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Even though some words and terms seem like they have fundamentally the same meaning, there are some very important distinctions to make. For instance, referring to someone as either a critic and a reviewer is not exactly the same thing.

And when you decide that you’d like to get a suit, you want to make sure that you understand exactly what you’re getting. Did you know that a bespoke suit, a made-to-measure suit, and a custom made suit are quite different from one another? This can have a dramatic impact on the price you pay.

Bespoke Suit

Let’s start at the top of the food chain when it comes to custom tailoring for men’s clothing. While it is not a term that is all that widely used in Canada and the United States, “bespoke” is a term more commonly used in British English. “Bespoke” is shorten for “been spoken for” and it refers to clothing that has been custom created for one specific customer. In the case of a bespoke suit, it means that the tailor is not working from a pre-set pattern.

Instead, the suit really is made from scratch for just one person. This usually requires multiple fittings and measurements as the tailor effectively creates a pattern right on the customer himself. Bespoke suits mostly got their rise from the famed Savile in London and this method is the most traditional way a suit is made. It’s also, by far, the most expensive and the most time-consuming. The polar opposite of a bespoke suit would be one that you buy off the rack at a retail store.

Made-to-Measure Suit

Whereas bespoke suits are specifically made for just one specific customer, made-to-measure suits are based on pre-existing patterns. The tailor will still take your measurements and get the suit “fitted” to your proportions, but the suit is not being designed and created from scratch. Instead, the tailor will take an existing pattern that he already has and simply adapt or alter it to fit you. In this way, the suit is “made to measure.”

Considerations like sleeve length and shoulder width are just scaled up or scaled down from the pattern that most closely approximates your real measurements. It won’t be quite as perfect as a bespoke suit as a result.

Custom-Made Suit

By far the vaguest and less specific of terms is a custom-made suit, which may sometimes also be called a custom tailored suit. Bespoke suits are made from scratch, made to measure suits are adapted from pre-existing patterns, and custom made suits simply mean that some customization has been made. While altering sleeve length could be included in this definition, having the tailor simply add another button could take an off-the-rack suit and make it a “custom made suit.”

If the tailor “lets out” the back of your suit to better accommodate the cummerbund around your waist, that also counts as a custom made suit. Any tweaking for size or style can count. That being said, a suit that is not adapted from a pre-existing pattern but is also not drafted directly on the customer is really neither a bespoke suit nor is it a made to measure suit. There is an incredibly broad range of what a custom made suit could be.

Stay Classy

For many people, buying a ready-to-wear (prêt-à-porter) suit from a regular retail outlet will do the job, but you’ll always look better if you get some alterations to best suit your particular body shape. If you’ve got the money to spend, a bespoke suit will always fit best, but it’s up to you if it’s worth the extra money.