cut price bespoke or made to measure

The prime ministers, film stars, aristocrats and captains of industry who flocked to London's Savile Row through the ages never thought anything of paying through the nose for bespoke garments. Gloriously tailored in refined environments by master craftsmen, the bespoke suit has always been out of reach for most people.

Until now.

High-street retailers have cottoned on to the fact that shoppers want something more personal than an off-the-peg suit. Chains such as Moss Bros and websites such as A Suit That Fits have started selling "bespoke" suits for a fraction of the £3,000 that a Savile Row suit might cost. The recent collapse into administration of Suits You, which specialised in selling mass-produced ready-to-wear suits, demonstrates how stagnant the mid-market menswear market has become. The "new bespoke" movement is all about revitalising the £1.2bn formal menswear sector.

Alan Cannon Jones is principal lecturer in garment technology at London College of Fashion and a consultant for A Suit That Fits. He explains that the trend for high-street bespoke suits is all part of a movement towards "mass-customisation". From cars to suits to smartphones, the name of the game these days is personalisation.

There is also money to be made. Mr Cannon Jones says that the retail price of a "new bespoke" suit is pitched 10pc or more above that of a ready-to-wear suit. Therefore, if overheads are kept low, profit margins can be much higher.But is this new breed of made-to-measure suit any good? And can they really claim to be "bespoke"?

Eric Musgrave, chief executive of the UK Fashion & Textile Association and a former editor of Drapers magazine, believes that when it comes to men's tailoring you get what you pay for: "A Savile Row suit will last you 20 years. If you want to get a £100 suit and flog it to death until it gets shiny, then you can. If you want to get compliments, treasure it, feel great, then you can pay more."

The "new bespoke" trend has alarmed purists. Some believe that it poses the biggest threat to Savile Row since rumours swept the street in 1892 that the Duke of Clarence had been killed by a diseased double-breasted jacket.

There are strict rules regarding the definition of bespoke and these new kids on the block simply don't fit the bill, veterans say. According to Savile Row Bespoke, a group set up "to protect and develop" the art of Savile Row suit-making, there are five rules that make a suit truly bespoke. These include stipulations that the tailor owns or rents premises on or within 100 yards of Savile Row. The customer must also have a "series" of fittings and the tailor must have participated in the Savile Row training scheme. Savile Row Bespoke is even registered as a trade mark to make sure that these rules are enforceable.

I tested out Moss Bespoke, the made-to-measure offshoot of Moss Bros. Moss Bespoke falls out of this technical definition (if, for no other reason, than the branch I was fitted in was in the City, 3.5 miles from Savile Row). However, it falls within the dictionary definition of "bespoke" ("made to the customer's specifications").

Tailoring is part art, part science, part obfuscation. As Richard Walker writes in his book The Savile Row Story, the average man "is not symmetrical but lopsided, and as individual in detail as a sack of potatoes". In the 19th century a professor called JP Thornton wrote a weighty tome called International System of Garment Cutting in which he painstakingly listed the different body shapes of gentlemen and revealed how to conceal these shapes with tailoring. Mr Thornton developed templates for the "fore-and-aft-hump" man, the "prominent hips" man, the "pigeon-breasted figure" and the "corpulent figure".

I am thankfully hump-free and non-prominent of hip. However there is the faintest suggestion of corpulence and a definite smidgen of pigeon about my frame, so I was intrigued at how the Moss Bros tailors would fare.

Under the Moss Bespoke system, a customer is presented with a menu from which he or she picks fabrics, linings, cut, buttons and stitching. Prices start at £250 and go up to more than £400. The customer is measured – in my case by Mark Rodrigues, an experienced former Savile Row tailor – and the details sent (via iPad) to China. Five weeks later the suit arrives back and a fitting takes place. It is bespoke-lite, via an Asian factory. The suits are made by a supplier that also makes Moss Bros off-the-peg suits.

Brian Brick, the chief executive of Moss Bros, says that the chain is "definitely" operating within the boundaries of "bespoke". Besides, he claims that some Savile Row tailors use Chinese factories: "If you go to Savile Row there are a number of people who make suits in China too. We make no secret of where we manufacture the product. You couldn't make this product at the price we offer unless you go offshore."

Mr Brick says that the process is about "taking away the mystique" and making it affordable. The process certainly adds theatre to the dreary experience of clothes shopping and the suit certainly fits well. Mr Brick says that Moss Bespoke is not aiming to appeal to Savile Row customers. Rather, it aims to provide a Savile Row-like experience to the mass market.

"It's not a Savile Row customer that I am after. I am not claiming it is a £3,000 suit. I know what is in it and I know we give great value."

James Hall made a donation to charity to cover the cost of his suit.

What the experts say about James Hall's new suit

Hilary Alexander, fashion director, Telegraph Media Group

The hand stitching looks good. It's impressive, although the stitching in places is not perfect. There's a loose thread in the waistband. But for £400 you are not going to quibble. The buttons on the cuff undo - full marks for that. The finish is extraordinary for the price. It is money well spent. It looks designer. You look a different man wearing it.

Eric Musgrave, chief executive of the UK Fashion & Textile Association and author of Sharp Suits

The cloth feels nice, a good weight. There are nice imitation-horn buttons. The style is good and contemporary. The twin vents at the back are a good choice. The arms are a touch short and the chest a touch tight. Is it really bespoke? Of course not. Having said that it is a nice production. Seven out of 10.

Sir Philip Green, owner, Arcadia

(Sir Philip is a vocal critic of James's fashion sense, once giving him five euros after assuming that he was wearing a particularly loud suit as a bet. He was not.) It is a vast improvement on the chess board you were wearing the other year. You've realised that they make pure wool suits in one colour only. Well done James. It's a nice idea, but a bit of a halfway house.

• Semi Bespoke acts as a piquant counterpoint to Oliver Littley's fully hand factored bespoke service, which will of course continue to make the "exquisite hand-made one-offs that clients become addicted to.

Using the methods of bespoke cutting with a modern approach, we are able to create a highly individual garment that is hand finished giving you the feeling of quality and fit. The pattern is hand cut then assembled and finished by hand at the tailor’s workshop.

• You can choose from the classic British cut or perhaps an Italian cut with a soft shoulder, there are many options and styles that we able to do and many more are available if requested, this enables us to create the individual tailored garment of choice just for you.

• We take up to 20 measurements along with your figuration details which are then carefully handed over to the our cutters where your pattern is drafted onto paper, your garment is then hand cut, and beautifully tailored especially for you.

• Upon completion, we will ask you to visit us or we will visit you at a chosen location of choice so that we can try on the garment and complete the final fitting. The whole process takes between 4-7 weeks. We can also offer an express service which usually takes 3 Weeks, please ask for more info at the appointment.

Prices start from £395 and will vary depending on the grade of Cloth.