Off the Rack is fine, if you have an Off the Rack body- and Off the Rack tastes. But if you don't, you are  bound to have considered bespoke tailoring.

Bespoke is the past participle of bespeak, meaning, more or less, "ordered", as in ordered just the way you want it. Just for you.

Interestingly, it is often possible to find beautiful, lovely, handmade suits on eBay- suits made in the famed workroooms of Savile Row, specifically for specific men of wealth and taste.  But, unless you somehow stumble onto a suit that was made for your body double, you will not really be getting a bespoke suit. You will be getting a beautiful, lovely, handmade suit that fits someone else, just like the off -the-rack suits do.  Unfortunately, a large percentage of the clothes that turn up in a search for bespoke aren't even that. Many of them are simply suits that have no size in them and a slightly gullible (or worse)  seller has assumed that lack of size labels means they were custom made.

But we get ahead of ourselves. Let's talk about the varying ways to get a non-standard suit:

First is made-to measure.  This is when someone measures you and discovers, for instance, that you wear a 42 Long coat, but you wear size 32 trousers, or, if you are past middle age, the other way may be more likely. You wear a 42 Long coat and size 38 trousers. In either case, the standard trouser size (36) won't fit and would have to have a lot of alterations to maybe work or maybe not.  So, the factory makes a suit just for you, but makes it in standard sizes and with standard detailing, just like you bought the coat and then bought the pants, instead of buying them together.

Custom comes next. The factory makes the suit, but you get to pick things the other kids don't, like lapel shape, pocket details, vents, pleats, leg width, etc.  You don't get to do anything crazy, but you know that the suit is made just for you, because it may not be available otherwise.  On the other hand, it probably comes from the factory with the pants unhemmed and the jacket may still need some slight alterations. You may have had the sleeves made at a customized length and you may even have had  working buttons and buttonholes on them.

Finally, there is true bespoke, which means a tailor sees you and then, after measuring you, cuts and sews a suit for you, with another fitting (or more)  before the suit is finished.  You may specifiy various details, but you may also learn the tailor has done things like padding on one side to conceal a lack of symmetry you weren't aware of, or set the inside pockets higher or lower to accommodate your chest (or lack of it). Once he has developed your pattern, the tailor may not need to go through all of the steps every time, but he has to go through them at least once.

Actually, those used to be the ways to get a non-standard suit. With the advent in the last 20 years of much more precise fabric dyeing, suit separates have become widely available, with no risk of a differing dye lot leading to a slightly different shade between the coat and the pants.  As long as both halves of his body are more or less standard, even if they aren't standard to each other, a man can get a good fit buying suit separates.  And he can save a lot of money doing it that way.

But he didn't get any accomodation  for that low shoulder or for being sway-backed, or for his Walther PPK.  And he doesn't get his name on a label inside the pocket, or  that extra pocket where he likes to keep his car keys, so saving  money isn't everything.

In case you didn't know,  there are  people who will sell you a "bespoke" suit on eBay.  The first thing to remember is, if they don't see you, or even a picture of you, the suit is not going to be made specifically to fit your body, not in the way a tailor would do it if you went to his shop and stood there while he looked at you.  The second thing to know is they may well not be hand making the suits any more than  the guys down at the local off-the-rack place are. And the third thing to know is they may well be making  junky suits.

So you have three problems to overcome: 1) the actual customization and fitting, 2) the level of hand work, and 3) the level of quality otherwise.

As you probably know, there are several brands of ready-made suits that are either entirely hand made (such as Oxxford) or partially hand made (such as Corneliani).  There are other issues to consider, though,  besides handwork, like  lapel interfacings (properly made of canvas, but sometimes made with fusible webbing that puckers when drycleaned)  and as simple a thing as adequate "margins" (correctly known as letouts) in case you gain a little weight.

 Imagine paying for a "custom suit " that turns out not to fit, to be shoddily made, and to not have enough room to make it fit.

THAT is the eBay suit your Uncle Wentworth bought a couple of years ago. In fact it was a "twofer" and the two suits came in fitting like they had been made for two different guys, both of them skinnier than I was at the time.  Now, some of that was my  own fault. When they ask you to measure yourself or a well-fitting garment, it is not the time to be proud. It is the time to be brutally honest. But it is also not a bad idea to be sure to specify that all seams (especially in trousers) have an allowance of an inch or more for further adjustment. And it makes good sense to ask your  electronic tailor to cite you some examples of the level of handwork- like buttonholes, canvas construction, and plain old sewing. If you ask enough questions they will either encourage you to look elsewhere, or insure that you get a quality garment.

When you have taken all of this into account, ask yourself this last question: Can I expect to get the level of quality I want at this price?  It is one thing to buy a beautiful used garment that someone may have decided has depreciated, or to catch a once-in-a lifetime sale price on a new one that has outlived its first season on the rack, but  like the guy told you about diamonds, if you are going to reduce price and keep quality high, what else are you going to reduce? Markup? Maybe. Overhead? Maybe. Prestige? Maybe.  Or maybe a little of all three. Or maybe a little quality. Ask the seller and see what he says. 

So, we return to our original question. When you are armed with a good set of working measurements, can you get a good working suit? Yes indeed. Can you get a beautiful handmade one from Savile Row? Yes indeed, as long as you are willing to take someone else's color choice and someone else's starting pattern.And it will certinly impress your tailor when you take it to get it fitted to your own quirks and humps.  Can you get one made to fit you, specified exactly as you want it? Sure, but even on eBay, you should be prepared to pay for it.

I hope you have enjoyed this little guide and found it helpful. Please give it a helpfulness  vote and be sure to see my other guides on a surprising array of topics.

Thanks

WT