Bespoke orders

A bespoke order is a one-off gown built on one of your styles: a new neckline or sleeves, this bodice with a different skirt, or a jumpsuit on this bodice. The stockist sends a brief and photos, your studio prices the changes by hand, and the stockist accepts the quote. From then on it runs like any bride order, through confirmation, the factory, delivery and the invoice.

How it works

Setting it up

Under Studio → Settings → Bespoke orders:

• Offer bespoke requests adds a third order type beside Bride Order and Sample Order.
• Name on the button is shown as "name Order" in the configurator, for example Couture Order. The default is Bespoke. Your studio and your stockists see your name; the factory always sees "Bespoke".
• Usual lead time (weeks), from 4 to 52 (default 18). Stockists are told to allow this long, and a new quote's delivery date starts this many weeks from today, or the base style's own lead time if that is longer. You can change the date on every quote.
• Introduction for stockists (optional), up to 600 characters, shown at the top of the bespoke form. Use it to say what you can and can't change.

Turning it off hides the tab for new requests. Requests already sent can still be priced, accepted and confirmed.

Sending a request (stockists)

Open a style in the collection and choose Bespoke Order under Order type (your label may use its own name for it). Then fill in:

• Bride. Pick her from your bride book or type a new name. The name is required; the wedding date is optional.
• What kind of bespoke? Changes to this style (for example a new neckline or sleeves, or this bodice with a different skirt) or A new design based on this style (little of the original remains, for example a jumpsuit on this bodice).
• Size. Required, because the quote is priced on it, so a bespoke request can't leave the size to be confirmed later. You can add the bride's bust, waist and hip in inches as well.
• Colour. One of the style's colours, or Describe it in the brief.
• Your brief. List every change as a bullet point, in 20 to 4,000 characters.

The form shows the style's starting price and how long to allow. Press Add to bespoke request, then in the basket:

• Add photos. At least one is required, and three is best: the front, side and back of the gown, with the changes marked. JPEG, PNG, WebP or PDF, up to 15 MB each and 12 per order.
• Check the brief. You can still edit it here.
• There's no delivery speed to choose. The studio gives you a date with the quote, and the total reads Price to follow.
• Tick the trading terms and press Send bespoke request.

A bespoke request is one gown. A basket that already holds a bride or sample order can't take one, and a basket holding a bespoke request can't take anything else, so send it first or empty the basket. Bride View hides the send button, as it does for any order.

Your quote (stockists)

Until it's priced, the request shows as Awaiting quote under My Orders, with no figure. Its order page has your brief, the kind of bespoke, the base style and the photos on the order, including any the studio adds. You can Withdraw request while you wait.

When the studio sends the quote you get a notice in the bell and an email. The order page then shows Your quote: a row for each part of the price, the subtotal, your trade discount, VAT, the total, the estimated delivery date and any message from the studio.

• Accept quote places the order on your trading terms. It goes into production once the studio confirms it.
• Decline cancels the request. You can say why if you like.
• Have a question first? Ask in the messages on the order.

If the studio updates the quote you see Updated quote (version 2), and only the latest version can be accepted. Bride View hides the quote and the Accept button, so switch it off to answer.

Once you accept, the order reads Quote accepted: awaiting confirmation until the studio confirms it. After that it tracks like a bride order: the timeline, delivery date changes, messages and the invoice. To change anything after you've accepted, message the studio on the order.

A bespoke gown is a one-off, so it can't be re-ordered. If you declined a quote and want a new price, send a new request from the style.

Pricing a request (studio)

A new request goes to your new-order alert address and to every studio user's bell. The dashboard counts the bespoke requests to price and the quotes waiting for the stockist to accept. The Bespoke filter on Orders lists them with their state: Awaiting your price, Quote sent: waiting for the stockist, Accepted: ready to confirm, Quote declined or Withdrawn by the stockist.

The order page has a Bespoke request panel above the lines:

• Brief from the stockist, read-only. The factory never sees the brief, so use Copy the brief into the production notes, edit it into what the factory needs, and save.
• The base style and size, and the kind of bespoke, which you can correct.
• Add images for the factory takes your sketches. The factory sees them before the stockist's photos, and the stockist sees them on their order page.

Then Price this request:

• It starts with one row: the style and size at the style price. Add a row for each change, for example Change in pattern £100 or Jumpsuit trousers on the bodice £250. Customisations from your option groups work as they do in Amend.
• Discount starts at the stockist's account discount.
• Estimated delivery is required. It starts at your usual lead time from today, or the style's lead time if that is longer.
• Message to the stockist is optional and shown with the quote.

The total updates as you type and must come to more than £0. Send quote tells the stockist in the portal and by email. Until they answer you can Update the quote: they're told again, and only the new version can be accepted. You can also cancel the request as you would any order.

Agreed by phone or email? Use Record acceptance with a note of how they agreed it, for example "by phone, 26 Oct". The stockist is told in the portal.

Confirming and making it

Confirm stays disabled, with the reason beneath it, until the quote is accepted. Email to factory and Amend only appear then too. If the production notes are empty when you confirm, you're asked whether to add them first, because the factory sees only your production notes and the images on the order.

From confirmation a bespoke order runs like a bride order:

• the stockist gets the confirmation email;
• the factory gets the spec straight away or, if you send a stockist's orders as one shipment, the order waits under Orders → Send to factory;
• you move it through its stages, change its delivery or wedding date and amend it as usual (see Orders & production);
• you invoice it as usual. An invoice can't be raised before the quote is accepted.

Automatic progression, if you use it, applies as it does to bride orders.

What the factory sees

The spec, by email or on the no-login page, reads Order type: Bespoke order (one-off) and carries a red banner, in English and Chinese, telling the factory to work from your production notes and sketches. A Bespoke row says whether it is Changes to this style or a New pattern based on this style, followed by the size, any measurements and the colour. The images come in two groups: Studio sketches and notes first, then Reference images from the stockist. Prices appear only when Show prices on the factory copy is on.

The stockist's brief never goes to the factory. Your own copy of the spec, in the new-order alert, shows it marked for review before relaying. In the factory's queue the gown has a Bespoke tag and the note Bespoke one-off: see the spec, notes and sketches.

Ordering for a stockist, and older orders

• Ordering for a stockist works for bespoke requests too. The terms tick is skipped and the stockist gets the acknowledgement email.
• Recording an order from before the portal: a bespoke gown you had already agreed is saved with its quote accepted. Photos are optional and nobody is emailed. Set the agreed price with Amend afterwards.

Emails

Each of these has its own switch under Studio → Notifications:

You can reword the first two. Your new-order alert has its own wording for a bespoke request, asking you to price it.

Related

• Orders & production — the order page, the factory spec and amendments
• Order statuses — the quote steps inside Submitted
• Portal settings — the Bespoke orders settings
• Placing an order — the stockist's configurator