China-direct · made-to-measure · private label
Made-to-measure suit manufacturer in China
Centi Sartoria is a made-to-measure suit manufacturer in Shanghai, China. An atelier of 200 house tailors producing designer-grade suits, tuxedos, jackets and overcoats in premium European cloth, factory-direct, from a one-piece minimum. We make under private label for boutiques and emerging brands: your label, your branding, the construction and cloth luxury houses charge thousands for.
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What ordering looks like
- Minimum order
- 1 piece (MOQ 1)
- Lead time
- 14 to 20 working days
- Cloth
- 33 European mills and merchants, 1,000+ fabrics
- Construction
- Fused · half-canvas · full-canvas Full canvas vs half canvas vs fused →
- Private label
- Yes, your label, your branding
- Origin
- Shanghai, China, factory-direct
Factory-direct vs. a trading company
Why brands source their made-to-measure line straight from the atelier floor.
| Centi Sartoria (factory-direct) | Trading company / middleman | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Ex-works atelier price | +30-60% agent / trading margin |
| Minimum order | 1 piece | Typically 50 to 100+ units |
| Who you talk to | The factory that cuts the cloth | A sourcing agent in between |
| Customisation | Full made-to-measure + private label | Limited, catalogue-bound |
| Lead time | 14 to 20 working days | Weeks, plus agent hand-offs |
Where the 14 to 20 working days go
A made-to-measure garment is cut for one person and made once. Here is what happens between your order and the parcel leaving Shanghai.
| Stage | Working days | What is happening |
|---|---|---|
| Pattern | 1-2 | Your measurements are drafted into a cutting pattern for that one garment. Posture is applied here rather than corrected later: a sloping shoulder, a forward stance, one arm longer than the other. |
| Cloth | 1-3 | The cloth is reserved and pulled. Anything held in our own stock moves the same day; anything cut to order at the mill in Italy or England adds transit and is the single most common reason a date moves. |
| Making | 8-11 | Canvas set, chest built, sleeves hung, collar felted, buttonholes worked. Full canvas takes longer than half canvas, which takes longer than fused. |
| Finishing | 2-3 | Under-press, final press, hand-finishing, your label sewn in, your packaging if you have supplied it. |
| Check | 1 | Measured against the order sheet before it is bagged. A garment that misses goes back to the bench rather than into the box. |
| Total, cloth in stock | 14 to 20 working days, ex-works | |
Two things move that number, and neither is effort. The first is cloth: a fabric we hold starts on day one, a fabric cut to order at the mill starts when it lands. The second is construction. A full-canvas jacket has a chest that is built rather than glued, and building takes bench hours that cannot be compressed.
You will see quotes of a week in this category, and they are not necessarily dishonest, but they are usually measuring something different. A one-week garment is normally cut from house cloth already sitting in the building, made fused rather than canvassed, and timed from the moment the cutting file is released rather than from the moment you place the order. Take the same garment, put an English flannel in it and a full canvas chest, and the week becomes three regardless of who is making it.
What we will not do is quote a date we cannot hold. A shop that has promised a client a fitting has staked its own name on our number, and a date missed by a week costs that shop more than the garment is worth. If a cloth will not arrive in time we say so before the order is taken, not after.
Rush production is possible on stock cloth and we will tell you honestly whether a given order can take it. Shipping sits on top of all of the above and depends on the service you choose. Express to Europe or the US is typically a handful of days, freight is longer and cheaper.
How to compare two factory quotes
Two numbers from two makers are almost never measuring the same garment. These are the seven lines where they differ.
Is the cloth in the number?
The most common reason one quote looks half the price of another. Ask whether the figure includes the fabric, and if so, which one. A house polyester blend and a 130s worsted from an Italian mill are both 'wool suit' on a quote sheet and are not remotely the same garment.
Which construction?
Fused, half canvas or full canvas is the single largest price driver after cloth, and the one most often left unstated. A fused jacket and a full-canvas jacket can differ by more than double for the same cloth. If the quote does not say, it is fused.
Whose measurements, and who carries the error?
Ask what happens when a finished garment does not fit. A maker who re-cuts on their own account is carrying part of your risk; a maker who charges you for a remake is not. This one line tells you more about a factory than its website does.
Minimum order, and minimum per cloth.
A stated MOQ of one piece means little if the mill's own cutting minimum is a full length. Ask both questions: the minimum per order, and the minimum per fabric. Our answer is one piece on any cloth we hold.
Who owns the pattern?
If the factory keeps your blocks and your client's pattern, moving supplier later means starting over. Your patterns should be yours, retrievable, and stored under your account. Not held as a reason you cannot leave.
What does a remake cost, and how long does it take?
Every maker produces the occasional garment that misses. The difference between a good supplier and a bad one is what happens in the fortnight afterwards. Get the remake policy in writing before the first order, not after the first problem.
When does the clock start?
From the day you place the order, or the day the cloth arrives, or the day the cutting file is released? Three suppliers can quote 'fifteen days' and mean three different dates. Ask which event starts the count, and what the number becomes on a cloth that is not in stock.
Full canvas vs half canvas vs fused →
What a custom suit factory needs from you, and what it owes you back →
The three made-to-measure supply models, and what each does to your label →
Why Centi Sartoria
Founded, three decades cutting tailored menswear.
Tailors in one Shanghai atelier, not a broker network.
European mills supplying the cloth we cut.
Minimum order, start with a single piece, no volume commitment.
What we make
Every category is made-to-measure and factory-direct. Browse a hub to see the range.
Frequently asked questions
How do I choose among suit manufacturers in China?
Suit manufacturers in China range from large industrial mass-customisation plants to small factory-direct ateliers, so judge them on five things: minimum order (can you genuinely start from one piece, or is it 50 to 100+?), lead time, cloth sourcing (real named European mills versus generic house fabric), whether true private label is offered, and whether you deal with the factory that cuts the cloth or an agent in between. Centi Sartoria is a Shanghai atelier of 200 house tailors that meets all five. MOQ 1, 14 to 20 working days, 1,000+ fabrics from 33 European mills and merchants, private-label, factory-direct with no trading company.
Can you manufacture made-to-measure suits in China for my brand?
Yes. Centi Sartoria is a Shanghai made-to-measure suit factory that produces under private label for boutiques and emerging brands. Your label, your branding, from a one-piece minimum. We cut each suit to the end customer's measurements in premium European cloth.
What is the minimum order quantity (MOQ)?
One piece. There is no bulk minimum. You can order a single made-to-measure suit, tuxedo, jacket or coat, which lets a new brand sample and sell before committing to volume.
What fabrics do you use?
Premium European cloth from 33 mills and merchants, over 1,000 wools, worsteds, flannels, tweeds and linens, including cloth woven in the Biella valley. You select the line; we cut to it.
How long does production take?
Roughly 14 to 20 working days per made-to-measure order, shipped factory-direct from our Shanghai atelier with no trading company in between.
Do you offer private label / OEM suit manufacturing?
Yes. We manufacture under your own brand, woven labels, packaging and branding to your specification, so you can build a designer-grade made-to-measure line without owning a factory.
What garments can you make besides suits?
Suits, tuxedos and dinner jackets, blazers and sport coats, and overcoats and trench coats. All made-to-measure, all factory-direct, all in the same European cloth.
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