Wufenpu - Garment Street

If you ask where the center of Taipei's ready-to-wear clothing wholesale is, the first answer that comes to mind for most people is "Wufenpu." Hundreds of wholesale shops are gathered near Songshan Railway Station. Its naming origin dates back to the Qing Dynasty, when Wufenpu was the activity area for Taiwan's indigenous Pingpu tribe. Later, five families – He, Zhou, Shen, Du, and Li – purchased this land from the Pingpu people for cultivation and named the village Wufenpu. Taiwan's economic development over the past half-century, from poverty to working tirelessly day and night to prosperity, mirrors the history of Wufenpu's growth. People from central and southern Taiwan, who moved north to seek a livelihood, congregated in Wufenpu. They would take leftover or unsalable fabric from exported ready-to-wear clothing and simply process it, stitching it into underwear, children's clothes, or rough workwear for street vendors and retail stores. This gradually developed and established Wufenpu's reputation. Today, hundreds of apparel businesses are gathered here. Their goods come from all over Taiwan, and some are even imported from distant regions like Hong Kong, Thailand, Korea, and Singapore. Affordable clothing attracts small vendors for wholesale and retail. Due to the wide variety of styles and trendy designs, many young people also come here to shop, mixing and matching to create eye-catching fashion styles. When the urge to shop strikes but you're on a tight budget or don't want to spend too much, Wufenpu is the perfect place. It's worth noting that bargaining is also a common shopping phenomenon here; the back-and-forth negotiation with vendors adds to the thrill of the purchase!