Piol allows customers to picks their own fabric, neckline, skirt style and length and sleeves to create a custom dress based on specific hair, skin and eye color, as well as desired fit.
CUSTOM-MADE AND ACCESSIBLE
Made-to-Measure for the 21st Century
Custom made-to-measure clothing has been a luxury few could afford until recently, when a renewed interest in craftsmanship over disposable fashion gave rise to another side of the fashion industry: companies that offer made-to-measure tailoring and custom design at relatively affordable prices and timely turn times.
Customized in every way
Inspired by the principles of custom color theory and form design by Edith Head, Piol (pioldress.com) has adapted the costume designer’s philosophy with advanced made-to-measure technology to bring women the perfect go-to dress. Piol is exclusively online, where the customer actively participates in the making of her own dress, based on her hair, skin, eye color and desired fit given five classic silhouettes. From there, she enters the “design room,” where she picks her own fabric, neckline, skirt style and length, and sleeves.
The entire process is unique, built specifically by the company. As a result, even though the company was founded in May 2012, after taking time to perfect the online system and developing it into what it is today, the company graduated from beta mode and officially launched in September.
Piol works directly with mills in Italy and Japan to offer a wide range of prints, colors and fabrics because “everyone’s idea of fabric is personal,” said Anne Dayton, the founder of Piol.
All dresses are cut, sewn and shipped out of New York’s Garment District within three to four weeks from the order date and have a 100 percent guarantee behind them. If the customer is not happy with her dress, she is offered the option to return it for a full refund. Returned dresses are then donated to nonprofit organizations for women in need in New York. Orders are taken from and shipped to anywhere in the world.
Based on the chosen fabric content, price points range from $525 to $565, with the exception of stretch silk, which runs $625. “We like our price points—we are the contrarians to the sample sale, flash sale, buy-it-cheap mentality, which is so prevalent today,” Dayton said.
Everyday menswear
Custom-made menswear company Trumaker (www.trumaker.com) started with a simple question: “Why can’t a company simply take my measurements, and then everything I buy online comes built for and sized for me?”
Mark Lovas founded Trumaker in 2012. While made-to-measure companies did exist, he felt they were all very similar: “books of mostly dress fabrics, too many choices and high prices. They were commoditized and over-complicated things.” He set out to create an easier purchasing process while offering “shirts guys could wear everyday, not just for business.”
While the business does offer a ready-to-wear line and accessories that can be purchased online and shipped anywhere, Trumaker has more than 300 outfitters throughout San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Nashville and New York who go to clients to collect measurements and store them within Trumaker’s online database, making for easy reordering.
Trumaker is based in San Francisco, where it receives and ships everything. Its belts are made in San Francisco, tees are made in Los Angeles, leather goods are made in Italy, and shirts and blazers are made in Asia.
“Our made-to-measure is done overseas in Asia. We selected partners based on quality and ability to execute on fit at scale, not necessarily cost,” Lovas said.
Shirts retail between $98 and $185, blazers start around $400, basic T-shirts are sold for $28, belts retail between $108 and $128, and cashmere sweaters are between $128 and $368.
“By connecting the dots between the offline and online experience, we have created an entirely new kind of experience. Trumaker takes a curated approach, offering a sleek set of fabrics and cuts that can carry any man successfully from work to play,” Lovas said.
Leveraging the local market
With a fine-arts background, Laura Howe followed in her grandmother’s seamstress footsteps to offer customized garments to women. Matrushka (matrushka.com) opened in 2002 as a made-to-measure bricks-and-mortar retail location on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.
While the base of her company is ready-to-wear, her slogan is “size is relative.”
She has a sewing machine in her store that allows on-the-spot alterations to create the perfect fit for customers, which range from infants’ to petites to plus sizes and everything in between.
“If a customer sees a style she likes in a fabric that is not offered, we can easily make that for her in a day or two, cut to measure,” Howe said. “Part of what makes us unique is nothing is mass produced. Our clients appreciate the custom fit, and as a result we have retained a very loyal customer base over the years.”
Howe sources internationally made textiles in downtown Los Angeles. All cutting, sewing, screen printing and hand dyeing take place in her work studio, located in Silver Lake, less than a mile from her retail store. Although most of her clients are local, she does work with women who live elsewhere, keeping all clients’ measurements on file.
While her bricks-and-mortar location has been essential to the way her business was created, she has started exploring how to translate her success online via social-media channels.
And even though the bulk of her business is in dresses, she also offers wraps, pants, tunics, tops and skirts. Bridesmaid parties have also been a huge part of her business, with women appreciating custom-fit dresses as opposed to buying off-the-rack generic sizes.
Price points typically range from $150 to $300 with in-store alterations included in the price.
