For established tailor shops, alterations studios & menswear stores
Made-to-measure production for established shops
Your shop already has what cannot be bought: the customers, the fittings skill and the reputation on the door. What we add is a production floor behind it. You take the measurements and the cloth choice in your shop; we cut and make the suit under your own label, from a single piece, in about 14 to 20 working days. Factory-direct from a Shanghai atelier of 200 house tailors working in cloth from 26 European mills and merchants, with Zegna and Vitale Barberis Canonico held in Shanghai and the rest ordered in against a confirmed order. No minimums, no contract, order by order. Ask us to put the fault, rework and freight split in writing before you order, and ask every other supplier you are comparing to do the same. One who will not write it down has told you something.
Three ways an established shop can produce suits
| Make everything in-house | Centi as your production floor | Bulk factory program | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | Capped by your own hands and hires | 200 house tailors on call, take every order your shop can sell | High, but only in volume runs |
| Cost per suit | Local wages, rent and idle time | Ex-factory China, margin left for your retail price | Low unit cost, high commitment |
| Minimum | None, but every suit costs your bench time | One suit | Dozens per style |
| Your label | Yes | Yes, sewn in at the factory, from one piece | Yes, above MOQ |
| Lead time | Your backlog decides | 14 to 20 working days, made to order | 60 to 90 days for a run |
| Fit control | Full, your cut, your block | Made to your measurements and style spec; refine over reorders | Standard sizes, graded |
| Best if you… | Sell true handwork at handwork prices | Have the customers but not the capacity, or want your bench free for alterations and fittings | Retail one style at real volume |
Figures in the "Centi as your production floor" column, one-suit minimum, 14 to 20 working days, 26 European mills and merchants, are Centi Sartoria's own terms. The other columns are typical of those models.
How a first order actually runs
From the shop's side of the counter. Most owners are surprised by how little of this is new work.
- Before
You pick a house spec
One construction, one lining approach, one set of standard finishings. The defaults every order inherits unless a client asks otherwise. This takes one conversation and means you are not re-deciding twenty details on every ticket.
- Day 0
You measure the client
Your measurements, taken your way, on your own form. If you already run alterations you are taking most of these numbers today. Posture notes matter more than the tape: a sloping shoulder, a forward stance, uneven blades. Add photos if you have them.
- Day 0
You choose cloth and details
Cloth from the swatch books in your shop, then lapel, vent, pockets, buttons, lining, and the label. The client sees your bunches and your name; they do not see ours at any point.
- Day 1
The order goes in
Measurements, spec and cloth on one sheet. If something in it will not work, a cloth too open for a slim trouser, a measurement that contradicts another, we come back to you before cutting, not after.
- Weeks 1-4
It is made and shipped
14 to 20 working days on cloth in stock, plus transit. You get the ship date when the order is confirmed, not when it leaves.
- On arrival
You fit it, you finish it
Press it, check it on the client, and do what you have always done. A sleeve, a waist, a collar. Anything that needs adjusting on the pattern goes back into the client's file, so the second garment starts from a corrected block, not from the tape again.
The honest test is one garment. Order a single suit on a cloth you know, put it on your own table, and judge it the way you would judge any maker's work before you route a client to it.
What changes in your shop, and what doesn't
The objection is rarely price. It is whether you stop being a tailor.
Stays yours
- The client. They book with you, are measured by you, and collect from you.
- The label in the jacket, and the name on the box.
- The fitting and the final adjustments. The part clients actually remember.
- Your retail price. You set it; we never see it and never sell to your client.
- Your patterns and client files, retrievable under your own account.
- Your bench. Alterations, repairs and the work you want to keep in-house stay in-house.
Changes
- A suit stops costing you a week at the bench, so a busy month stops being a ceiling.
- You quote cloth you do not own. Nothing is bought until a client has chosen and paid a deposit.
- You commit to a date before you make the garment, which means you ask about stock before you promise a fitting.
- You write a spec once instead of deciding every detail per order.
- You take on work you would previously have turned away. The wedding party, the corporate order, the client who wants three.
How outsourced made-to-measure production works
The terms a shop owner meets when putting a factory behind the shop.
- Production partner
- A factory that makes to your order and your spec while you own the customer, the fitting and the brand. Your shop stays the atelier the client sees; the partner is the floor behind it.
- Outsourced MTM
- You measure the client and choose the cloth in your shop; the suit is cut from a base block adjusted to those measurements and sewn at the partner factory. Many well-known made-to-measure names work exactly this way. The shopfront and the production floor are different companies.
- White label / your label
- The finished suit carries your shop's label, not the factory's. With Centi Sartoria this works from a single piece. No bulk run needed to put your name in the jacket.
- Trial order
- The honest way to vet a factory: send one real order, a client's measurements, your cloth choice, and put the finished suit on your own table before you route more work. Our one-suit minimum exists for exactly this.
- Mill cloth (a bunch)
- Cloth ordered by the length from named European mills. We stock and cut Loro Piana, Zegna, Corsini and other European mills, and the mill ticket travels with the suit. Your client can see what they are wearing.
- Ex-factory (factory-direct)
- Buying straight from the maker with no trading company or wholesaler in between. For a given cloth and construction it is the lowest landed cost, which is where your retail margin comes from.
Frequently asked questions
Can the suits follow our house style?
Yes. Made-to-measure runs on a style specification, lapel, shoulder expression, button stance, canvas, trouser line, set by you and repeated on every order. Send your preferences once and refine them over reorders; the suits leaving our floor should look like they came out of your back room.
Will our customers know the suit is made externally?
The suit carries your label, your ticket and your fit. We are a production partner, not a consumer brand. We do not sell to your customers or put our name in your jackets. Discretion is the default in this trade; much of the made-to-measure industry already works this way.
How do we judge quality before committing?
Start with one suit. Send a real client's measurements and your cloth choice, and examine the finished piece on your own table. The canvas, the collar, the buttonholes. Our minimum is a single piece precisely so the first order can be a test, not a commitment.
What happens if a suit comes back wrong?
Ask us to put the fault, rework and freight split in writing before you order, and ask every other supplier you are comparing to do the same. One who will not write it down has told you something. Fit notes from your fitter go back to the pattern, so second orders for the same client land closer still.
How does shipping to the US or Europe work?
Suits ship by express courier from Shanghai, typically arriving within days of leaving the floor. Shipping cost per suit falls quickly as orders are batched. A shop sending a few suits at a time pays little more per piece than a large one.
Is there a contract or a monthly minimum?
No. It is order by order, from one suit. Shops route us a single client when their bench is full, or their whole made-to-measure book, both are normal.
Put 200 house tailors behind your shop
Talk to the atelier about a production program for your shop. Your label, your style spec, from one suit, factory-direct.