You have $400 worth of Zegna fabric sitting in your closet. Maybe it was a gift. Maybe you found it at an estate sale. Maybe you bought it in Italy five years ago, imagining the perfect suit.
Now you're calling tailors. One after another, they say the same thing:
"We don't work with customer-supplied fabric."
It's maddening. You have beautiful cloth. You're willing to pay for the labor. Why won't anyone help?
The Frustration Is Real
You've tried the local shops. "Sorry, we only use our inventory."
You've contacted online services. Their websites offer 200 fabrics—but no option to use yours.
You've found a tailor willing to try, but something feels off. They measured you once, quoted a price, and said they'd "do their best." No fitting. No refinement. Just faith that it'll work out.
Your Zegna deserves better than faith.
Why Tailors Refuse (It's Not Personal)
Here's the uncomfortable truth: tailors refuse customer fabric because they're protecting themselves—and honestly, protecting you too.
The Risk Is Enormous
When a tailor uses their own fabric and makes a mistake, they absorb the cost. A mis-cut piece comes from their inventory. Annoying, but manageable.
When they use YOUR fabric and make a mistake? Your irreplaceable cloth is destroyed. There's no replacing that discontinued Scabal. No finding another bolt of your grandfather's Dormeuil.
One wrong measurement. One pattern error. One moment of inattention. Gone.
No Profit Cushion
Traditional tailoring bundles fabric cost with labor. A $800 suit might include $200 worth of fabric and $600 of work. That markup creates margin for error—literally.
CMT removes that cushion. The tailor earns only their labor fee. Any mistake comes directly from their bottom line AND destroys something irreplaceable.
Skill Mismatch
Premium fabrics behave differently than standard materials. Loro Piana cashmere doesn't cut like basic wool. Scabal's diamond weaves require specific handling. Many tailors simply haven't worked with cloth at that level.
They know their limitations. Saying "no" is more honest than attempting work beyond their capability.
The Stories That Haunt The Industry
Every experienced tailor has heard them:
The inherited Dormeuil from a father who passed away—cut wrong, now useless scraps.
The wedding Zegna purchased in Milan—shoulders too narrow, no fabric left to correct.
The vintage Scabal found in a trunk—beautiful pattern, destroyed by a tailor who'd never handled such fine cloth.
These aren't hypotheticals. They happen. And they're why reputable tailors say no rather than risk becoming another horror story.
What You're Actually Asking For
When you bring your own fabric, you're asking a tailor to:
- Work with irreplaceable material
- Accept that any mistake is catastrophic
- Trust their measurements are perfect on the first attempt
- Cut before knowing if the fit is correct
That's a lot to ask. Most would rather decline than gamble with your investment.
The Solution: Remove the Gamble Entirely
What if you could know the fit was right BEFORE any cutting happened?
This is exactly what draft fitting provides.
Here's the process:
We create your complete garment in plain fabric first. Not a quick mockup—a full test version you can actually wear.
You try it at home. Check the shoulders. Test the chest. Sit down. Reach forward. Feel the trouser break.
You tell us everything. Too tight here? We adjust. Too long there? We fix it. Something feels off that you can't quite describe? We figure it out together.
ONLY THEN do we touch your precious fabric.
When we cut your Zegna, we already know the pattern is correct. We've proven the fit. There's no gamble left.
This is the same methodology Savile Row tailors have used for generations. The difference: they charge $3,000+. Our CMT service starts at $350.
Why We Say Yes
We accept customer fabric because we've eliminated the reason to say no.
Draft fitting means we're not gambling with your investment. We know the fit works before cutting.
Our Bangkok master tailors have decades of experience with premium cloth. They've handled Scabal, Zegna, Loro Piana, Cerruti—fabrics that cost more than most tailors see in a year.
And our fit guarantee applies to CMT orders. We stand behind our work because our process gives us confidence to stand behind it.
The Path Forward
You have beautiful fabric. Here's how to finally use it:
Step 1: Contact us and select "CMT / Bring Your Own Fabric." Tell us what you have—the mill, the weight, what you want made.
Step 2: We confirm your fabric is suitable and discuss your vision.
Step 3: You ship your fabric to Bangkok. We create a draft fitting in plain cloth.
Step 4: You try the draft at home. We refine until perfect.
Step 5: We cut your fabric with complete confidence.
Step 6: Your finished garment ships worldwide.
The whole process typically takes 5-7 weeks. Longer than standard orders, but your fabric has waited this long. A few extra weeks ensures it becomes exactly what you've imagined.
Your Zegna Is Waiting
That fabric in your closet wasn't meant to stay there. The Scabal you inherited deserves to be worn. The Loro Piana you found on your travels should become the jacket you dreamed about when you bought it.
Most tailors will say no. We understand why.
We say yes—because we've built a process that makes yes the only sensible answer.
Start your CMT consultation and tell us about your fabric.
