Made to order, in the studios' own words
One hundred and eighty-eight pieces in this catalog are made to order. We read what each studio actually promises about the wait, and why the wait is part of the work.
"Made to order" is one of the most common phrases in this catalog and one of the least explained. One hundred and eighty-eight pieces carry it, across eleven studios. It can mean a dress that doesn't exist until someone asks for it, a suit cut to one person's measurements, or a size the studio makes only on request. The studios' own listings are the best guide to which, so we read them.
What the listings promise
Tongoro, Sarah Diouf's Dakar studio, is the most direct. Its couture listings open with the words "made-to-order item" and a clock: up to four weeks to complete for some pieces, up to five for others. Studio One Eighty Nine, whose pieces are made in Ghana with local artisans, says a piece "may take up to 4-6 weeks to produce", and elsewhere names a floor rather than a ceiling: "Minimum production time needed: 20 business days." Abiola Olusola gives a production lead time of four weeks. Orange Culture, for a hand-woven macramé top, says only that delivery takes one to two months.
Tailoring houses count in weeks too, but they count from your measurements. Atafo's listings read "made to measure and ships in two weeks" on some pieces and eight weeks on others. M.O.T The Label puts the reason first: "Each piece is made to order, ensuring a custom fit tailored to your measurements." Cute-Saint and Pepper Row, both seen here through ADJOAA, simply put it in capitals: this product is available only as made to order.
Why the wait is the work
None of this is delay in the ordinary sense. A made-to-order piece is cut after it is bought, so the studio isn't carrying a rail of unsold stock in every size, and the cloth goes into garments people have already chosen. For work that is hand-beaded, hand-woven or hand-painted, the time is also simply how long the hands take.
Onalaja's listings carry a line we wish more studios used: "Please note that each handmade garment is unique." Wafflesncream says of a hand-woven aso-oke hat that "slight imperfections may occur". That isn't an apology. It is a description of the method.
How to read it here
On noklens, a made-to-order piece says so on its card. Treat the lead time on the studio's own page as the real one: it is the studio's promise, not ours, and studios change their timings with the season. If a date matters, a wedding, a show, a trip, ask the studio before you order rather than after.