Savile Row tailors have lost their fight to prevent the term “bespoke” from being used by menwswear retailers.
Savile Row tailors wanted the term to mean exclusively suits made by hand from a single bolt of cloth.
According to the Telegraph, “Savile Row institutions such as Hardy Amies and Gieves & Hawkes are concerned that the term ‘bespoke’ is being used by some retailers for suits which are just made-to-measure.”
The Adverstising Standards Authority ruled that the historical meaning of bespoke has “moved on”.
“While customers would still expect a bespoke suit to be tailored to their measurements, the majority would not expect that garment to be entirely handcrafted, the regulator said.”
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