Best places for souvenir shopping in Hanoi to mark your Vietnam travel

Shopping for local products means so much more than getting yourself something to keep as memories. Gift shopping should also expand your knowledge of the destination and its culture, support local economies, help local artisans to maintain their jobs and to preserve traditions. Hanoi – the city with rich cultural and historical heritages offers tourists with a wide range of selection for souvenir shopping. Considered one of the Best tour of Vietnam, Hanoi offers an enchanting blend of history, culture, and vibrant markets, making it an ideal destination for souvenir hunting. The options vary from silk and embroideries to traditional food. There are today a growing number of boutiques and creative retailors dedicated in selling locally made and fair trade products which are of high quality. Many of them are at the same time social enterprises whose works are supporting underprivileged communities and promoting local handicrafts. Which means, if you shop at the right places, you are giving something meaningful back to Vietnam at the same time. Below are our hand-picked list of fair trade and organic shops to make your shopping count and memorable.

CRAFT LINK - Wide range of crafts

Address: 43 – 51 Van Mieu street (opposite the Temple of Literature)

Craft Link is a Vietnamese not – for – profit fair trade organization which helps traditional craft producers to revive their culture and improve their livelihoods through handicraft production and marketing. Here you can browse through the jaw-dropping displays of brightly colored textiles, scarves, kid’s toys, homewares and ceramics which truly represent the culture and craftsmanship of Vietnam’s ethnic minorities. All profits from the shop are used for the organization’s development activities and for developing new handicraft projects in rural areas. Which means that visiting Craft Link you can not only shop for authentic high quality souvenirs but also supporting those in need and helping indigenous communities to sustain their traditions.

A corner at Craft Link shop displaying colorful products made by the ethnic minorities

COLLECTIVE MEMORY – Ethical and organic brands under one roof

Address: 12 Nha Chung street (near St.Joseph Cathedral)

Founded by a Vietnamese dou of travel write and photographer who both have enormous passion for Vietnamese culture, this shop brings together a number of authentic and high-quality brands. The concept of the shop comes from “a collective cultural mindset that values local identity over global homogenization, originality over cliché, and quality over quantity”. Each and every single item here has a story to tell, you will be amazed by the owners’ great job in curating the shop. Products on offer vary from designer wares, limited edition art prints from established and emerging artists, to a range of delightful collectibles and edibles such as organic soaps, fair-trade coffee beans and chocolate bars, and an assortment of local herbs and oil. If you are look for a truly authentic yet contemporary and creative gift shop, you should look no further than Collective Memory.

The vintage Collective Memory shop

MEKONG QUILTS AND MEKONG CREATIONS - Textiles, accessories, home decor

Address: 58 Hang Trong street and 13 Hang Bac street

Address: 71 Hang Gai street

Founded in 2001, Mekong Quilts and Mekong Creations is a social enterprise acting towards sustainable employment of under-privileged women in Vietnam and Cambodia, by providing professional training in quilting and creating local handicrafts then offering paid job for women while enabling them to work from home, close to their families. The shop’s offers include high quality water hyacinth, papier-maché products, handmade braided rugs and bags, clothes, pillow covers, blankets and so on. One point worth noting is that Mekong Quilts’s production is environmentally friendly, since all the materials they use for their products are either natural, recycled and locally sourced. Products here are the perfect match between tradition and modern style.

High quality hand-made products from underpriviledged yet talented women in Mekong Quilts

TOHE STYLE – artworks from underpriviledged children

Address: 08 Do Quang street and 14 Nha Chung street

Tohe is named after a Vietnamese traditional plaything of kids a decade ago made from rice flour and nature colors. The name is definitely relevant with its mission - providing a creative learning playground for disadvantaged children to play and learn in a different academic setting. Selected artworks from art classes created by Tohe’s children are then redesigned and printed on lifestyle products such as: clothes, accessories, homeware, toys… branded under the name Tohe and distributed both in Vietnam and internationally. There are plenty of options for you to shop in Tohe with a collection of delightful products made from innocent and naive children who have not even been able to realize their talents, which will for sure brighten up your day. Grab your favorite gift from Tohe, help to spread the word, and leave nothing but love and meaningful possitive impact on Vietnam’s vulnerable children.

