Bespoke: A Rant

I don't know about you, but I grow tired of people that use big or in-vogue words to elevate themselves or their product without really saying anything different.  Granted, my favorite author is Ernest Hemingway, who would never use a $10 word if $1 would suffice, but it bores me to no end seeing advertising that attempts to use a hip word to distinguish their product from the competition.

Enter the era of "bespoke."  I see this word on jewelry sites, lawyer advertising, car dealerships, and even a dog collar shop that offered my American Bulldog a bespoke leather collar.  This word is trending right now, and I'm not sure why considering it has been used in London for hundreds of years.  Companies use the term to describe their product as "customized to the buyer's specifications," but most don't offer near the level of customization that true bespoken products require, and typically not clothes at all.  It's just the cool new word to say your stuff is made specifically for your customer.  But is it actually "bespoke?"

Bespoke is a term coined in London's custom mens suiting district, Savile Row.  Here you will find tailor firms that have been in the same location for generations, and create highly customized suits for their clients, who range from royalty to Jagger.  Their motto is basically that, when you walk out with your new suit, it should look like you've had it your whole life.  The Savile Row Bespoke Association defines the word as follows:

"Bespoke - a suit made on or around Savile Row, bespoken to the customer's specifications. A bespoke suit is cut by an individual and made by highly skilled individual craftsmen. The pattern is made specifically for the customer and the finished suit will take a minimum of 50 hours of hand work and require a series of fittings." 

This term is only appropriately applied to mens garments.  A customer meets with their tailor and picks out his fabric; the fabric then "be spoken" for.  Only suiting fabric is unique enough from one to another to require such a term, with various tweeds, wools, and cashmere blends.  Let's be honest, even custom shoes from John Lobb will use the same black calf skin that their ready-to-wear models boast.  Over the course of a few months, the various tailors, cutters, and fitters, craft a suit that fits the wearer perfectly to his body exactly.  The initial consultation notes things like a slightly lower left shoulder, or that the wearer's profession forces more wear to his right elbow than his left.  The number of specific measurements and notations can be in the hundreds.

In that sense, could a dog collar possibly be "bespoke?"  I'm thinking no, since the shop only asked for my dog's neck size.

Part of this rant comes from a re-boot to my website.  I would love to describe my estate planning services, for instance, as bespoke simply because it does sound great.  And while the wills my clients enjoy are highly customized to fit their specific needs, they are not suits and they (typically) do not take fifty hours to write.  So for my advertising, I will not try to sound clever and use bespoke to describe what isn't bespoke at all.  Customized, yes.  Highly detailed, yes.  But legal services are not to be worn at your daughter's wedding, so bespoke they are not.

JD

John D. Duncan is president of J.D. Duncan, PC, founding partner of Prater, Duncan & Craig, LLC in Newnan, Georgia, and is Esquire by Day.  You can find him at www.jdduncanlaw.com, or follow him on twitter and Facebook.