The True Meaning of Bespoke
Tuesday, 23 August 2005
A tailor on the Saville Row explains what is “bespoke”:
A lot of people use the terms “bespoke” and “made-to-measure” interchangeably. They are mistaken.
‘Bespoke’ is actually a term which dates from the 17th century, when tailors held the full lengths of cloth in their premises.
When a customer chose a length of material, it was said to have “been spoken for”. Hence a tailor who makes your clothes individually, to your specific personal requirements, is called “bespoke”. This is unlike “made-to-measure”, which simply uses a basic, pre-existing template pattern, which is then adjusted to roughly your individual measurements.
Sounds like typical software processes is more like “made-to-measure” than “bespoke”.
