Bespoke Tailoring - Topic of the day 9/25/25
Bespoke is an often-used adjective when it comes to suits (or non suits) but lately the waters have been muddled. What even is bespoke, and how does it differ from made to measure or going to a tailor? If you've gotten or are considering bespoke, what is the appeal? If you're not a fan, why not?
7 Replies
In high school I wore bespoke uniforms, at first I hated it because my uniform did look and feel very different but appreciated the quality of having a tailored bespoke school uniform that a tailor spent lots of hours making. It didn’t cost much over a already made uniform but the choice of materials and experience of the tailor really shows in old images. My uniform didn’t look “borrowed” and looks very natural in hindsight
I was also very short in high school so the already made pants looked way too big on me blep
tailored OTR = you can modify the fit slightly
MTM = modified from an existing pattern, gives a bit more leeway on modifying the fit
bespoke = pattern is made for you, technically fully customizable in terms of fit
Custom not really worth it for fit unless you are very out of the norm for sizing. It's more for customization of details, which can be disastrous if you don't know what you're doing.
A true bespoke suit with multiple fittings would be a cool piece to own. A majority of people just need RTW with some tailoring. MTM can be a disaster if you don't know what you're doing. Bespoke footwear is another story. Having a last made for your foot and having a shoe crafted to fit perfectly has an appeal to me.
I will say that I can imagine myself paying for good MTM to create something really weird and unique that fits me pretty darn well and that is made pretty darn well.
I cannot envision myself ever paying for real bespoke--the value proposition is simply not there for me and it feels like a Veblen good (unless I'm in southern Italy or Thailand on vacation anyway, and I'm there long enough to make that logical? But even then I'm not convinced of the value proposition). And I'm waaay closer to the target market for this then most people are. I think true bespoke may die out almost completely (even more than it has) over the next few decades
It seems like online whenever some mention an expensive item a ton of the comments are “why don’t you just buy bespoke instead”. Like why buy a $1700 Grandad Coat from DBF when you can get a bespoke one for that price (I know that unrealistic, but people believe it). But as other comments said, it’s just not worth it unless you have very unusual measurements. It’s not usually a better garment, and is often not worth the price increase from buying off the rack or MTM.
I've pondered bespoke, but I've had such good success with the fit of MTM that it'll take a bit for me to go for it. On top of that, MTM is cheaper than a lot of off-the-shelf stuff. It does sound really nice though
I'm considering getting a bespoke suit. But it feels pretty ridiculous and hard to justify. I think I'm more attracted to the experience than the actual garment.