Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette!
In today's video, I discuss the differences between ready to wear, off the rack, made
to order, made to measure, and bespoke.
Are you confused yet?
There are so many terms in classic men's clothing and most men get confused so let's start with
ready to wear and off the rack.
Ready to wear is a garment that you can buy in a shop, it just hangs there, and you could
buy it as it is.
It's intended to be worn immediately and hence, also called off the rack or ready to wear.
A huge advantage of ready to wear clothing is that what you see is what you get.
It hangs there, you can touch it, you can feel it, you can see it, try it on, and you
know exactly what you get.
Sometimes, ready to wear is abbreviated to RTW and off the rack to OTR, so keep that
in mind.
It's all the same thing.
When you're at the store, you should always try it on simply to see if it needs minor
alterations such as in the waist or if it has something that can be very difficult to
alter such as shoulders that are too wide.
You also don't have to wait, you just buy it, get home, wear it and enjoy it.
It's certainly the easiest way to shop.
On the flipside, it will never fit you perfectly even if it's altered afterwards.
Most are designed as mass market garments.
At least for garments, you can make alterations.
You buy a pair of shoes; you can't.
Another disadvantage of ready to wear clothing is that you usually don't find special things
such as special fabrics, like Solaro, fresco, or Donegal tweed.
Since it is made on a standard pattern, it's only good for people with a very symmetrical
body.
Bare in mind, no human being has a truly symmetrical body.
Personally, my right shoulder is much lower than my left one and so every ready to wear
garment I have will have to be altered or just looks wrinkled in the back.
Personally, I've never seen a ready to wear, off the rack garment that fit perfectly a
100% even after alterations.
Some people think it does, but usually, what it means, they're just not educated enough
to see the flaws of the garment.
That being said, heavier, thicker fabrics such as tweed, drape much better and much
better for ready to wear than a thin fabric.
Apart from tweed garments or thick fabrics, one garment that's really great to buy ready
to wear is the vest and the waistcoat.
It doesn't have any sleeve length that needs to be altered, and you only need a chest measurement
because the waist can also be adapted to your size.
Next up, let's discuss made to order, also known as MTO.
Made to order is basically a ready to wear garment that introduces customization options.
It's very popular for shoes, not so much for garments.
What that means is that you pick a standard last, and you decide what leather you want,
what colors, and what sole you want.
For more high-end providers, they even offer you an option to adapt your last and customize
the fit, but that's the exception to the rule.
The advantage is, you know exactly what you get in terms of fit and you get the exact
color, shape and style you want.
The disadvantage is that you pay a higher price, you have to wait longer because it
has to be made for you yet, you don't really get a better fit than an off the rack pair
of shoes.
Next up is made to measure also known as MTM.
This term is now used for anything under the sun that includes some form of measurement.
In its pure form, made to measure is a step up from ready to wear.
Basically, you take a standard pattern, take the person's measurements, and you adopt that
pattern to those measurements.
Many people confuse made to measure with bespoke but bespoke is more than made to measure and
later, I'll explain why.
Made to measure is very popular with garments, not shoes, and most of the time when someone
tells you it's a custom garment, it likely is made to measure.
Works particularly well if your body is not very asymmetrical and you don't have many
major issues because it's simply ana adaptation of the standard pattern, so the fit will rarely
be a 100% but you have all the customization options that you can possibly think of.
The shape of your lapels, the fabric, the interlining, the buttons, everything you want
to choose, you can.
The advantage of a made to measure suit or garment is that it's less expensive than a
bespoke garment, it's usually more expensive than off the rack because it includes customization
but at the same time, you can really choose and get something that you want with an improved
fit.
The problem of made to measure is that there are so many different providers and programs
really vary in quality.
Sometimes you get a made to measure suit that looks great when you stand, but as soon as
you move, you're limited because it just isn't a well-designed pattern.
You can also spend anything from $300 - $3000 for made to measure and obviously, there is
a difference in the amount of hand-sewing and the quality that goes into the garment,
the fabrics, and the trimming.
Whenever you see an online custom suit, it's likely a made to measure suit.
Results really vary depending on the company, measurements that were taken and the pictures
you can provide.
So be cautious and don't expect perfection.
Overall, made to measure is great for people who want to customize garments, the fabric
of their choice, they're easy to fit and don't want to spend thousands of dollars in a garment.
Next, let's discuss bespoke.
The term bespoke is derived from the word bespeak which means, to speak for something.
It's a very British term and just describes a customized process where one individual
can really decide exactly what they want.
One garment, pair of shoes, or anything else in terms of clothing made exclusively for
them.
The big difference to made to measure is that a pattern is created from scratch, usually
involves more handwork and there are no options.
You can basically choose any detail you want, any shape or form whereas, made to measure
usually means you pick from a catalog.
Unfortunately, bespoke is not a protected term and people use it for all kinds of things.
Sometimes, even for ready to wear, made to order and made to measure.
On Savile Row, bespoke means that it has to be cut by an individual on the premises and
at least 50 hours need to go into it.
But, that's just limited to Savile Row.
For shoes, it means that a last will be created for you, and it's one
of a kind because your feet are different, they're never a 100% the same and you can
choose the styling, the leather, and any detail you want.
As you can see, wearing a bespoke garment requires knowledge on your behalf because
a tailor can ask you "How would you like your shoulders?", "How should it be done?", And
you can be easily overwhelmed once you don't know what you want.
Of course, a good tailor can also guide you but at the end of the day, you shouldn't order
a bespoke if you don't have a basic understanding of what it is that you seek.
The big advantage of bespoke is the superb fit and limitless options.
A disadvantage is it's usually the most expensive, it takes the longest, and it has fittings,
so it takes more time.
Now, in theory, bespoke garment should always fit perfectly.
Unfortunately, in reality, that's not always the case.
When you start out, your first bespoke suit is probably never going to be the best when
it comes to fit.
However, subsequent ones should be, and the fit should improve with every suit.
However, since it's a hand-made garment, no suit will ever be exactly alike.
Larger houses like Brioni oftentimes can reproduce garment in a better way because they have
individual people just work on the pants, just on the jacket, just on the sleeve.
An individual tailor will always have variation and that;s just the beauty of a hand-made
garment.
Now that you know the differences between ready to wear, off the rack, made to order,
made to measure, and bespoke, stay tuned for another video where I discuss custom made,
hand made, and all the other confusing terms that are out there.
So what do you prefer?
Let me know in the comments and make sure you like this video and sign up to our email
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