FAQ - Help Center

Send us a message if you need additional help here.

Appointments

Please use our online scheduling system here for alterations, and here for custom clothing.

Absolutely yes! We allow up to one guest for any alterations or custom clothing appointments with our team.

We do accommodate walk in’s when we can based on our availability, but we're not always available and highly prefer and recommend that you book an appointment in advance to ensure a fitter is available to help you.

Appointments are important for us to ensure that you are not waiting in line to be fit, this is actually one of the key ways we are different from most tailor/alteration shops.  You’ll meet with a master fitter to walk through everything and answer any questions you have, without appointments we would likely see 45-minute waits during peak times.

Unfortunately, once a time is fully booked in our calendar, we’re unable to accept additional appointments. Our scheduling system is updated constantly and always reflects the current availability. You can always check back later, but unfortunately if you do not see a time you are looking for then it is currently unavailable.

When you schedule your appointment you will enter an email address that will be used to send a confirmation email to. If you do not receive this email, please check your spam folder first and reach out to us here if you still don't see anything.

Please click the link at the bottom of the confirmation email you received when you booked your fitting, as long as your appointment time isn’t already past you will be able to make any necessary edits, otherwise you’ll need to book a new time. You can also reply to your confirmation email for direct help, or reach out to us here.

Yes we can! We have a few requirements though:

1. We have appointment options for basic and advanced measurements available on our Alterations Appointment page.

2. We require that you have a printed copy of the complete instructions for how to take each measurement, or a video, and have read through or watched and understand each step prior to arriving for your appointment, unfortunately there are zero exceptions to this requirement.

You can schedule a measurement session here.

Alterations

The timing of our standard speed and rush speed options can always be confirmed on our appointment booking page.

Yes we do! Whatever we agree to during the fitting, we stand by in full. For non-bridal gowns we ask that you try on everything at home or while picking up at Arthur + Lucca and do require that you contact us within 24-hours of picking up your items if there are any issues or questions you would like to talk through with us. For all bridal gowns, we require that you try your dress on at your final pickup with our fitting staff, unfortunately once the dress has left our shop we're unable to review anything with you, and should any issues get brought up after leaving the shop we're unable to offer any type of free fix, refund, etc.

Please note that due to the wide range of age/price/style/type of garments, should a garment acquire any type of damage, A+L is unable to issue any type of payment or refund beyond the original price of alterations on that specific garment.  

There is no need to check to confirm when your alterations will be ready, the timing discussed during your fitting is always accurate and we'll proactively reach out to you should anything change on our end.

We currently do not work on costumes, fur, suede, leather, feathers, down coats, waxed canvas, underwear, bathing suits, or patching items.

Your fitter will confirm the date range your items will be complete during your fitting, we're completely committed to sticking to this range100% of the time so you will never need to worry.

We do all of our sewing work in the same space that we do our fittings, you can see it with your own eyes when you are in our shop.

No, but also yes.

We naturally steam/press areas that we work on, and we always keep your item/s on hangers when they are not being worked on to reduce wrinkles. We do not 'fully steam' standard alteration garments at any point in time though.

We find that most items start wrinkling while on a hanger, and especially in a garment bag, and frequently garments wrinkle while in transit to your home (especially any dress that fills up a garment bag).

Our recommendation is always to steam your garments as necessary when you arrive at your destination, and then do any other steaming immediately before you wear your garment/s so that they are not wrinkled while you are getting ready.

The short answer is yes!

We do offer a steaming service starting at $100 for gowns.  However there are some details to consider when opting for this service. 

We do our best to preserve the wrinkle-free state of the dress, but after it’s done drying, we must put it back in the garment bag for safe keeping.  Because of this, wrinkles are going to form in the fabric, especially in the train.  We do recommend storing your dress in the garment bag until the day of the wedding, meaning that when you unpack your dress it will need additional steaming to get it back to a wrinkle-free state. Because of this, we don't have a hard recomendation to have us, or anyone else, steam your dress; and instead recommend that you plan on steaming it immediately before wearing instead.

In an effort to have you picking up your dress at the expected level of the fewest wrinkles possible, we are only able to offer you to opt into the steaming service at the conclusion of your final pick up appointment.  Steaming will then be completed within 24 hours and you are required to pickup your gown by the end of the following day. If your gown is not picked up by the end of the following day we will need to store it in a way that will likely lead to some additional wrinkling.

Please note that we offer steaming services on garments that we have altered, and it is only possible to move forward with this at the conclusion of your final fitting. We're unable to schedule steaming for future dates and hold gowns until then.

Alterations that are eligible for cancelation will receive a refund of 50% of the cost of alterations.  Any alteration that has been started is not eligible for for a refund due to the nature of scheduling alteration sewing workflow and how this affects future alteration completion dates. Please note that alteration work typically starts within 36 hours or less of your fitting appointment.   Rush alterations are not eligible for any type of refund under any circumstance due to the nature of guaranteed scheduling and guaranteed payment we will make to our staff.  Refunded alteration costs and any additional costs will be reimbursed to the card that originally paid for the alterations, this will be processed within 5 business days of cancelation, and will be on your card within 7-14 days. We are not able to refund this cost back to a different credit card or any other payment type.  If you want to cancel your alterations please email our team at contact@arthurandlucca.com and we respond within 1 business day.  If you want us to stop work on your alterations regardless of refund eligibility, please email us at contact@arthurandlucca.com.

