Buying a suit should be straightforward. Yet the minute you walk into a shop, you’re assaulted by terms like tailored, made-to-measure and bespoke. They all sound fancy, but what do they actually mean?
Think of it like choosing a home. You can buy one already built, pick a design off a developer’s floorplan, or hire an architect to dream one up just for you. Suits work in much the same way.
Ready-to-Wear: The Pre-Built Home
Walk into a department store and pick a suit off the rack. That’s ready-to-wear. It’s the pre-built home of the tailoring world: fixed in design, fixed in size, and built to suit as many bodies as possible.
Yes, you can tinker with it. A sleeve shortened here, the waist brought in there. But just like knocking out walls in a pre-built house, alterations can cost more than you expect, and sometimes you’ll never quite get it right.
Ready-to-wear is quick and often the cheapest way to get suited up. The compromise is comfort and fit. Unless you happen to be blessed with model proportions, the jacket will probably sit a little off, the trousers won’t drape as cleanly as you’d like, and you’ll always know it isn’t truly yours.
Made-to-Measure: The Floorplan
Next step up is made-to-measure. Think of it as picking a house design from a floorplan catalogue. You choose a style you like, then make some adjustments: move a wall here, stretch a window there. In suit terms, this means choosing a base style, adjusting sleeve or trouser length, maybe adding a bit more room through the chest or waist.
You also get more freedom with fabrics and colours. The downside? You’re still working within a fixed system. Want green sleeves with a red body? Forget it. The computer simply won’t allow it.
Made-to-measure works well if your body sits within “standard” proportions and the brand happens to offer the style you want. The problems come when your body doesn’t play by the rules.
Bespoke: The Architect
Now we’re into the real stuff. Bespoke is hiring an architect to design a house around you. No floorplans, no restrictions. Every single detail is created from scratch to fit your body, your preferences, your quirks.
This matters more than people think. Take chest measurements, for example. Two men might measure the same on paper. One could be a bodybuilder with broad pecs, the other could have a wide back but a flatter chest. A made-to-measure suit would treat them identically. A bespoke tailor wouldn’t. The pattern would be cut to flatter each man’s actual shape, making the difference between a jacket that looks “fine” and one that looks phenomenal.
And here’s the secret: nobody is symmetrical. Shoulders slope differently, one leg might be longer than the other, and posture plays havoc on fit. A bespoke suit hides all of that, giving you balance and proportion so you look sharp rather than slightly… off.
Why Fit is Everything
Fabric, colour and styling are important, of course, but fit is king. The most luxurious cloth in the world will look dreadful if it hangs awkwardly. Bespoke tailoring ensures the suit moves with you, not against you. It’s the difference between looking like you borrowed something for the night and looking like it was made for you. Because it was.
The Price Question
Traditionally, bespoke has come with a hefty price tag. It takes more skill, more time, and more fittings to create a pattern from scratch than to tweak an existing one. That’s why many men settle for made-to-measure: it’s faster, cheaper, and “good enough.”
But here’s where Knightsman changes the game. Because our owner is a master tailor, the expertise that usually costs a premium is built into what we do. That means the level of fit you’d expect to pay extra for elsewhere often comes in at a price not far off made-to-measure.
In other words, you get the architect’s design without the architect’s invoice.
When you boil it down, here’s the simple truth:
- Ready-to-wear is fine if you’re in a rush and not fussy.
- Made-to-measure suits many men, provided they fit the system.
- Bespoke is the gold standard, designed around you, not the other way around.
And if you want bespoke without breaking the bank? Well, you already know where to find us.
Ready to stop compromising? Book a fitting with Knightsman and experience the difference true bespoke makes.