More on Bespoke Tailoring

Bespoke versus made-to-measure

Between the extremes of bespoke and ready-to-wear has existed, since the end of the 19th century, a "grey area of garments for which the customer was measured, but that were then made up to the closest standard size, often, but by no means always, in a factory.  "The distinction made here is between bespoke, created without use of a pre-existing pattern, and made to measure, which alters a standard-sized pattern to fit the customer. Technological change makes this distinction more subtle, since "fittings are increasingly required for both bespoke and made-to-measure; a bespoke service may require an individually-cut pattern, which is then kept should further suits be required, and now made-to-measure measurements are often stored too, 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".

Fitting of a Bespoke Jacket