Luxury made-to-order suiting done right and right here in Adelaide.

If you wind the clock back before retail stores, there was a time when everything was tailor-made.

Ready-to-wear wasn’t a thing, and fast fashion certainly wasn’t either. But now, everything is so readily available at any time, it would be easy to believe that made-to-order retail is obsolete.

Despite this, people are returning to their tailors in droves and made-to-order is on the rise.

“I think it’s got a lot to do with millenials, this generation, social media, people wanting to find a deeper meaning to things than just having everything readily available and not being able to identify with it,” says Samuel Wingate, co-founder of Adelaide’s new luxury made-to-order suiting brand, dre s d (pronounced: dressed).

“I think made to measure allows people to identify with what they’ve chosen. It belongs to them, they can take ownership of that. They feel a part of the process.”

Samuel and his business partner Reece Wright run a luxury mens suiting label from their studio space in the Epworth Building, and have been doing so since October last year.

The business idea came after Reece’s less than successful research trip to China, where he’d hoped to begin building a traditional retail business. He returned home, merged business ideas with Samuel, and embarked upon the venture that is now dre s d.

From their Epworth studio, the pair undertake in-person consultations with clients. The suits are measured up and the data is sent to their manufacturer in Portugal via the manufacturer’s web app.

“Their technology is second to none… technology and craftsmanship are working together,” says Sam.

“We’ve got a system where we can create a pattern, it will go through, and they’ve got a laser printer that can print the pattern out, and someone will hand cut the fabric. By the time you go home in the evening, in Portugal they’ll have started the suit already.

“And then once the client has ordered one suit once, it’s a streamline process. They can say do it for me in blue, do it for me in charcoal, do it for me in black, and we can just order.”

The decision to go with Portugal was a deliberate one – the pair needed a place that will happily do one suit per order, and do it exactly as specified. If someone orders a Vetements shoulder, it goes without saying that the Vetements shoulder isn’t a mistake.

“When we looked at Italy we found they had a very particular way they did things,” says Sam. “But in Portugal, their attitude is different. If they get an order where the sleeve length is really long and the jacket is really short, they’re still going to make it.”

And creativity in designs is where dre s d is unique. The pair can make a great, classic suit, but their passion is most obvious when they speak on their ability to make ‘fashion suits.’

“We wear two hats, and I think that’s the only reason we’re able to exist,” says Sam. “We can do something very simple very easily, but we can also do something very different and flip it on its head.”

To pursue this side of the business, Sam and Reece are developing a sister brand called un-dre s d.

“It’s the idea of making made-to-measure suits and then deconstructing it, and adding ‘fashion’ aspects to the suits,” says Sam. “For example, dis-assemble two different coloured suits and re-assemble the panels. A ‘fashion suit’ that’s different and edgy and made-to-measure as well. Demi-couture, half made-to-measure, half disassembled.”

Their approach to womenswear too is more about fashion than practicality – while steering clear of corporate womenswear, they love the concept of menswear for women.

The pair recognise that going into the luxury suiting business might be a bit of a risk in Adelaide.

“It wasn’t that simple to begin with,” says Reece, “Is Adelaide ready for something like this? Will you open up and no one comes?”

“I think when you’re trying to introduce luxury to a market where perhaps it’s not so easily understood, [made-to-measure] is a really great way to do that. It’s more than just the product, it’s the whole process from start to finish,” adds Sam.

“With most luxury suiting and brands, they’re just there for people to aspire to, so people just buy the t-shirts. That’s why made-to-measure made so much sense to us.”

They get it. Luxury is slow, and they’re okay with that. For Sam and Reece, it’s not about supply and demand, and it never will be. It’s about the process, the building of relationships and creating unique and lasting products.

Sometimes, you don’t need to meet the demand, you need to create it.