For brands, boutiques and retailers sourcing production
Custom Suit Manufacturers: How to Compare Four Factories on One Sheet
Four quotes, four shapes, and no two of them describing the same thing. One is ex works, one is FOB. One says full canvas without saying which padding method put it there. Before you compare a single price, normalise all four to the same six rows. This page is that sheet.
- Minimum
- 1 piece
- One garment, not one style in a run of fifty.
- Lead time
- 14 to 20 working days
- From confirmed measurements and cloth, not from payment.
- Measurements
- 45 fields
- Our system defines 47; two are currently switched off.
- Style options
- 347
- Across suit and shirt configuration.
- Cloth houses
- 26
- European mills and merchants, plus houses in Turkey, Canada and the US.
The six rows that make four quotes comparable
Ask every maker the same six questions in the same order. A quote that cannot fill in all six is not a quote yet, it is an opening position.
- 01
Incoterm: what is actually included in that number
Ex works is the price at the factory door. FOB adds inland freight and export clearance. DDP adds international freight, duty and import handling. These are three different numbers for the same garment, and a maker quoting ex works will always look cheaper than one quoting DDP even when the delivered cost is identical or worse. Convert every quote to the same term before you rank them.
Our answer We quote ex works. Freight, duty and payment fees sit on top, and we say so rather than burying it.
- 02
Construction: fused, half canvas or full canvas
These are three different products, not three price points for one product. A canvas is floated through the front of the jacket by hand or machine and changes how the garment behaves over years of wear. A quote that says only the price has told you nothing, because the same maker will quote all three and the gap between them is mostly labour.
Our answer We build all three, chosen per order rather than fixed by a house style.
- 03
Inside full canvas: which padding method
Full canvas is a canvas type, not a padding method. Machine padded, hand padded, or a mix are three different jobs sold under one name. Most price lists, ours included, are built around canvas type rather than who stitched it. If nobody asks, nobody has to say, which is how two jackets at the same price turn out to be different garments.
Our answer We will split canvas and padding into two line items if you ask. Most buyers do not ask.
- 04
Cloth: held on the shelf or ordered in
A maker who holds the cloth can start cutting. A maker who orders it in adds the mill's own lead time on top of their production time, and that addition is invisible on a quote that only lists a delivery figure. This row moves dates more than any other, and it is the one most often left blank.
Our answer Two houses are held in Shanghai: Zegna, 162 styles across Trofeo and Traveller, and Vitale Barberis Canonico, 40 styles from Four Seasons. Everything else in the directory is ordered in against a confirmed order, and we say which is which before you quote a client.
- 05
Cloth weight, in grams
A price without a weight next to it cannot be compared to anything. A cheap full canvas quote on a cloth too light to carry a canvas is the same mistake as a fused quote on a heavy winter cloth, priced better for whoever sold it. Ask for the price and the grammage together, from all four, in the same email.
Our answer We give the weight with the price, because the two only mean something together.
- 06
Minimum: per order, or per style
No minimum is a phrase with at least two meanings. Some makers mean one garment. Others mean one style, in a run, in one cloth. The difference decides whether you can test a cloth on a single client before committing, which is the entire question for a shop adding made to measure.
Our answer Our minimum is one suit, and it means one garment. A single jacket is cut on the same terms as a run.
Normalise before you rank
Six conversions that have to happen before any of the four prices can sit next to each other.
Do this in a spreadsheet, not in your head. The point is not to find the cheapest number, it is to find out which of the four makers answered every row without being chased. That maker is usually the one you want, and the correlation is stronger than price.
Four questions that separate a maker from a broker
A factory answers these from its own floor. A trading company relays them, and the relay shows in the wording.
Do you hold this cloth, or is it ordered in?
A real answer sounds like: Named and specific: this bunch is on the shelf here, that one comes from the mill and adds their lead time to ours.
Not an answer: We can get any fabric you want.
How many measurement fields does your form take?
A real answer sounds like: A number, and what happens when one of them is wrong.
Not an answer: Just send your sizes and we will handle it.
Who pays for a remake caused by a measurement error?
A real answer sounds like: A clear answer either way, written into the terms rather than settled later.
Not an answer: Silence, or we will take care of you.
Where are these garments made?
A real answer sounds like: One place, named, with the cloth's origin stated separately.
Not an answer: European quality, or Italian craftsmanship, with no country attached.
For the longer version of this, including the six criteria worth scoring makers against and the four kinds of supplier you are actually choosing between, see how to choose a suit manufacturer. For what you hand over once you have chosen, see what you send a custom suit factory.
Three ways a comparison sheet misleads you
All three are avoidable, and all three are common.
Ranking on price before normalising
The cheapest line on an un-normalised sheet is usually the maker who quoted the narrowest terms, not the maker with the lowest cost. Ex works beats DDP on every sheet where nobody converted.
Treating one sample as the population
A first sample tells you what a maker can do when they know they are being watched. It does not tell you what arrives on order forty. Ask what changes between the two, and whether the same workshop cuts both.
Accepting origin language instead of an origin
European cloth and made in Europe are different claims. We make in Shanghai from European and Australian cloth, and we do not call our garments bespoke. Any maker blurring those lines is telling you how they will describe your product to your customer.
Questions buyers ask at this stage
How many custom suit manufacturers should I actually compare?
Four is a workable number. Fewer and you have no spread to judge an outlier against; more and the sheet stops getting filled in. What matters more than the count is that all four answer the same six rows, because a comparison across four differently shaped quotes is not a comparison at all.
Why does one manufacturer quote so much less than the others?
Usually one of three reasons, and it is worth knowing which. The quote is ex works while the others are FOB or DDP. The construction is a tier below what you asked for. Or the cloth is lighter than the specification you sent. Convert the incoterm, confirm the construction, and ask for the grammage before you conclude anything about cost.
Can I test a manufacturer without committing to a production run?
With some makers, yes, and this is the row worth checking first. Our minimum is one suit, and one suit means one garment rather than one style in a run. That is what lets a shop put a cloth on a single client before committing to it across a rail.
What does a realistic lead time look like?
Ours is 14 to 20 working days, measured from confirmed measurements and confirmed cloth rather than from payment. Cloth we do not hold adds the mill's own lead time on top of that. Any maker quoting a delivery date without telling you where their clock starts has quoted you a number, not a date.
Are you a factory or a trading company?
We cut and sew in our own workshop in Shanghai, which is why we can answer a canvas question or a bunch number question directly rather than relaying it. The atelier was founded in 1996. Our supplier directory names 26 European mills and merchants and states, for each one, whether we hold the cloth or order it in.
Send us the sheet, filled in as far as you got
Tell us the construction, the cloth and the volume you are working toward, and we will answer every row above for our side of it. If a row is a problem for us, we would rather say so before you build a price list around it.