LAman
New in Town
- Messages
- 5
- Location
- Los Angeles
Sloan hit it on the head. Made-to-Measure is what most people think of (and is often referred to interchangeably) as "bespoke". There isn't a lot of true "bespoke" suit and jacket makers because bespoke eliminates any economies of scale. Each pattern is a completely custom one-off and that not efficient for a business. Superfluous sending the new design to Himel will result in a bespoke product because Himel will need to design a pattern for that from scratch. True bespoke tends to be extremely expensive. Made-to-Measure will give most people an almost bespoke fit, and is typically much less expensive (though usually more expensive than off-the-rack). The maker uses a bunch of set "base" patterns (sizes, build types, etc.) and then selects the closest pattern to your measurements and modifies (sometimes heavily) the pattern to provide a very customized fit. For 90% of people out there, the difference between a good made-to-measure product vs. bespoke isn't easily noticeable (if at all) and its not worth the price jump to bump up to bespoke. I've had business suits made both ways. Both came out well if the maker was good. But I have a very non-standard build and I finally bit the bullet and went bespoke for the suits. For me, their was a big difference, especially in regards to movement when wearing the suits. For the guys I work with (all pretty standard frames) it would have been a waste of money.
I've been reading this forum for awhile and have gotten an incredible education on leather jackets (styles, leather, etc.) from all of you guys (thank you!). I'm going to get a CR made and I looked at all of the makers that are talked about here and narrowed down to two locally that I could visit in person: Cal Leathers and Bates. Both can make great products. Cal Leathers is made-to-measure. Bates can do 100% bespoke if you can go there in person. Bates take a ton of measurements in-person and uses the measurements to build a cloth pattern. Then they have you return for a second fitting to fit and adjust the cloth pattern so it fits you perfectly standing or moving. The last step is to use the cloth pattern to make your actual jacket. They have a fantastic reputation for motorcycle race suits (even more complicated) because of their ability to do the bespoke process. I plan on ordering through Bates using this process within the next few weeks.
Didn't mean to go off-topic on this Himel thread but thought this might help differentiate made-to-measure vs. bespoke and what the value difference is (or isn't).
I've been reading this forum for awhile and have gotten an incredible education on leather jackets (styles, leather, etc.) from all of you guys (thank you!). I'm going to get a CR made and I looked at all of the makers that are talked about here and narrowed down to two locally that I could visit in person: Cal Leathers and Bates. Both can make great products. Cal Leathers is made-to-measure. Bates can do 100% bespoke if you can go there in person. Bates take a ton of measurements in-person and uses the measurements to build a cloth pattern. Then they have you return for a second fitting to fit and adjust the cloth pattern so it fits you perfectly standing or moving. The last step is to use the cloth pattern to make your actual jacket. They have a fantastic reputation for motorcycle race suits (even more complicated) because of their ability to do the bespoke process. I plan on ordering through Bates using this process within the next few weeks.
Didn't mean to go off-topic on this Himel thread but thought this might help differentiate made-to-measure vs. bespoke and what the value difference is (or isn't).
