Australian start-up aims to outclass the competition

Sydney, Australia, February 7^th, 2013 -- Online custom tailoring start-up Buttons ‘n’ Threads is the latest to enter the niche e-commerce sector.  The start-up founded by two ANU graduates Sanchit Baweja and Yashas Alur aims to take on competitors such as Institchu in Australia. Launched only 5 months ago, Buttons ‘n’ Threads was solely started in order to offer the best price to value product in the industry.

According to co-founder Sanchit, the start-up has made significant improvements in three key aspects of the online custom clothing industry in order to stand out from the competition.

On the fabrics front, Sanchit says that Buttons ‘n’ Threads has maintained a strict hold on the quality of fabrics that they offer. Having tied up with mills in Italy and England, the fabrics are curated personally by the founders. “We only use 100% Australian Merino Wool fabrics that are of the Super 120’s and Super 130’s grade; no other competitor offers the same quality at the price point that we offer”, says Sanchit. He further states that Buttons ‘n’ Threads does not offer polyester or synthetic blends as these materials are not ideal for suiting purposes.  Although there is room to offer lower cost fabrics at a cheaper price point, Buttons ‘n’ Threads is focused on the price to value metric and aims to offer fabrics that meet high quality standards.

To maintain quality standards on the production front, the bootstrapped start-up has taken a different approach after having observed the negative effect on quality from outsourcing to mass production factories in China. The online custom clothier has collaborated with a custom tailoring unit specifically designed for made to measure clothing.  Tailors with over 25 years of experience in made to measure suiting craft the suit in this production unit located in India. “Over 70% of the suit is hand constructed to ensure the highest quality and a truly custom tailored product”, says co-founder Sanchit. The focus on quality has resulted in positive and encouraging reviews from early customers who have tried their products.

Ensuring that their customers are always satisfied, the two co-founders have leveraged data to provide a better shopping experience for their customers. Buttons ‘n’ Threads makes use of a mathematical algorithm based on a large sample of measurement data to flag user measurements for errors. “The algorithm thus far has produced tremendous results and has enabled us to keep our alteration and remake rates to a bare minimum”, says Yashas. This ensures that customers of Buttons ‘n’ Threads are confident when it comes to building their measurement profiles for their custom tailored suits.

Started with the philosophy to provide men with the experience of custom clothing, Buttons ‘n’ Threads aims to improve the online made to measure industry and deliver the highest quality products at the most reasonable price points.