Alton Lane is an American menswear company founded in 2009 by Colin Hunter and Peyton Jenkins, [1] graduates of the University of Virginia. [2] [3] Alton Lane offers modern bespoke suits, blazers, trousers, tuxedos, and shirts. The company is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, [4] and its suits are produced in Germany, Italy, and Thailand. Alton lane uses a combination of 3D body scanners and hand measurements to produce fully custom clothing. [5]
Hunter and Jenkins quit their jobs as a management consultant and a history teacher/commercial realtor, respectively, and cashed in their life savings to fund the business. [6]
In 2015, Alton Lane raised $7.5 million to fund expansion. [7]
Alton Lane has showrooms in New York City, Boston, [8] Washington D.C., Richmond, Virginia [9] Dallas, Chicago, and San Francisco, [10] [11] with future locations being built in Nashville, Savannah, Georgia, and Charlottesville, Virginia.
Alton Lane operates on an appointment-only basis. Each client is measured using a 3D scanner. [12] [13] Clients select a style and fabric for their garment, and the measurements are sent to the manufacturer in Massachusetts where the clothing is made. [14] In approximately 4–6 weeks, the garments are delivered directly to the showroom and the client is invited back to the showroom for a personal fitting. [15]
Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a sewing needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era. Before the invention of spinning yarn or weaving fabric, archaeologists believe Stone Age people across Europe and Asia sewed fur and leather clothing using bone, antler or ivory sewing-needles and "thread" made of various animal body parts including sinew, catgut, and veins.
Anthropometry refers to the measurement of the human individual. An early tool of physical anthropology, it has been used for identification, for the purposes of understanding human physical variation, in paleoanthropology and in various attempts to correlate physical with racial and psychological traits. Anthropometry involves the systematic measurement of the physical properties of the human body, primarily dimensional descriptors of body size and shape. Since commonly used methods and approaches in analysing living standards were not helpful enough, the anthropometric history became very useful for historians in answering questions that interested them.
A suit, lounge suit, or business suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles generally worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of trousers. It is currently considered semi-formal wear or business wear in contemporary Western dress codes, however when the suit was originally developed it was considered an informal or more casual option compared to the prevailing clothing standards of aristocrats and businessmen. The lounge suit originated in 19th-century Britain as sportswear and British country clothing, which is why it was seen as more casual than citywear at that time, with the roots of the suit coming from early modern Western Europe formal court or military clothes. After replacing the black frock coat in the early 20th century as regular daywear, a sober one-coloured suit became known as a lounge suit.
A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician.
In sewing and fashion design, a pattern is the template from which the parts of a garment are traced onto woven or knitted fabrics before being cut out and assembled. Patterns are usually made of paper, and are sometimes made of sturdier materials like paperboard or cardboard if they need to be more robust to withstand repeated use. The process of making or cutting patterns is sometimes compounded to the one-word Patternmaking, but it can also be written pattern(-)making or pattern cutting.
Bespoke tailoring or custom tailoring is clothing made to an individual buyer's specifications by a tailor. Bespoke garments are completely unique and created without the use of a pre-existing pattern, while made to measure uses a standard-sized pattern altered to fit the customer.
Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and place. "A fashion designer creates clothing, including dresses, suits, pants, and skirts, and accessories like shoes and handbags, for consumers. He or she can specialize in clothing, accessory, or jewelry design, or may work in more than one of these areas."
Made-to-measure (MTM) typically refers to custom clothing that is cut and sewn using a standard-sized base pattern. Suits and sport coats are the most common garments made-to-measure. The fit of a made-to-measure garment is expected to be superior to that of a ready-to-wear garment because made-to-measure garments are constructed to fit each customer individually based on a few body measurements to customize the pre-existing pattern. Made-to-measure garments always involve some form of standardization in the pattern and manufacturing, whereas bespoke tailoring is entirely made from scratch based on a customer's specifications with far more attention to minute fit details and using multiple fittings during the construction process. All else being equal, a made-to-measure garment will be more expensive than a ready-to-wear garment but cheaper than a bespoke one. "Custom made" most often refers to MTM.
H. Huntsman & Sons is a high-end fashion house and tailor located at No. 11 Savile Row, London. It is known for its English bespoke menswear tailoring, cashmere ready-to-wear collections, and leather accessories.
Rebecca & Drew Manufacturing was a women's clothing company known for its patented TrioFit sizing system which used a women's "bra size, height, and body shape" to create a nearly custom fit. The sizes ranged from a 32A-38DD bra size and were originally available in regular and long lengths.
Timothy Charles Peto Everest is a Welsh tailor and fashion designer. He moved to London in his early twenties to work with the Savile Row tailor Tommy Nutter. He then became one of the leaders of the New Bespoke Movement, which brought designer attitudes to the traditional skills of Savile Row tailoring.
A virtual dressing room is the online equivalent of an in-store changing room.
Bivolino, founded in 1954, is a Belgian clothing manufacturer, specialized in customized shirts. Bivolino.com was founded by the brothers Louis and Jacques Byvoet. On 13 October 1987 the company was passed over to Michel Byvoet.
Raja Fashions are a bespoke tailor based in Hong Kong with sales operations in other countries. The company's business model is to take measurement from clients abroad, for instance in Europe and North America, after which clothes are produced by tailors based in China.
The word bespoke has evolved from a verb meaning 'to speak for something', to its contemporary usage as an adjective. Originally, the adjective bespoke described tailor-made suits and shoes. Later, it described anything commissioned to a particular specification. In contemporary usage, bespoke has become a general marketing and branding concept implying exclusivity and limited runs.
Zoran Ladicorbic, known as Zoran, is an American fashion designer who launched his business in 1976. He is particularly known for extremely minimalist, understated garments following the American sportswear principle, in neutral colors and high quality natural fabrics such as silk, linen and cashmere wool. His clothes have been described as "Gap for the very rich", and as "revolutionary" due to being designed without "built-in obsolescence".
3D body scanning is an application of various technologies such as Structured-light 3D scanner, 3D depth sensing, stereoscopic vision and others for ergonomic and anthropometric investigation of the human form as a point-cloud. The technology and practice within research has found 3D body scanning measurement extraction methodologies to be comparable to traditional anthropometric measurement techniques.
The Hong Kong tailors are a well-known attraction in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is still home to several bespoke tailors, who have stitched suits for foreign politicians like Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and Bob Hawke and celebrities like King Charles, Kevin Spacey, Boris Becker, David Bowie, Richard Gere and Michael Jackson.
Body Labs is a Manhattan-based software company founded in 2013. Body Labs is a software provider of human-aware artificial intelligence that understands the 3D body shape and motion of people from RGB photos or videos.
Sharpe Suiting is an American designer, producer and manufacturer of garments based in Los Angeles, California. The company was founded in 2013, in Los Angeles, by Leon Elias Wu, who is the current CEO of the company. Sharpe suiting is a public-benefit corporation recognized for gender neutral clothing and genderqueer fashion.
