Sometimes it can be absolutely impossible finding clothing and footwear that fits properly. Perhaps you are between sizes or perhaps you have two different sized feet. Perhaps, like me, you just had a baby and nothing from your old wardrobe fits.
Instead of wandering from store to store looking for something — anything — that fits, custom clothing and footwear companies provide you with options to create items specifically to your measurements. While there’s no denying that the cost for these services can be on the high side, the benefits, I think, outweigh the extra cost.
For instance, if you are between sizes, there is a good chance that you have to get all of your clothing tailored, so having things made to your measurements will eliminate that extra expense. My husband is fond of telling me that time is money, so custom clothing companies can also help cut down on the amount of time spent searching for items that fit.
If you have trouble fitting into standard-sized clothing or footwear, consider these custom options below — you can find well-fitted clothes without blowing your budget.
eShakti
eShakti has long been one of my favorite online stores and was one of the first to offer customization as a feature on all of their garments. Everything at eShakti is available in sizes 0 through 36W, so the store can outfit nearly all women. However, if traditional sizes don’t fit, then you can submit all of your own measurements and they will tailor any garment to fit you. While this might sound like it would be expensive, clothing customization at eShakti costs just $7.50 per garment.
In addition to sizing customizations, eShakti also has custom styling options that will let you do things like add length to a skirt or add sleeves to a sleeveless dress.
While you might think that all stores offering customization are incredibly expensive, most garments at eShakti cost less than $100 and the store has frequent sales.
Shoes of Prey
While athletic footwear companies such as Nike and Adidas have long let customers customize footwear to their specifications, there are few companies that will let you design more formal footwear at an affordable price point. I recently learned about Shoes of Prey, which is truly a shoe lovers’ dream.
Shoes of Prey is an Australian company that will customize a pair of shoes specifically to your feet. Do you have narrow or wide feet, or even wear two different sized shoes? That’s not an issue at Shoes of Prey since the retailer creates shoes just for you!
The shoe options are abundant and browsing the site and creating the perfect pair of shoes is a fun way to pass some time. The store offers everything from pumps to sandals in all types of materials and with a huge range of adornments.
Shoe prices range anywhere from $150 to $300, which is definitely not cheap, but still less than what you will pay for most designer footwear brands. Also, you can feel comfortable that you will get the exact shoe you want because Shoes of Prey offers a generous return policy.
Numari
Numari is comparable to eShakti except that most of the silhouettes at Numari are fairly basic sheaths that are office-appropriate. Once you find a style that you like, you can choose to lengthen or shorten the length of the dress as well as the sleeves. From there you can choose to either use standard sizing or submit your measurements so that the dress can be tailored to your body. Numari will even send you a free measuring tape if you don’t have your measurements on hand! There is no additional fee for custom sizing. The dresses at Numari cost anywhere from $140 to $235.
Fame and Partners
Fame and Partners offers custom formalwear in sizes 0 through 22. While you cannot submit your own measurements to this site, you can make adjustments to every gown. For instance, perhaps you want to turn a maxi dress into a mini dress, or turn a mini skirt into a midi skirt. Specific things can be done to each dress and each alteration comes with a certain price tag, though most appear to add $20 or less to the cost of the dress.
Fame and Partners is a wonderful option for those times when a fancier dress is needed and you can’t find exactly what you want. The dresses on this site are mostly in the $150 to $300 range.
Custom clothing and footwear companies are a wonderful shopping trend that I expect to see more of in the near future. The only downside to the sites mentioned above is that the items can take some time to arrive. Making custom garments and footwear can take a while and most sites average between three and six weeks between the time you place the order and the time it arrives on your doorstep.
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How to Save on Custom Fit Clothes originally appeared on usnews.com