The playful display of products at Tohe Shop

METISEKO (TANMY DESIGN CORNER) - Fashion and home decor

Address: 61 Hang Gai street

If you are looking for a brand selling high-end Vietnamese-style clothes home decor, this is the right place for you. Metiseko Fashion is a small team of French and Vietnamese fashion creators first founded in Hoi An with another showroom in Hanoi. Metiseko concept “takes inspiration from Vietnamese culture and nature to design original prints and patterns that capture the essence of this fascinating country whilst remaining stylish and contemporary”. Behind the sumptuous clothes, accessories and homeware are the team’s firm committment to sustainability and ethical production. Clothes on offer are made from refined silks and organic cotton with no chemical during the manufacture. The brand has appeared on several world fashion stages including the mind-blowing Vietnam International Fashion Week performance. You don’t have to go anywhere beyond this boutique to shop for a truly luxury and authentic piece of Vietnamese designs.

Metiseko shop emphasizing on high quality design clothes

GINKGO – top-notch printed T-shirts and creative accessories

Address: 59 Hang Trong street, 44 Hang Be street, 79 Hang Gai street, 35 Ta Hien street, 45 Ly Quoc Su street, 52 Trang Tien street.

Ginkgo is one of Vietnam’s original fair-trade brands emphasizing on quality printed T-shirts with with unique designs inspired by Vietnam's vivid culture. Started as a brand solely dedicated on T-shirts, Ginkgo soon expanded their business to a wider range of 100% made-in-Vietnam products such as backpacks, bags, notebooks, and other creative accessories. With absolute commitment to environment, you can expect Ginkgo’s T-shirts to be made from organic cotton and many other items made from upcycled matterials that are environmentally friendly. With the motto “Bring Vietnam home”, Ginkgo wants to ensure that the souvenirs with high quality design and creativity will reflect the true culture of Vietnam.  In Hanoi there are 6 Ginkgo stores in total and 5 of them are dedicated to T-shirts and 1 of them is concept store (59 Hang Trong street) offering varied types of products.

If you are looking for quality printed T-shirts, Ginkgo is an ideal stop

ORIBERRY – direct trade and organic coffee

Address: 36 Au Trieu street, 21 Xuan Dieu street

Known as the world’s second largest coffee exporter, your Vietnam travel would not be complete without trying some Vietnamese coffee, and even more, buying some truly authentic Vietnamese coffee beans and powder back home as gifts for family and friends. If you are curious finding a place selling high quality Vietnamese coffee, Oriberry Cafe is your ideal stop. Oriberry Cafe is an initiative of a local Vietnamese NGO that works in remote rural areas of Vietnam conducting research and projects that aims to alleviate poverty by creating sustainable sources of income through good agricultural practices. Oriberry source its high-quality, premium coffee from local and indigenous farmers across Vietnam, working throughout seven provinces and with over ten different ethnic minority groups. Interestingly, Oriberry choses direct trade over fair trade, in other words, the business approach the farmers directly, visit their properties and directly buying coffee beans from them with higher prices. Which means money goes directly through farmers’ pocket supporting poor and low capacity farmers. Come around for a cup of Vietnamese coffee and browse through some exciting coffee varieties locally sourced. What can be a better feeling than relishing a cup of finest coffee while knowing that you are supporting the coffee farmers in need!

Any coffee lovers will be blown away with the coffee quality and meaningful business model of Oriberry

Threeland Travel as a leading local DMC in Vietnam offers a wide range of Vietnam package tours that comprises fascinating cultural exploration, breathtaking natural adventure, and exciting local shopping experiences. We are committed to support the ethical businesses that provide best possible souvenir products to customers while doing good to local communitie, since we understand that local shopping is essential in people’s journey of exploring the destination and its culture. Having any tailored request in mind? Drop us an email right away at [email protected] and our travel guru will give you a bunch of free exciting advice and turn your whatever request into a dream-like Vietnam holiday.