Bespoke and Made to Measure - What’s the difference?
Custom clothing options are becoming more accessible and affordable in recent years. As consumers become more aware of the ramifications of fast fashion, many are turning to custom garments for a more thoughtful form of consumption.
Are you considering custom garments for your next wardrobe piece? We’re here to help demystify and provide comparisons with each of these categories so that you can understand the differences for yourself and make the most informed decision.
When chatting with new customers for the first consultation, they wonder what the differences are between bespoke and made to measure. Here at The Gallantry, we’re happy to offer both bespoke and made to measure services.
Bespoke
Bespoke garments offer the most amount of customization for garments. While the term typically is used with suits in mind, you can also order shirts, overcoats and even footwear through bespoke services. Here at The Gallantry, we’re happy to offer our bespoke service for suits, jackets, trousers, overcoats, and shirts.
When it comes to options with your bespoke garment, you should expect to go over all aspects relating to styling: fabric, buttons, lining options + coverage (fully lined, half, somewhere in between), padding weight, as well as styling (lapel shape, pockets, vents, etc.).
If you are purchasing a bespoke garment from a more traditional tailoring house, they may not allow you to divert from their ‘house cut’ - or the fit of the garment too far from how they traditionally cut their garments. This usually means the silhouette of the final product is controlled to a certain extent.
Modern or younger tailors offering bespoke tailoring may be more flexible when it comes to allowing you to dictate how your finished garment fits on you. Regardless, a tailor’s input on what would compliment your physique best should be considered, but they understand it’s what you feel the most confident wearing at the end of the day.
The term bespoke originates from the verb bespeak, or to speak for something. It has been understood that Savile Row tailors were the originators of the term. As you choose the fabric in person, there are references that the tailors would essentially say to customers that some fabrics have “been spoken for” already.
In our current age of marketing, bespoke has been watered down and slowly become a synonym for custom. The Savile Row Bespoke Association has set out standards around its usage and to uphold the reverence of their craft.
While they do maintain (with self-fulfilling interest) that bespoke garments must be made on or around Savile Row, many fine tailors across the globe are also able to provide bespoke services these days. The SRBA has also set out workmanship criteria for how a bespoke garment should be made.
For a garment to be considered bespoke, there are several fitting stages that should not be skipped in the creation process. With each fitting stage your garment should look more and more finished. Here are some of the stages you can expect when purchasing a bespoke garment from The Gallantry.
Firstly, your tailor should utilize nuances of your physique, preferences, body measurements and movement tendencies to work with a cutter to create a unique and individualized pattern. From there, a cutter will hand cut your garment out of the ordered cloth and work with your tailor to create a basted fitting. When a garment is basted together, the stitching can be easily removed without lasting effect on the cloth, this allows the tailor to deconstruct the garment and make adjustments.
Experienced tailors understand that all fabrics will behave slightly differently, depending on the composition, weight, and other variables. Interfacing, canvas, and shoulder padding will also affect how the fabric sits on you.
Thus, for your garment to be considered truly bespoke, it’s important that the garment is cut from the desired cloth for all fitting stages, and not be made of muslin or other materials that may behave differently on you from the finished product. You should also be able to see the canvassing attached on you to both ensure that you’re getting a full canvassed garment, and to have the most accurately fitting model.
During your first basted fitting, your tailor will observe how the garment hangs on you, and begin to assess the fit of their work. As you try on the basted garment, they would deconstruct the garment in several key areas to ensure a proper fit. You should expect that they remove areas such as the collar and sleeves on you so that they can assess and adjust the garment to sit correctly on your neck and shoulders.
On the second fitting, your tailor will ensure that the adjustments noted during the basted fitting has amended any creases or ill-fitting areas of the garment. At this stage, the garment should still be basted so that any new adjustments needed can still be made.
It’s important that the garment isn’t completed until both you and your tailor are satisfied with how it looks and sits on you. You should also be able to dictate a change in any details if you’ve decided to change your mind on any stylistic choices. Additional fittings can be requested at this point to sign off on any changes up until this point.
During the time in-between fittings, your tailor is hard at work for over 50 hours constructing your garment by hand. While machine stitching is quicker, its speed and rigidity produces garments that have more movement restriction. A hand stitched garment allows for more ease to be sewn in, and allows the wearer to feel more mobile in it.
Finally, once the garment has been completed and fully finished, your tailor should request one final fitting to ensure that all the details are correct, and you are happy with the fit. Minor adjustments to the length or body should be expected, but there should be no need for major alterations after completing previous fittings. Most established tailors will offer a complimentary period (if not for lifetime) of future adjustments as your physique fluctuates through the seasons.
Made to Measure
The Gallantry offers Made to Measure (MTM) services with suits, jackets, trousers, overcoats, shirts, as well as knitwear.
Made to Measure garments are probably the most common type of custom garment you see on the market. You can still expect some customization options, but fewer than you would get ordering bespoke. It’s a more condensed process with fewer fittings compared to bespoke.
With brands that focus more on ready to wear (especially those that sell their ready to wear in named models), you may be limited to starting with their fit “models” (a.k.a. pre-selected options that are grouped together; some fashion brands might not let you choose the button stance, lapels, pockets, vents or other options independently of each other) before selecting your fabric, linings and buttons.
With brands that have a focus on creating made to measure garments, you should expect a lot of flexibility in dictating each styling aspect of your suit (lapel, pockets, vents and button stance), similar to a bespoke garment.
Made to Measure garments are created by modifying existing patterns to fit your body measurements. A tailor may still take body measurements and take notes of your postural nuances, but they would be fewer and less detailed compared to a bespoke fitting. More commonly, they would have you try on RTW garments in a few sizes and make adjustments from there.
Most Made to Measure processes involve 2 fittings. The first fitting is either where your body measurements would be taken, or you try on a few different sizes of garments before the tailor notes down adjustments needed for the garment to fit you.
At The Gallantry, the process for our Made to Measure tailoring is a bit more involved - we have an additional step for a total of 3 fittings.
On our first meeting we take body measurements, and for our second fitting we create a mock muslin garment based off of your measurements and the adjusted pattern. The purpose of this additional step is to ensure the fit and all your postural nuances are correctly accounted for.
During this fitting, any adjustments you’d like to make whether it be styling or fabric choice can still be changed at this point, whereas with conventional Made to Measure brands you wouldn’t have this flexibility.
On our final fitting, we’d try on the garment one last time for any touch up alterations needed. The Gallantry is happy to offer complimentary alterations for up to 1 year after your garment is delivered.