From a small workshop in Hangzhou to ateliers trusted by cultural brands, museums, and boutiques across 38 countries — this is the story of the hands, the silk, and the soul behind every Hanfu we send into the world.
HanfuSupplier began in 2008 as a family of three — Master tailor Lin Weiming, his wife, and their eldest daughter — restoring Ming dynasty garments for a small Hangzhou museum. What started as a quiet act of preservation quickly became something larger. As the global appetite for authentic hanfu grew, the Lin family opened their doors to apprentices, bringing in pattern cutters, dyers, and embroiderers trained in Suzhou, Nanjing, and Chengdu.
Today our atelier occupies a restored silk-mill complex on the banks of the Qiantang River. We work with sixty artisans, four master consultants, and a network of weavers and natural-dye houses stretching across six provinces. Every piece that leaves our workshop carries a small woven label — a quiet promise that the garment was cut, sewn, and finished by hands trained in the old methods, using silk spun and dyed the way it was spun and dyed a thousand years ago.
Three principles guide every cut, every stitch, and every shipment that leaves our workshop. They are the reason a museum curator in Paris and a bride in Kuala Lumpur trust us with the same garment.
Every pattern is drawn from a verifiable source — museum holdings, dynasty-era portraits, archaeological textiles, or extant garments in private collections. We don't approximate; we reconstruct with documented evidence and master consultation.
Source-Verified PatternsA single ruqun takes 40–80 hours across cutting, hand-stitching, embroidery, and finishing. We refuse the shortcuts of fast fashion — no glued hems, no fused interfacings, no machine-embroidered panels passed off as handwork.
40–80 Hours Per GarmentWe work with mulberry silk, hand-loomed brocade, plant-dyed cotton, and ramie — fibers our ancestors chose for breathability, drape, and longevity. Natural materials age into beauty; synthetics age into landfill.
Plant-Dyed & Hand-LoomedThe path from a three-person restoration studio to an international atelier has never been rushed. Each step was earned one garment, one client, one season at a time.
Master Lin Weingham is commissioned to restore a damaged Ming dynasty jiaoling for the Hangzhou Silk Museum — the catalyst for a dedicated hanfu studio.
The studio trains its first four apprentices and releases a 12-piece Tang dynasty collection — entirely hand-sewn from naturally dyed silk.
A London-based cultural society commissions 80 complete sets for a Lunar New Year celebration — our first shipment beyond Greater China.
We move into the restored Qing-era silk mill on Qiantang River, doubling our production space and adding a dedicated natural-dye facility.
We launch structured wholesale partnerships and a museum-conservation program, supplying reproductions to four international cultural institutions.
Numbers that quietly tell the story of an atelier that has chosen depth over speed.
A finished hanfu is the quiet conversation of six distinct crafts. None can be skipped. None can be rushed. Here is how a single ruqun moves through our workshop — from raw silk to a folded piece in your hands.
Our master pattern maker drafts the garment from historical sources, then tests three muslin versions before any silk is cut.
Silk is woven on traditional wooden looms in Suzhou; dyes are extracted from indigo, gardenia, madder, and槐花 by our partner dyers.
Fabric is laid on a long marble table, the pattern pieces arranged by eye to honor the grain — no laser cutting, no rotary blades.
Seams are closed by hand with silk thread, hems are rolled and whip-stitched, and any embroidery is drawn from a period-appropriate motif library.
Each garment is steamed, pressed, and inspected against a 24-point checklist by a second artisan before the maker's label is sewn in.
Every garment that leaves our workshop has been touched by at least seven of these people. We believe a name should travel with a piece of clothing — that is why we sign our work.
Founder & Master Tailor
Three decades of practice in Ming and Qing dynasty restoration. Oversees pattern development and final inspection.
Head of Embroidery
Eldest daughter of the founder. Specialist in Su-style embroidery and Song dynasty floral motifs.
Master Dyer
Trained in the southern indigo traditions of Guizhou. Leads our natural dye house and color research.
Pattern & Archive Lead
Historian of Chinese dress. Maintains our archive of 2,400+ pattern drafts and historical source documents.
We work with cultural societies, film production houses, museum conservators, wedding planners, and independent boutiques. Our wholesale clients include names you've seen in Vogue and ones you haven't — both matter equally to us.
Whatever the project, the path is the same: a conversation, a sketch, a muslin, a finished garment, and a relationship that — if we are lucky — lasts decades.
In twenty years of curating Asian textile exhibitions, I have never seen a contemporary workshop produce hanfu with this level of historical integrity. Every piece I have acquired from HanfuSupplier has been indistinguishable — at first glance — from the museum holdings they were modeled on.
Dr. Eleanor Whitfield · Curator of East Asian Textiles, V&A MuseumVisit us in Hangzhou for a private fitting, request a custom commission, or explore our seasonal collections. Whether you are a museum, a boutique, or a single individual — there is a place for you in our story.