21st Century Tailoring

 Hello everyone,

My name is Edith and I’m attending the Textile Value Chain Management program. I’m at the beginning of the third week of my internship at the Borås-founded company Blugiallo. The Blugiallo team consists of four young gentlemen, two located at the office/showroom in Borås and two at the office/showroom in Stockholm. I’m spending my time at the Borås location and since I’m a Borås native, but haven’t lived here for many years, it’s a dear welcoming back. Additionally, after a year of home studies, it feels amazing to finally wash my hair again and change out of the sweatpants. No further explanation is needed here, as I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about.  

Blugiallo’s business model can be described as an integration of traditional craftsmanship and digital platforms. They offer high-quality, tailor-made menswear with products such as suits, shirts, coats, and dressed trousers. The customer can either come into one of the showrooms and get their measurements taken by one of the Blugiallo experts or they can scan their bodies through their smartphones and the measurements are transferred into their online Blugiallo account and profile. Once the measurements are done, the customer can place an order online on whatever type of product they want to purchase. The customers can further make design choices for each piece according to personal preferences. The products are made on-demand and the delivery time is 5-6 weeks. Blugiallo’s products are priced similarly to mass-produced, ready-to-wear products. They call their business model 21st century tailoring, which is both fitting (did you see what I did there?) and summarizing. 

“We are driven by the belief that the future of clothing is individualized, digital, and uncompromising in terms of fit and quality” — Blugiallo. 

My role at Blugiallo is business strategy-oriented, as I’m doing a customer survey that will be distributed to a large amount of both existing and potential customers. The purpose of the questionnaire is to gain insights into the consumers' willingness to purchase Blugiallo’s products and services entirely online, i.e how the online tailoring process would be received. So far, I have mainly focused on wrapping my head around the business model, the daily operations and processes, and getting acquainted with the fine products. This has been enabled by joining customer appointments and measurement takings, close collaboration and discussions with the entire team, and internal education. The survey questions have been developed simultaneously and the questionnaire will be distributed this week. This questionnaire will be the topic of my report and the findings will be the basis of my insights and contributions to Blugiallo, in order for the team to develop Blugiallo in the right direction within this area. 

I’m very thankful for my internship and the opportunities Blugiallo provides and considering my background within and love for menswear, I’m thrilled to spend my days at the Rolls Royce of Swedish menswear brands. 

I hope everyone is having a great spring so far and that the sun is here to stay!