Build-a-Dress
Build-a-Dress

Research

We publish data from our production records about custom dress quotes and the styles people request. Everything here is free to read and cite.

Publications

One publication so far.

Report · 8 August 2026

The Custom Dress Report 2026: what custom dresses cost and which styles people actually request

Median quoted prices by occasion and the most requested silhouettes, fabrics, and colors, calculated from our production records. These figures are based on manufacturer quotes, rather than surveys or retail list prices.

Dataset: 5,397 designs · 383 quotedWindow: Aug 2025 – Jul 2026License: CC BY 4.0

How we publish

We started publishing these reports because we could find retail prices and estimates, but little data directly from custom dressmakers. Each report follows these standards:

  • Aggregates only. No individual customer, design or order is identifiable, and we never publish body measurements or size data in any form.
  • A minimum sample per figure. We do not publish any category with fewer than 20 records; small categories are combined or left out.
  • The method is published with the numbers. Every report states its dataset window, what each figure counts, and what the data cannot tell you.
  • We distinguish quotes from payments. Quoted prices show what makers offered to charge, rather than what customers paid. We state that distinction wherever we publish pricing.
  • Free to reuse. Published under CC BY 4.0, with the underlying dataset downloadable as CSV, so anyone can check our arithmetic or build on it.
Journalists and researchers may use these figures with attribution. Contact us if you need a breakdown we have not published, and we can check whether the data supports it.