I was wondering the same thing...do they fall apart often? Recently found a tailor down pearl market/yonganli way (adjoined to a hotel nearby) who were asking 1200 RMB for a cashmere number. I thought that was quite reasonable, and thought the shop should be ok if it is aligned to the hotel, but I haven't been back to try it yet.

In my experience it isn't so much the quality of the tailoring, but the quality of the fabric used. The "Cashmere" quote above is probably crap, what % is cashmere? and do you really know. Of course the labels on the fabric are of no help because it will all say "fine Italian blah blah" but it is all made in China at those prices. I can't stand polyester in my suits, so it's tough(impossible) to find good quality 100% wool for those prices.

you may want to look here for good quality fabric and tailoring:

http://stylites.net/blog2/senli-and-frye/

I have used Carol and Luc Tailor Shop in Jianguomen. Have purchased from Carol at least 3 times with no problems. If anything is wrong they will fix with no problem and Carol has good english skills if you do not have mandarin ability. You can bring in a style that you want and she can probably match it. Quality of the suit will of course depend on the fabric you choose. If you choose a lesser quality fabric, of course your price is going to be cheaper. She can do both men and women and they have a very basic website that can u can look at http://thebeijingtailor.com/english/top.html

Last items purchased was a tuxedo with a vest, custom shirt and a tie, along with some other dress slacks and I don't remember the exact price but it was under 1,000 RMB and much cheaper if I had rented something similar in the USA for the wedding I attended. I am a repeat customer and worked with the "Luc" part of the shop a few years ago, so maybe I can get a better deal than most.

Note that you can get a suit for as cheap as 450 rmb in yashow.... but the material is crap.
They'll tell you it's pure wool, they'll swear on their mothers' lives that THEIR stall uses high quality material unlike all the other stalls, but every single one of them uses the same fake polyester-blend crap.

Now look, you can still get a decent suit, and god knows it's cheap. But you will notice a difference from a real, quality suit. It's not always obvious, but when you put your suit on, it just looks cheap or tacky somehow .
The tailoring is usually pretty good though, so don't expect it will fall apart (assuming you treat it like you would any other suit).

If you just want a few convenient suits to wear casually, then you will be very happy with what you get from yashow for the price.
If you want a suit that LOOKS GREAT and one that you could wear to a job interview and feel proud... there is no alternative: you need material imported from the UK or Italy.

York tailor will come to you and actually listen to what you say! Cant speak better of them, and have tried many others will various degrees of disaster.

how much are the prices in luc and carol?

around 700-1000 per suit
he would not go under 1k for the wool suit
I know for sure i could get it 700 easy in 3.3; but had to deal w/ a load of adjustment before getting it right.

Tailors aren't a problem, getting good fabric is.

Don't go to Yashow or silk street, both markets sell bad quality fabrics, and horrible quality tailoring. You have to go to another one like Luc, D and J, Daves, etc.

wow,sounds good

Goodwill. 10 a suit, 10-15 for shoes(USD), 4 for ties. Dang newbies.
3 weeks of looking = 4 suits ,3 blazers, 4 pairs of shoes, 5 ties. Hart shaftner marx X2, dior, burrberry, etc. suits; allen edmond shoes (used), new cole haan loafers. I also got a new suit (never used) that was given to goodwill because it had a few holes in it (looks like moths). The suit still had its tags (365.00).
Get a suit and have it altered/repaired in China (if it doesnt fit). At least you know the quality of the fabric.

thats the point. In america for 1200 you can get a pretty good tailored suit. But that same one for 1200 would cost you 5000 in china. the only thing cheaper is the tailoring itself, everything else is way over priced. Just like if you try to buy a luxury brand here, it will be 2x the price for exactly the same sh*t.