University Ceremonies
Participating in a University ceremony where your award will be conferred?
The following information applies to customers who want to purchase their regalia to wear at a university ceremony where the award relevant to this regalia is being conferred.
Some universities engage in contract with photography and events companies that supply and manage graduation regalia at ceremonies. We are not privy to such arrangements.
Therefore, we recommend checking with your graduations department before placing an order with us as you may be required to purchase or hire from others.
This arrangement obligates the graduand to purchase from such companies, and we do not want any of our customers to be disappointed when turning up to their ceremonies in our beautiful Australian made regalia only to be told they cannot wear it.
Apparently, the university is allowed to enforce you to purchase from their ‘official’ contracted supplier as a rule at their graduation event.
However, we question this with regards to your rights as a consumer, and we assure you that our regalia is made to university specifications (refer ‘What it means to be made to specification’, following).
You may find that if you question where you can purchase your regalia from, terms such as ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’, or ‘authorised’ and ‘unauthorised’ are used. We find this to be an unfair, fearful approach to the graduand and consumer.
Many customers prefer to purchase from us as they prefer the quality of a certified Australian made garment, they can select a quality base fabric such as superfine wool, and they receive guaranteed after-sales service from a local manufacturer.
The above-mentioned photography and events companies are not garment makers, and therefore the quality of their garments is, in our humble opinion, often questionable. To the best of our knowledge, they have their regalia made overseas. See below example of difference in quality of ‘theirs’ compared to our Australian-made garment detail.
Detail of garment made by others:
Same detail of garment Australian made by us:
Should you purchase from us, please be assured that all our academic dress is made to university specification. We have been making regalia for over 75 years. If you are ever unsure, please contact us for assistance.
What it means to be ‘made to specification’.
Making regalia to specification simply means the garment is made to how the University has stated it should be made. Written specifications are often combined with images of garment and sampling to confirm details.
Please note that there will always be some variation between different suppliers’ version of garment. However, such minor variation does not mean a garment is not made to specification.
This is because different garment makers will have different suppliers of fabric, sourced from various part of the world. Different fabric types can mean the colour may be slightly different simply because the substrate is different. Dye-lot variations occur; and this is managed with colour matching and quality control methods.
Certain embellishments such as braids and buttons will be made with different methods between manufacturers.
Manufacturers may have slight differences in pattern, dimensions, or construction method.
Again, these variations do not mean a garment is not made to specification. The variations described above are an inherent reality of the textile and garment making industry and they are managed within reason to ensure a garment is made to specification.
We hope this provides our customers or those thinking of purchasing from us the best information possible to facilitate a satisfied purchase. If you’re not sure, please contact us for assistance.