Bespoke tailoring goes all the way back to the 1300’s. The term bespoke originally came from the world renowned Savile Row in London, seen by many as the home of Men’s Bespoke Tailors. Bespoke means a product has been made specifically to a customer’s requirements and came from the statement originally used for men’s suits in Savile Row that a suit had ‘been spoken’ for. In other words, it is for a particular customer. The term is now used for a whole variety of products and not just within the fashion industry. The term tailoring originally meant the specific sewing and pressing techniques that were used for hand-made clothing, although this is now also used wider afield.

Clothing was originally simply a way of covering the body, both from other people’s eyes and from the weather conditions. It has over the centuries become a multi billion pound industry though. Hundreds of years ago people would make their own clothes and they were purely used for practical reasons. This gradually developed into the industry it is today. Some realised that they could earn from tailoring, by doing the job for others so they wouldn’t have to do it themselves. They would then get paid for this, either in currency or by receiving goods or services in return. This was way before the times of machinery so it was all done by hand. Many quality tailors began to appear as less and less people would make their own clothes – these days making your own clothes is extremely rare.

What started off as a practical solution has become a major fashion over time. First of all having tailored clothes for fashion purposes was exclusively for the higher classes. Gradually the fashions became more stylistic and in the 16th century highly decorative clothing with intricate pattern was the sought after trend. In the following century it became more practical again. There were still certain fashions but practicality became the prime focus. In stark contrast with the 16th century, by the early part of the 1800’s very sober colours and pattern were the norm. By the middle part of the 19th century top hats, umbrellas and frock coats became the fashion.

Now large clothing chains have largely taken over the clothing scene. There are therefore not as many specialist tailors as there once were. Due to the mass production the large chains are able to achieve the price of clothing has come down, but because of the lack of specialist tailors, the price of bespoke clothing has actually risen, meaning it is once again more suitable for the wealthy.

Despite the demise in the number of bespoke tailors, there is still a place for them. Although people will generally find clothes to fit in shops by finding the nearest size to them, bespoke clothing is made to fit the exact body shape of the customer. They last longer and are made from better quality materials. They are more expensive but few would deny the quality a hand-made bespoke suit, for example, can provide.

Andrew Marshall (c)