Fabric shopping in Shepherds Bush, London

Take the Hammersmith & City line to Goldhawk Road station, descend onto the street, and in front of you, running up to Shepherd’s Bush Green is a clutch of fabric shops running along Goldhawk Road. It is not unusual to find the same fabrics at 3 or 4 times the price in the West End, so don’t hesitate to make the trip.

On the left you have A-one fabrics, which has a good range of dupion silks, tailoring cloth and printed cottons.   Next is Classic Textiles, my favourite.  You will find Liberty lawns, £16/m last time I was in there, denim and drill, and if you’re really lucky, designer remnants from the likes of Vivienne Westwood upstairs – all at reasonable prices.  Don’t overlook the basement, where all manner of good cloth resides.  Further along is a shop which specialises in fancy, printed fabrics; often silks, and a couple of stores which are stocked with African cloths.

A-Z. Toni, Fabricworld and UK textiles are all on the other side of the road, and offer various dresmaking fabrics, with some tailoring in A-Z and Fabricworld, which also has a lovely range of heavy, raw silks.

In the market you will find several purveyors of furnishing fabrics in railway arches, although these are a bit hit & miss.  Further into the market, as it branches to the left you will find more stalls of fabrics, some aimed at the East African market.


The downside to this as an sourcing area is that you rarely find the same fabric in a shop twice which can make it difficult to sample and go back. There is a very basic haberdashery stall in the market so it's unlikely that you'll be able to get everything you need from just the one stall. There is a great business opportunity here for a quality haberdasher