Sometimes yes, but most of the time no.

First, we reserve the right to decline shipping your completed alterations to you for any reason. If you're asking us to ship them we understand that you probably have some special circumstance creating the request, and we're sorry if we have to say no, but we want you to know up front that it will likely be a no.

We cannot ever ship wedding dresses/gowns, or anything wedding related. This applies to any and all garments that are for the purpose of wear to/at a wedding, yours or someone else's.

We cannot ever ship any garment being worn to a special event, scheduled event, etc. If you have a particular date/time you are wearing the garment, then we cannot ship it.

We will be able to ship 'easily replaced' garments to you if you have a Chicagoland shipping address that can easily receive a UPS package, and agree in writing that Arthur and Lucca is not liable for anything related to the packaging, shipping, or delivery of your garments. We typically charge a flat $20 fee for this option, but it may be higher depending on the circumstance. Please note that we are not able to require signature for delivery under any circumstance.

We always recommend working with us if you live local to A+L, but if you live further away then we'd always want you to find a local establishment instead. We never know what the world will throw at any of us, and we would never want the logistics of alterations to pose a problem.

Custom Clothing

We offer private label, V.B.C., Canclini, Lanificio, Marzoni, Carnet, and Reda fabrics. The vast majority of our fabrics are 100% wool 4-season fabrics, we have many blends and seasonal options as well.  Our fabrics rotate every 3-6 months depending on the style, materials, and other factors. Nearly all of our suiting fabrics are super 110-160’s, they are absolute quality; most are from Italian mills.

Yes, alterations are included in the cost of all of your initial garments as we confirm your fit (your initial order will be limited to one of each garment type). You will received 50% off the cost of any future alterations after you are 'fit confirmed' on all Arthur + Lucca custom clothing for the life of the garment.

Yes we do! Whatever we agree to during the fitting, we stand by in full! You'll also receive 50% off alterations for life on your custom clothing in case your body changes at all. If you do not recieve your custom clothing within 120-days you will recieve a full refund as well. View our full policy here.

Body changes are normal and happen to everyone, we would love to help you adjust your garments and update your measurements in your fit profile, and you will received 50% off the cost of all alterations on all Arthur + Lucca custom clothing for the life of the garment.

We are not able to offer any rush production timelines, we'll always get your garments to you as fast as we can and early whenever possible.

Typically ~8 weeks for the first fitting for first time customer, or sooner, and 4-6 weeks for fit-confirmed customers. We guarantee everything within 120-days or your money back and you can read more about this full guarantee here.

After your initial fitting where you are measured and design your garments, we expect to be ready to have you back in 3 weeks to confirm thew fit. Any alterations that are needed will be completed within 1 week from this second fitting.

Currently we offer custom shirts, jackets, dress pants, and coats. All of these items should be dry cleaned, and some dress shirts may be able to be machine washed cold and hung to dry. You should expect for all garment to very slightly tighten after any wash or dry clean cycle.

We recommend a 120 day lead time for any special events, this gives everyone involved plenty of time to adjust in case anything whatsoever goes wrong, we don't like to tempt fate. ~40 days can sometimes be plenty of time too, but unfortunately we cannot carry guarantees with rush timelines because of the nature of custom clothing.

No. We offer the best price we can, year-round, regardless of order size or personal details. We keep it simple.

We're not able to create any garments using fabrics that we do not stock.

Currently we're working with factories in East Asia that exclusively specialize in custom clothing, we've chosen the top factories in the world to ensure the best possible quality, materials, and pricing.

We do guarantee that we will achieve the correct garment and fit as agreed on during your initial fitting. Custom clothing can be a process however and once this process starts there is no way to cancel it for a refund. Because your custom garments will be made for your body and style/design we're unable to take returns on them because we would be unable to sell them to someone else.

We do gurantee that you will have your custom clothing within 90-days or will recieve a full refund.

More details can be found here.

Dry Cleaning

We only offer dry cleaning services for wedding gowns, and we additionally offer wedding gown preservation as well. Check out the details here.

We're not able to offer dry cleaning or pressing services for any other garments under any circumstances.

Wedding Dress Preservation

Yes, we do require that all dresses are fully cleaned prior to being preserved.

Your dress will be full cleaned, then folded and placed over a bust inside a box with a clear window on the front. This window box will be sealed and placed inside another sealed box.

Locations

Our Chicago shop is located at 845 W. Washington Blvd, Flr 3, Chicago. IL 60607. Our entire area has metered street parking available.

Gift Cards

Yes, you can use your gift card online or in store and will have an opportunity to do this at check out regardless of where you are or what you are buying.

Please have the original purchaser of the gift card contact us here and we would be happy to help. We will require several transaction specific details and take this process seriously to prevent anyone's gift card information being stolen.