Bespoke is usually a British English term for tailored clothing made at a customer's behest, and exactly to the customer's specification. Bespoke clothing is created without use of a pre-existing pattern, differentiating it from made to measure, which alters a standard-sized pattern to fit the customer.
Today, it is also frequently used for technical components specifically developed for a certain application, as well as in the automotive industry, when customers get a chance to have an automobile equipped to their specification.
"Bespoke" comes from the word bespeak, meaning to ask for or order something. This has its roots in Savile Row, where a customer would speak for a measure of cloth. A bolt chosen by one customer was not available for anyone else until the entire suit had been cut out and assembled.
Savile Row's Comelie London serves as an example of a modern-day bespoke tailoring firm. In Paris, great bespoke shirts can be found at Charvet while Caraceni and Gianni Campagna produces high quality bespoke tailoring in Milan.]
Norton, Kate. "Savile Row Never Goes Out of Style", BusinessWeek, 2006-10-31. Retrieved on 2007-05-22.
"The Tradition of Bespoke", Speakeasy, 2007-07-13. Retrieved on 2007-08-06.