Bespoke tailoring or custom tailoring is clothing made to an individual buyer's specifications by a

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

Clothing

Meaning of the term

The word ''

bespoke The word ''bespoke'' () has evolved from a verb meaning 'to speak for something', to its contemporary usage as an adjective. Originally, the adjective ''bespoke'' described tailor-made suits and shoes. Later, it described anything commissioned t ...

'' derives from the verb ''bespeak'', to speak for something, in the specialised meaning of "to give order for it to be made." Fashion terminology reserves ''bespoke'' for individually patterned and crafted men's clothing, analogous to women's

haute couture ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became th ...

, as opposed to mass-manufactured

ready-to-wear Ready-to-wear (or ''prêt-à-porter''; abbreviated RTW; "off-the-rack" or "off-the-peg" in casual use) is the term for ready-made garments, sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing ...

(off-the-peg or off-the-rack). The term originated on

Savile Row Savile Row (pronounced ) is a street in Mayfair, central London. Known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men, the street has had a varied history that has included accommodating the headquarters of the Royal Geographical ...

, a street in London considered the "Golden Mile of tailoring". Bespoke clothing is traditionally cut from a pattern drafted from scratch for the customer, and so differs from

, which is factory made in finished condition and standardised sizes, and from

made to measure Made-to-measure (MTM) typically refers to custom clothing that is cut and sewn using a standard-sized base pattern. Suits and sport coats are the most common garments made-to-measure. The fit of a made-to-measure garment is expected to be superio ...

, which is produced to order from an adjusted block pattern. The opposition of terms did not initially imply that a bespoke garment was necessarily well built, but since the development of ready-to-wear in the beginning of the twentieth century, bespoke clothing is now more expensive and is generally accompanied by a high quality of construction.In an article published in ''

Textile History ''Textile History'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal first published in 1968 and published by Maney Publishing on behalf of the Pasold Research Fund. It covers "aspects of the cultural and social history of apparel and textiles, as well as iss ...

'' (Volume 34, Number 2, November 2003 , pp. 192–213. ''Ready-to-wear or Made-to-measure? Consumer Choice in the British Menswear Trade'') Laura Ugolini concluded that "interested and well-informed male consumers generally preferred to buy bespoke suits: while usually more expensive than their ready-made counterparts, these were also perceived to be better quality, better looking, and better value, and therefore most likely to enhance the wearer's sense of self-worth as a manly, discerning and successful consumer". While the bespoke distinction conferred by

is protected by law in France,A certain number of formal criteria, including the design for private customers with one or more fittings, must be met for a fashion house to use the label and a list of eligible houses is made official every year by the French Ministry of Industry. the British Advertising Standards Authority has ruled it is a fair practice to use the term "bespoke" for products that do not fully incorporate traditional construction methods. The Savile Row Bespoke Association, a trade group of traditional tailors, disagrees,The tailor Richard Anderson wrote an article in the Telegraph to argue that "the ASA has got the ruling wrong" (). but it has taken no formal step to challenge ASA's ruling.

Overview

To order a bespoke garment, first the customer does a consultation with a tailor. This is when fabrics, linings, and styling details are chosen. Then the tailor measures the client, which from there the tailor then drafts a pattern from scratch based on the individual measurements that were taken. Then the tailor chalks out the pattern on then fabric and lining and cuts it out with

shears Shears may refer to: Cutting devices * Scissors, also called shears * Hair-cutting shears * Blade shears, typically used for shearing animals * Grass shears, for lawn trimming * Kitchen shears, scissors used in the kitchen for food preparation * ...

. Then the tailor bastes the garment together for a fitting. During the fitting the tailor typically asks the client if he likes the overall fit while fixing some details. After this the tailor finishes the garment and gives it to the customer. The typical time frame for a bespoke garment is 2-3 months, and there are usually 2-3 fittings done.

Compared to made-to-measure

A grey area has existed between the extremes of bespoke and ready-to-wear since the end of the 19th centuryIn 1895, the

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

Factory Clothing Co. veered between calling itself "manufacturing clothiers" and "bespoke tailors" (''cf.'' ). in which a tailor measures the customer, but the garment is then made to the closest standard size, sometimes in a factory. The distinction made here is between bespoke, created without use of a pre-existing pattern, and

, which alters a standard-sized pattern to fit the customer. Technological change makes this distinction more subtle, since fittings are increasingly required for made-to-measure. A bespoke service may require an individually-cut pattern, which is then kept should further suits be required; made-to-measure measurements are often stored on a computer. Even hand-work, often cited as a benchmark of bespoke, is now increasingly found in made-to-measure garments, while machine-making plays some part in the creation of most bespoke suits. With a bespoke suit, a pattern is designed and made from scratch based on the client's measurements, often from 20+ measurements involving multiple fittings, and takes considerably longer to produce than a made-to-measure garment. This ensures a precise fit, particularly in the shoulders as well as the posture areas. This custom fit is most suited for clients with short or long necks, high or low shoulders, excess girth, high hips, large or flat seats, and more. Made-to-measure cannot adjust for these shapes and slopes. In addition, new technologies have allowed for bespoke garments to be made with

lean manufacturing Lean manufacturing is a production method aimed primarily at reducing times within the production system as well as response times from suppliers and to customers. It is closely related to another concept called just-in-time manufacturing ( ...

practices and digital patterning, making new patterns within minutes and fully bespoke garments in hours, at a price point similar to made to measure or even

mass production Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and batch ...

Advertising Standards Authority ruling

In June 2008, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), a British advertising regulator, ruled that an advertisement describing a suit "put into a 'working-frame' where it would be cut and sewn by machine" as a "bespoke suit uniquely made according to your personal measurements & specification" was not breaching the Authority's self-proclaimed advertising codes, notably the truthfulness rule, because the use of the term bespoke was not deemed likely to confuse. The ruling was significant in formalising a less traditional definition of bespoke clothing, even though the older distinction with made-to-measure was recognised. The ruling cited the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

'' definition of bespoke as "made to order," and considered that despite the fact a bespoke suit was "...fully hand-made and the pattern cut from scratch, with an intermediary baste stage which involved a first fitting so that adjustments could be made to a half-made suit," while a suit made-to-measure "...would be cut, usually by machine, from an existing pattern, and adjusted according to the customer's measurements," "both fully bespoke and made-to-measure suits were "made to order" in that they were made to the customer's precise measurements and specifications, unlike off-the-peg suits." Some, such as the etymologist

Michael Quinion Michael Quinion (born c. 1943) is a British etymologist and writer. He ran World Wide Words, a website devoted to linguistics. He graduated from Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he studied physical sciences and after which he joined BBC radio as a ...

, feel the ruling showed that "the historic term of art had moved on." Some others concluded that "bespoke tailoring has traditionally, if unofficially, meant something more than the dictionary definition allows" and that the ASA "took a rather ignorant decision to declare that there is no difference between bespoke and made-to-measure."

Clothing

Meaning of the term

Overview

Compared to made-to-measure

Advertising Standards Authority ruling

See also

Notes

References

Further reading