Often confused with made-to-measure, bespoke has become an over-used term in the retail industry. Loosely thrown around to denote anything custom-made, just like the word haute-couture is used incorrectly for any piece of clothing that may be expensive, it’s time we throw some light on the difference between bespoke and made-to-measure clothing.

Bespoke and made-to-measure are separated by a thin line, but trust this line to make a difference to the amount you shell out on the end product — it’s pretty significant, to say the least.

Here’s why —

MADE-TO-MEASURE

This type of clothing service uses standardised base patterns, which are manipulated to accommodate a person’s measurements to give a better-fit. It’s simple — consider a base pattern for a 40 size shirt. A made-to-measure brand will essentially use this base pattern and modify it if your measurement rests outside the range of what a 40 size shirt was built to. A little bit of tweaking of patterns is all made-to-measure involves, but ensures a better fit than its ready-to-wear counterpart. It’s considerably less expensive than bespoke, requires fewer fitting trials and still gives you a piece of clothing in your size.

BESPOKE
Drafted from scratch, every pattern of bespoke clothing is made to an individual’s precise measurements. No use of base patterns is involved. The master cuts an individual pattern for every customer. Unlike M2M, bespoke is a fairly lengthy process and involves a number of fittings. And this leaves scope to achieve the perfect fit. Since, every pattern is individually drafted, bespoke clothing comes at with a bigger price tag.

While both, bespoke and M2M are customised services, they differ in the degree to which the measurements can be accommodated, leading to a difference in the costs.

Now, you know why made-to-measure brand might be able to offer a better-fit at affordable prices, while a bespoke one would charge you a premium for a near to perfect fit.

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