In the summer of 2008 a 'new kid to the block', gents' suit maker in central London, won a case under the codes of the U.K Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The tailor, Sartoriani, specialises in swiftly measuring clients for suits, machine cutting the cloth and running the garments up somewhere in Germany, then sending the semi-finished item back for a fitting and final alteration in London.  It claimed, through this process to be a "bespoke tailor".  This upset the prestigious community of tailors who make genuine hand made stuff for princes and paupers too - like me , in London's famous Savile Row.  But when the ASA got hold of the case they ruled for Sartoriani which claimed that "bespoke" was OK for them to claim because the "usage" of the word had evolved (or something) to embrace what Sartoriani was up to.  Instead of Sartoriani having to change what it advertised, the old established tailoring community had to do the re-thinking about its own presentations instead.

Like hundreds (perhaps thousands) of others, I saw the adverts and was attracted by the prices.  Made to measure by a Savile Row tailor for £500? It seemed too good to be true.  It was!  The fitting tailors do not know their basics, the service level is appalling and frankly the value is not all that.  They wait for clients to chase them for delivery data and seldom, if ever respond even to emails.  The only thing that got them moving for me was the very real threat of a County Court action.  This is all quite a long way from what I used to know as an infrequent but pleasurable, service dominated visit to my tailor.  It was infrequent because I am not wealthy and, yes, that hand-made suit cost me a lot of money.  But don't be fooled by this new slant on "bespoke"; it is nonsense.  What you are getting is no better than buying a quality suit  off the peg and getting your local tailor to alter it for you.  Sartoriani and others of their ilk can adopt the word "bespoke" if they want to but they have yet to learn how to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear - and that has nothing to do with the Super 140's the sew.