Beijing: where to buy real gore-tex clothing?

[bianfuxia]

Hello everyone,

I need to get a waterproof shell jacket, of Gore-tex or something similar.

Does anyone know where in Beijing I can get one? It needs to be real, not fake.

Very grateful for any ideas.

thanks.

R

[got_no_jaffas]

in wudaokou there are 3 to 4 shops specialising in trek gear & outdoors stuff. they have geniune stuff @ high prices but they also may have fake stuff. if you do a search on ebay for fake goretex you will find ebay members giving you tips on how to spot fakes. non-closed seams etc.

be warned though, typical of china, the salesstaff know absolutely nothing.

[JohnSmith1980]

Theres a sport shop in JinDian HuaYuan (Kingdom Gardens) under the sign for the diving place....between WenHuiQiao and XiaoXiTian (Near Beijing Normal University) that specializes in outdoor and camping equipment. I think they had a couple of jackets in there - but again, it looked quite expensive.

Also, Ive seen a couple of outdoor shops on the main road from Beijing Normal University East Gate but Ive never been into them so Im not sure what there like.

Good Luck!

Chris

[ocpaul20]

There are 'facory outlets' which I have been to, where they sell quite nice jackets, sports gear etc and it is relatively high priced - so whether it is real or just higher prices I dont know. I'll try and find out where it is later and edit my post.

Dont go for North Face though as it is a standing joke - all forigners wear this. One jacket I bought in a market even had the north face label on the front covered by another label which I didn't find out until someone chinese at another market told me it was probably a NF jacket.

Oh, the factory outlet is south of east 4th ring road, yan4 sha1 outlet.

[etcetera24]

Leafing through my back copies of That's Beijing, I came across a mention of the french outdoor sportswear store Aigle (online shop here: at http://www.aigle.com/en/) which uses Gore-Tex in their gear.

Location in Beijing:

Rm 140, Sun Dong An Plaza, 138 Wangfujing Dajie, Dongcheng District (6512 6757)

东城区王府井大街138号新东安商场140

[amandagmu]

I don't know about Gore-tex, but there are only two places I remember from last summer where I would trust the quality of the clothing -- the Trek store located near BeiHai park (as in, the American Trek brand of bike that Lance Armstrong rides) which had the real stuff (and no shoppers) inside. Expect to pay typical American road bike shop prices.

In Oriental Plaza I remember visiting a sports apparel store near the McDonalds on the second floor. They had real hiking boots in there by Timberland, Columbia, etc for real western prices. It was the only place I saw in the city with performance wear by Nike, Adidas, etc, e.g. the real stuff not cotton that purports to be the real stuff. They probably have jackets. Sorry I don't remember the name...

~Amanda

[roddy]

This isn't very clear, but it might be useful. I've seen ads on the subway recently for a huge outdoor sports store that's opened near Guomao - if I remember the maps correctly it's somewhere to the south-east of the Guomao bridge - ie, opposite Jianwai Soho. Can't remember the exact details, but a friend of mine recently kitted herself out for an expedition to the Himalayas recently and found everything she needed. I'll see if I can find more info.

Roddy

[shdwsclan]

If you are interested in spotting an immitation, such as the one mentioned on ebay, here are a few resources that should help you.

http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/Fake-The-North-Face-gore-tex-jackets_W0QQugidZ10000000000941467

http://reviews.ebay.com/Authentic-Columbia-Sportswear-coats-and-jackets_W0QQugidZ10000000001307801

http://reviews.ebay.com/North-Face-apogee-snowboarding-jacket_W0QQugidZ10000000001196311

A really good site that will help you is...

http://www.thenorthfaceguru.com/index.php

Main giveaway would be poorly printed tags.

Gortex doesnt print their tags from scans on inkjet or laser printers. It is all done lithographically.

You could probably come up with a chemical solution that would break up fake tags.

You may ask the gortex corporate site if the retailer in question is authorized.

A final definitive would be to carry a portable spectrographic analyzer(looks like an oversized power drill or a phaser from star trek) and test the clothing's chemical composition and crossing it with a definitive composition. Anything can be tested, from metal on the zipper to the material. Unfortunately, these devices are very expensive since prices are usually not listed...for example NITTON LLC.

[bianfuxia]

Thank you everyone very much for your replies. They are very helpful. Sometimes shopping here can be such a pain! There is something to be said for paying more but being sure that you are getting the real deal.

Thanks again.

R