. You can find everything from pajamas, to underwear, to swimwear, to dresses, t-shirts, and pants. However Korean clothing is very seasonal so you must shop for the season, or shop a couple of seasons ahead. In late February and early March, the spring clothing will be released. This includes light jackets, long pants, and long sleeved shirts and dresses. This will go on sale in late April and early May. In May, summer clothing is released. This is where you’ll find short sleeved tops and shorts, dresses, tank tops, and swim wear. The summer clothing goes on sale in August. Fall clothing is released in late August, and goes on sale in mid November. In late November, the winter clothing is released. You will find heavy coats and jackets, thermals, and snow boots. Korean winters are FREEZING! Winter clothing goes on sale in February.
Happy Shopping!
I hope you found this guide helpful! You can watch my video for directions on how to get to the Namdaemun children’s clothing market and you can also see what I purchased!