Luxist reports on a row at Savile Row over the UK Advertising Standards Authority’s brand new ruling that suits which are not entirely handmade may now be sold as “bespoke.” It has horrified some Savile Row stalwarts who’ve long fought to protect their trade from such encroachments; late last year tailor’s guild the Savile Row Bespoke Association (SRBA) trademarked the term “Savile Row Bespoke” to prevent parvenus from taking unfair advantage. According to the SRBA’s guidelines, to qualify as bespoke a suit must be crafted from a choice of at least 2,000 fabrics and its construction requires at least 50 hours of hand-stitching.
SRBA board member Anda Rowland, owner of storied 100-year-old Row house Anderson & Sheppard, is rather stoical though: anyone who would be content with a faux-Row suit merely made-to-measure was “never a true bespoke customer in the first place” and that any connoisseur “will ultimately be able to spot the difference between true bespoke tailoring and incorrectly labelled imitations.”
Read what the Luxist has to say here or alternatively, The FT
