QUALITY DETAILS: An Incredibly Long Recount of Our Garment Making

From our founder:

Never in the history of consumption have we ever had so much choice. As a result, I often receive questions about why our X or Y costs what it does. See, the thing is - I know that our lingerie can be cost-prohibitive. I understand that there are options available to us all that are cheaper than the products that I've been making with my hands and a sewing machine for over ten years. 

I wish there was a short and cute answer for this (very fair) question, but there isn't. Every detail has been thought of and each aspect deliberately chosen. Painstaking care was taken during each stage of production, and it took me seventeen months to get my products from an inquiry to a factory to what you see now. 

One of my jobs as a designer and owner of this passion project is to educate people and put information out there that might help our customers and potential buyers learn why that bra costs what it does - and what, exactly, they're paying for. 

Let's start with what I think every good garment should begin with: the pattern. If you're not familiar with what a garment pattern is, it doesn't refer to the print on  the fabric - rather, the blueprints and intellectual property that are flat on paper and can be sewn together to make a 3D garment that will actually fit a human being. 

I make all of Of Elizabeth lingerie patterns myself using a combination of my favorite methods, which took years to master. 

Once you've sampled a garment with a pattern, you might need to do it a few more times to nail the fit you're after. In mass manufacturing, they don't often sample more than once or twice per season-- if at all, for some companies. It's expensive, and if you're churning out hundreds of new styles per week - or even 50 - it's not worth the cost. A lot of fashion companies have 'tried and true' patterns that they rehash in different colors or fabrics each season - just like us! 

In regards to any style in our offerings and new styles that we will come out with, each one has been extensively tested on our entire size range. Furthermore, each fit model we contract wears our pieces. To the gym, to the grocery store, for eight hours at their day job. So do I. And let me tell you, if there's something wrong or itchy or uncomfortable about an item, you will absolutely discover it after wearing only it for 2 weeks.

This takes a tremendous amount of time, and the labor is incredibly costly. If the garments work out for everyone, then we can move onto the next stage - but, if, more commonly, a model who wears size 3 comes back with a critique or a model who wore the XL couldn't wait to take it off at the end of the day, this needs to be addressed. Revisit the pattern, isolate the issue, make changes to construction, and then make the pieces and send them off - again. 

To stay innovative, we also unveil new items and one-of-a-kind deign samples each month, made right here in Toronto by me. I may spend a week on a set, or just a piece. I film the process and anyone who's filmed something knows that it's far more time consuming to film, switch up the angle or set, and then continue filming than it is to just work straight through. Don't get me started on video editing. 

Those pieces tend to be at a higher price point due to the couture nature of them. 

Then, there are the fabrics - we aim to use natural fibers wherever possible, which costs more than something like polyester. We also source and use the highest-quality fabrics available. When we use stretch mesh, we're seeking out a specific spandex content percentage for resiliency. We choose nylon spandex over polyester spandex because the compression is better, and therefore the recovery. 

All of our hardware is 24K gold-plated, and I spent 4 weeks testing clips. I made bras upon bras and sewed in each clip and tested it myself. Was it easy to undo? Was it easy to do up? Was it easy to do up when I was tired? I have a rule where I wear a new style exclusively for 2 weeks, which I've found to be the sweet spot for when you start to notice everything that you hate about it. 

I sampled underwires in the very same bras and chose a gauge of steel that was neither so flimsy that it would break, nor so 'sturdy' that it would hurt after a bit. We source three different gauges for underwires for the Morgan and Eloise range. This keeps the underwire from distorting and snapping in larger sizes, but also prevents the wire from digging in on a sternum or ribcage in smaller ones. 

Elastics are sourced from Guangdong province in China, and I sampled quite a few factories before choosing the current ones. I source 'small batch' elastic from my factory, which is elastic that they create in small production runs for companies like mine. They make more only when they've sold their existing stock, so it limits excess. 

Many of our laces are sourced from the oldest remaining lace house in the world, in Calais, France. The lace is hand-finished and uses natural blends for a lot of them, which doesn't really exist in lower-end lace. 

Those are the sourcing details, but let's talk about production. 

The side seams are encased, meaning no itchy anything will be touching your skin. The studio we produce at, in the EU, uses state of the art equipment and pays significantly higher than pretty much anywhere else. They also don't pay their employees per item, and focus instead on employe happiness and longevity at the company. The labor: cutting, preparing fabric and patterns, sewing, finishing, and quality checks is always the most expensive cost we incur that is directly related to our garments. 

These seamstresses make more than I did when I was producing everything myself, and I'm glad for it. Sewing is an incredibly technical skill that can be hard on your body and takes years to master. Talent, skill, and sustainable work for those in the fashion industry will always be something that I'm happy to pay for. 

All of our packaging uses recycled materials and each order comes with a cotton dust bag to protect your delicates. We commissioned a local artist to create a one of a kind art print of one of our sets and include a high-resolution print of this art on the back of the order note so people would be less likely to throw it out. 

Our brand is pillared on details and transparency, and I've never met a corner I wanted to cut. And since we're not producing in the tens of thousands, or even in the thousands -- we pay more per order note, per bra, per piece of hardware. We work with small brands like us and uplift other creatives in similar industries. 

Our margins aren't huge, but we think that true luxury comes from what you spend your profits on. And we will always spend it on making our product better, working with exciting, quality materials, working with other artists and companies, and creating. 

-Megan