Finishing
Colour applied to the finished garment, with the specialist dyehouse we have worked with for years — the garment is made here, the wash signs it there.
Confezione Nova is a garment manufacturer, not a dye house. We cut and sew in Prato, and the dyeing and washing happen in the same building. That order matters: the garment exists first, the colour comes after.
Most brands buy fabric in a colour and hope the season agrees with them. Garment dyeing reverses that. The body is made in ecru, held as a neutral, and coloured when the sell-through tells you which way to go. The colour decision moves from six months before the season to six weeks into it.
It is also a different product. When a garment is dyed as a piece, the seams, hems and trims take colour with the body, the surface relaxes in the bath, and the hand becomes softer than a fabric-dyed equivalent. That is the look most people mean when they say a garment feels “washed”.
Processes
Piece dyeing after making. Solid shades on the finished garment, with the seam and trim behaviour that piece dyeing gives you and fabric dyeing cannot.
A second colour over a base — deepens a shade, corrects a batch, or builds a two-tone effect that reads as depth rather than print.
Irregular, clouded colour movement across the garment. Every piece differs; the effect is deliberate and hard to copy with printing.
Localised colour applied by hand for gradient, shadow and worn-edge effects — the finish that makes a garment look used rather than new.
Abrasion on seams, pockets and edges to break the surface. Mechanical, so the wear sits where the body actually rubs.
Enzymatic treatment that removes surface fibre and softens the hand without heavy stone action. The base of most “vintage” finishes.
The last pass: hand-feel, drape and surface. What separates a garment that looks washed from one that feels washed.
Why it matters
Buy the body in ecru, not five colours of fabric. You commit to colour when you have real sales data, not a forecast.
Undyed bodies are already made. A colour that sells can be dyed and shipped without going back to the loom.
The colour you misjudged stays neutral instead of becoming stock you discount.
Piece dyeing softens the garment in a way fabric dyeing cannot reproduce. It is a different product, not a cheaper one.
Scope
Woven styles, men’s and women’s: trousers and chino, shirts, jackets, outerwear, dresses and skirts. The fibre, the trims and the sewing thread set the limit for any individual style — a style we have not run before is confirmed on a test piece before we commit to a production run, rather than promised on the phone.
We work white label and private label: our own models under your name, or your collection developed with us. Minimum quantities and lead times depend on the style, the fabric and the colour programme, and are confirmed in the quotation.
In depth
Have a style you want dyed?
Send us the details