Readymade Dresses

Unveiling the World of Readymade Dresses

Readymade dresses are almost everywhere in the market. You are not likely to find a person who never wears or has never worn a readymade garment in their entire lifetime. Have you ever thought about why and how this form of clothing became essential in the Indian wardrobe? Do you often think about when we got accustomed to readymade dresses? If you often think about them, this is the right place to be. Because, here we have shared some details about readymade dresses.

What are readymade dresses?

A garment that is available readily in retail shops or malls is simply labeled as readymade. These clothing pieces are “ready-to-wear”, which means people can actually buy and wear them without any delay. From cutting and stitching to final finishing every has been already done in readymade dresses. Let’s get some quick information about readymade forms of dresses:

• Available for all age groups
• Comes in a wide range of prints, colours, and designs
• The style or trend of readymade clothing keeps on changing rapidly

How Do Readymade Dresses Differ From Custom Clothing

One basic difference between readymade dresses and custom-made dresses is that the former is “ready-to-wear”, whether the latter requires the buyer to wait for a certain period of time.

Popularity

Before the 19th century, readymade dresses were rare in the common markets. People used to heavily rely on custom clothing. They used to have their own tailors and middle-class people would even know amazing stitching skills. Chances are that you might have heard of your grandparents wearing homemade clothes. However, things have changed now, readymade clothes are more popular than custom clothing. The main reason behind this massive shift is a change in common people’s preferences.

Size

Readymade dresses are manufactured in factories in bulk. The manufacturers have a set of standard sizes ranging from XXS to 7XL (varies from brand to brand). Due to the standard sizing, readymade dresses may not give a perfect fit for everyone.However, that is not the case with custom clothing as they are made with the sole purpose of fitting a certain person like a dream.

Fabric

With readymade dresses, people don’t have a great level of control over the fabric quality. Hence, people prefer to find reliable brands that offer good quality fabric and then become loyal customers.However, in the case of custom clothing, the customer often buys the fabric on their own which gives them complete control over the quality of the fabric.

Types of Dresses Available In Readymade Form

The marketplace is bombarded with a huge variety of dresses in readymade form. And, this is not a new phenomenon. India started gaining momentum for readymade dresses in the late 1990s. Since then manufacturers and brands have been experimenting every now and then. Today, you will see almost every type of clothing be it Western or Indian, easily available in readymade form. One of the main reasons behind this rapid adoption of readymade fashion is ease and convenience which we already explained above. Now, let’s have a look at a few categories of clothes that are available in readymade form.

• Men: Shirts, T-shirts, Trousers, Kurtas, Sherwanis, Pyjamas, Athleisure, Dhoti, Blazers, Coats, Jeans, Shorts, Sweaters, Jackets, Swimwear, etc.
• Women: Shirts, T-shirts, Tops, Trousers, Jeggings, Leggings, Pants, Palazzos, Suits, Kurtis, Corsets, Lehengas, Sarees, Shararas, Athleisure, Blazers, Coats, Jeans, Shorts, Skirts, Dresses, Sweaters, Jackets, Swimwear, etc.
• Kidswear: Shirts, T-shirts, Tops, Jackets, Sweaters, Athleisure, Swimwear, Ethnic wear (Suits, lehengas, shararas, kurtas, sherwanis, kurta-pajama, dhoti), Shorts, Skirts, Dresses, Dungarees, Baba Suits, Coats, Pants, Trousers, Jeans, Jeggings, etc. Sustainability

How are readymade dresses manufactured and designed to meet consumer demands

The customers' demands related to readymade dresses are mostly connected to appropriate size, fit, and comfort. Brands or manufacturers in India have an easy hold on the “quality” part that ensures the desired level of comfort according to the price of a garment. Sadly, the “size” and “fit” parameters still need a lot of rework in the Indian market. \Why?

Because Indian readymade dresses are still broadly manufactured under two spectrums:

• UK Size
• US Size
  

There is no standard system dedicated to Indian bodies in our apparel industry. Even though a few brands are catering to Indian customers in this regard, however, most of them are running labels with the concept of “custom” clothing.

