Made to order vs made to measure: are they the same?

When it is made, and to whose numbers

Put the two questions side by side and clothing falls into three groups.

• Ready to wear: made in advance, in standard sizes. It exists before you order, so it can usually be sent at once and often returned.
• Made to order in standard sizes: made after you order, but cut to the seller’s size chart. You wait for it, yet a medium is still a medium. Sellers work this way to avoid holding stock, or to offer many colours without making them all in advance.
• Made to measure: made after you order and cut to your own measurements. Every made-to-measure garment is also made to order, because nobody can cut to your numbers before they have them.

One dress, ordered two ways

Take a single design that a maker offers either in sizes S to XL or cut to the customer’s measurements. Our tiered maxi dress is listed like that. Imagine two people order it.

The first is a regular medium who finds that most dresses fit her. She picks M, and the dress follows the size chart: the bust, the sleeve and the length are the chart’s. The second is the same width but taller, with longer arms. In M the sleeves would stop short of her wrist and the hem would sit above her ankle. She sends her measurements instead, and the same design is cut with her sleeve length and her full length.

Both dresses share a design, and neither changes the collar or the tiers. Only the second is made to measure. The difference is not the look. It is which set of numbers the scissors followed.

Is made to order custom?

Sometimes, and only up to a point. “Custom” has no fixed meaning in retail. One made-to-order seller lets you choose the colour, the fabric or the size and calls that custom, while the pattern itself never changes. Another uses made to order for clothes cut entirely to the customer. The phrase alone does not tell you which. Three questions settle it:

• Is it cut to a size chart or to my measurements? If the answer is a chart, ask to see it in centimetres or inches, not just letters.
• What can I change? Colour only, or the neckline, sleeves and length as well?
• What happens if it does not fit? A standard size made on order is sometimes returnable. A piece cut to one person’s numbers usually is not, so the terms matter more.

Why the wait is the same but the fit is not

Both kinds make you wait, because both start after you order. That is why the two get confused: the waiting feels like tailoring. But time spent making does nothing for fit unless your own measurements go into the cutting.

If you are between sizes, long or short in the body, or simply tired of altering what you buy, made to measure is the label to look for. If standard sizes already fit you well, made to order in a size can be a perfectly good choice. Our comparison of made to measure, ready to wear and unstitched goes through the trade-offs.

Where our work sits

Anything we make from a written quote is both. It is made to order, because nothing is cut until you have approved the quote and paid in full. And it is made to measure, because it is cut and stitched to the measurements you send, in centimetres or inches, which are agreed with you in writing first. Making takes 5 to 7 working days from approval and full payment, and shipping time comes on top.

Because a piece like that is yours alone, the line for changing your mind is drawn at cutting; payment and cancellations explains it. To see how the service works, read about custom stitching, or ask for a quote and tell us what you have in mind.