Trade and Parish Orders

Multiple pieces change the economics of vestment making, and they should change the price. This page explains how we quote larger orders, what we need from you to quote accurately, and how a trade account works.

Who this is for

• Parishes and cathedrals building or replacing a seasonal set.
• Dioceses clothing clergy to a common specification.
• Seminaries and theological colleges outfitting an intake of ordinands.
• Religious communities ordering habits to a rule.
• Choirs and servers' guilds ordering cassocks, surplices and cottas in quantity.
• Church suppliers and retailers buying to resell.
• Event and ordination organisers needing a set of matching pieces for a single occasion.

Minimums

Trade pricing starts at six pieces of one garment type. They do not all have to be identical: six chasubles in different liturgical colours, or six cassocks in different sizes, both qualify. Mixed baskets across garment types are quoted case by case, and we will tell you honestly if an order is better placed at retail prices than as a trade order.

What we need in order to quote

The more of this you can give us, the closer the first quotation will be to the final invoice.

• Garment and quantity. By type and by liturgical colour if the order spans a set.
• Tradition. Roman, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Orthodox, or a local use. It affects cut, not only wording.
• Cloth and trim. Or tell us the price you are working to and let us propose the cloth.
• Embroidery. Machine or hand, and whether a crest, arms or a house symbol is involved. Send artwork if you have it.
• Sizes. Individual measurements, or a size run if the garments are for a body of people rather than named individuals.
• The date. The service or the term it has to be ready for, not just the month.
• Matching. Whether it must sit alongside vestments you already own — if so, photographs and, ideally, a swatch.

Send it to sales@theclergycouture.com. We aim to reply with a written quotation within two working days, and with a question the same day if something in the brief is unclear.

How pricing works

There is no published trade price list, and we would rather explain why than pretend one exists. The cost of a vestment order is driven by cloth, embroidery and quantity in that order, and cloth prices move. A list would be either out of date or padded enough to survive being out of date, and neither is fair to you.

What we will commit to is this: a written quotation, itemised, fixed for 30 days, with the cloth and the embroidery method named. Nothing is added to it afterwards that you have not agreed in writing.

Samples and swatches

We send swatches before any set is committed to, and for larger orders we will make a single sample garment to the agreed specification before cutting the rest. The sample is charged, and the charge is credited against the balance when the full order proceeds. For a set that a parish will keep for twenty years, it is worth the fortnight.

Lead times

Quoted with the order, not estimated afterwards. As a guide, a set of six to twelve garments in stock cloth with machine embroidery is a matter of weeks; hand-embroidered work, unusual cloth or a large size run takes longer. Advent and Lent are the two points in the year when everyone orders at once — plan around them.

Payment terms

Substantial commissions are normally part-paid on order with the balance due before dispatch, and the split is set out in the quotation. We can work to a purchase order and issue a proper commercial invoice in the name of the parish, diocese or institution for your finance office. Ask for whatever documentation your accounts department needs and we will provide it.

Delivery of trade orders

Trade orders ship consolidated to one address wherever possible, which is cheaper and simpler at customs than a dozen separate parcels. Import duty and taxes are the recipient's responsibility, as with any order — see shipping and delivery. Institutions holding a customs exemption on liturgical goods should tell us before dispatch so the paperwork carries what your authority needs.

Resellers

We are open to supplying church suppliers and ecclesiastical outfitters. Tell us your market, the garments you sell most of and the volumes you expect, and we will discuss terms. We are not able to offer exclusivity by territory at this stage of the business, and we will say so rather than imply otherwise.

Who you are contracting with

All quotations, invoices and contracts are issued by:

Garments are made in our workshop in Sialkot, Pakistan, and ship from there.

Trade enquiries: sales@theclergycouture.com · +1 (628) 272 4411