Here are a few common problems that sellers face with readymade dresses:

• Customers often return clothes they like because they don’t fit well
• Customers often exchange or return readymade dresses because their size doesn’t fit them

While you may understand the first point easily, the second one might seem unreasonable. How can customers’ own size don’t fit them? That’s because brands have discrepancies in the sizing system. Even UK and US sizes are not followed uniformly. For example, a “Medium” size from Brand A can be a perfect fit for someone, but the same size from Brand B may be loose or tight to the same person.

Why Customers Prefer Readymade Dresses?

After going through the above section, you might think readymade dresses are not doing justice to customers, but then why are they still so much in trend? There are multiple reasons why people still prefer to buy readymade dresses, some of them are as follows:

Convenience

Generally, people head to local tailors to get their custom clothing made. Even though a majority of tailors do a great job stitching perfect outfits, some of them are just not good. Tailors also mess up with the clothes, they can make the following mistakes:

• Wrong size
• Ill-fitted garment
• Late delivery of the dress

All of these things cause major inconvenience and readymade dresses are an escape from this.

Time savvy

Apart from being convenient, readymade dresses save a substantial amount of time as well. People don’t have to hunt retail shops to buy fabric first and multiple tailor visits are also not required. Just one visit to the retail shop or mall is required. In this digital era, online shopping has made it even easier.

Adjustable fits

Yes, the sizing and fitting of some readymade dresses are not up to the mark. However, this is not applicable to all the readymade garments existing in the market. We can say that the fits are not as appropriate as custom fits, however, many clothes are designed in a way to suit and fit Indian body shapes.

Manufacturing Process of Readymade Dresses In India

It all starts with an idea of design, later on when a team starts working on the concepts they source fabric, dyeing materials, elaborate the workers on stitching techniques, etc. After a lot of cumbersome, the design idea finally culminates in the final product. The manufacturing process of readymade dresses involves multiple steps. They might differ slightly from unit to unit, however, generally, the process is as follows:

• Product Design
• Fabric Selection
• Fabric Inspection
• Patternmaking
• Grading
• Marking
• Spreading
• Cutting
• Bundling
• Sewing
• Pressing
• Folding
• Finishing
• Detailing
• Dyeing
• Washing
• Quality Check

In order to carry out all of these steps with precision one requires:

• impeccable or at least up-to-the-mark raw material
• highly skilled staff or workers who are ready to work at affordable wages (otherwise the cost of production can go significantly high)
• well-developed infrastructure

All of these factors are quite cost-intensive, plus they require rigorous efforts and constant involvement. Production and manufacturing isn’t a cakewalk after all. However, an easier option is a bulk purchase. In case you are a retailer or planning to become a retailer, purchasing readymade dresses in bulk is the best thing you can do. Especially when you have TradeIndia by your side. We have trusted wholesalers who can provide you with a wide variety of readymade garments in different quality grades as per your budget and interest.

Factors Influencing Readymade Dress Trends

Even though there can be a lot of factors that influence trends in readymade dresses, however, we will introduce you to 5 main factors:

Fast Fashion

If you are not already well-versed with the term “fast fashion”, it is basically the fast production and distribution of trendy readymade dresses or other fashion items which are inexpensive. Even though a section of society disregards fast fashion due to its harmful impact on the environment, a significantly high number of people adhere to fast fashion. Due to this, it recorded 21% in the last 3 years. This fast fashion trend also creates pressure on manufacturers to cater to frequent changes in customer demands.

Seasons

Different seasons witness different choices of consumers. Seasonal trends are also influenced by personal preference, style, and comfort factors. Hence, retailers have to update their stock such as summer collections, spring collections, or winter collections. On the other hand, manufacturers also adjust their manufacturing schedules and inventory levels as per the seasonal requirements.

Sustainability

This decade is witnessing lots and lots of discussions around sustainability and that affects the readymade industry as well. Customers are becoming aware of fashion waste and they are preferring sustainable clothing options. As a result, the supply chain gets affected and manufacturers have to focus on ethical sourcing and responsible manufacturing processes.

Digitalization

eCommerce fashion is expanding extremely fast and now people have visual try-on tools, AI, and digital showrooms which impact the user experience to a great extent. Online fashion retailers have to tweak their products as per the interests of buyers.

Personalization

Over the last few years, retailers have valued individual preferences and sizing requirements. Due to this manufacturers also have to tweak their supply chains and ensure flexibility in manufacturing.