Bespoke by Apparel Search - Fashion Terms of Interest to the Fashion Industry

According to Merriam-Webster, bespoke means custom-made — as in a bespoke suit — or dealing in or producing custom-made articles. This page explains the bespoke term, how bespoke clothing differs from made-to-measure and ready-to-wear, and where bespoke sits among the ways clothing is produced for an individual customer.

Bespoke by Apparel Search - Fashion Terms of Interest to the Fashion Industry

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According to Merriam-Webster, bespoke means custom-made (a bespoke suit) or dealing in or producing custom-made articles.

According to Wikipedia, bespoke is "a British English term employed in a variety of applications to mean an item custom-made to the buyer's specification. While applied to many items now, from computer software to luxury car appointments, the term historically was applied only to tailored clothing, shirts, and other parts of men's apparel involving measurement and fitting. The distinguishing points of bespoke tailoring are the buyer's total control over the fabric used, the features and fit, and the way the garment should be made. More generally, bespoke describes a high degree of customization, and involvement of the end-user, in the production of the good.

Apparel Search lets SearchCIO-midmarket.com elaborate on the definition. "Bespoke is a term used in the United Kingdom and elsewhere for an individually or custom-made product or service. Traditionally applied to custom-tailored clothing, the term has been extended to information technology, especially for software consulting services. Typically, software consulting companies offer packaged (already invented and generally applicable) software and bespoke software for client needs that can't be satisfied by packaged software. In the U.S., bespoke software is often called custom or custom-designed software. Bespoke is a form derived from bespeak, which was used as early as 1583 to refer to the ordering of goods."

Synonyms include custom, customized, custom-tailored, made-to-order, tailored, or tailor-made. Antonyms include ready-made or mass-produced.

Written for Apparel Search by Regina Cooper September 2010

Simply put, Bespoke fashion is fabulous.

We suggest that you also read up on the meaning of made-to-measure clothing which is actually different than bespoke clothing. You may also want to learn the difference between haute couture and ready-to-wear while you seem to be trying to learn more about clothes.

Learn the difference between bespoke and made-to-measure fashion.

Because bespoke fashion is custom made it is technically one of a kind and their for a very limited edition. Learn about limited edition fashion.

You may want to learn about artisan craftsmanship as well.

Fashion Terms: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

You may also want to read about In-Process Quality Control

Fashion Industry Network Apparel Manufacturers

How a Bespoke Commission Works

A bespoke order begins with cloth and conversation: the customer chooses a fabric from thousands of bolts, discusses the style — lapels, pockets, vents, lining — and is measured in detail, with the cutter also noting posture and stance, because a pattern drafted for a person must account for how they stand, not only how wide they are. The garment is then built in stages, with a basted-together fitting version tried on first so the shape can be corrected before the cloth is finally sewn. Two or three fittings are typical, and the finished garment carries the maker's individual pattern, kept on file for future orders.

That process is why bespoke sits at the top of the clothing price ladder and why the word is so often borrowed loosely. True bespoke is defined by the individual pattern and the handwork of the fittings, not merely by choosing options on a stock garment. The term has spread beyond tailoring — bespoke shoes, bespoke software, bespoke travel — but in clothing it keeps its strict meaning, and the tailors and seamstresses linked from this page are the trades that practice it.

Common Questions

What does bespoke mean?

Custom-made. Bespoke clothing is made to the specifications of an individual customer — traditionally, a garment whose pattern is drafted for that one person and fitted through multiple fittings, rather than adjusted from a stock pattern.

What is the difference between bespoke and made-to-measure?

Made-to-measure starts from an existing pattern and adjusts it to the customer's measurements. Bespoke starts from the customer: a new pattern is created for them. This page links to both the made-to-measure term and a discussion of the difference.

Is bespoke the same as haute couture?

They are related but not identical. Haute couture is the French high-fashion system of made-to-order clothing from Paris houses; bespoke is the English tailoring tradition of individually made clothing, centered historically on Savile Row. Both produce one-off garments for one client.

Bespoke