The words custom suit get thrown around a lot these days, so let’s take a moment to clarify what custom suiting entails. When a person refers to a custom suit, they are referring to a broader design that can be broken down into two styles: bespoke and made-to-measure.
When designing a custom piece regardless if it’s bespoke or made-to-measure, you will select the fabric, style, buttons, shape, and lining. Every detail is left up to you. So, what is the difference between the two? Simply put, it all has to do with the pattern.
In fashion design, a pattern is a template from which the parts of a garment are traced onto fabric before being cut and assembled. Patterns are usually made of paper or materials such as cardboard.
Bespoke suits are entirely custom. Besides selecting all the design details that can be seen, the pattern used to make the garment is mathematically drafted from your exact measurements. When purchasing a bespoke suit at Henry A. Davidsen, our image consultants will take approximately 23 measurements. The tailor then uses these measurements to create the pattern that’s laid over the fabric and used to cut the suit. Before cutting your final piece, we like to have a scrap suit made. A scrap suit is a mockup of the garment made from ‘scrap’ fabric. Scrap fittings are important because during the process of creating a suit the fabric will be pressed, sewn, and manipulated. We want to avoid manipulating your final fabric as much as possible. The scrap suit allows us to make any refinements to the shape and measurements before the tailor cuts your final piece.
Made-to-measure suits still give you the freedom to select all the design options, but the pattern is constructed from a pre-existing stock size. After your measurements are taken and sent off, a tailor will alter a pre-existing pattern to your sizes. This process involves taking 23 exact measurements; however, there are limitations to how much a pattern can be altered. Pre-set ratios between the chest, shoulder, and back can only be adjusted within the same ratio.
Henry A. Davidsen specializes in bespoke suits, made-to-measure suits, and quality custom shirts in Philadelphia. With roughly 30,000 fabric options to choose from and professional direction from our certified image consultant, we can help you select the best option and design for your vision. Visit our homepage to book your appointment today.
