While cheap and cheerful fast fashion clothes are currently rocking the ready-to-wear garment industry, those who want to create their own sense of style are still going to their tailor for customized fits and a personal touch. Bespoke or customized clothes stitched to an individual buyer's specifications by a tailor have always been popular in India until the international and domestic fashion brands with their ready-to-wear item took over the bespoke category. Bespoke styling has had a long history in India because tailoring was cheap compared to Western countries and these garments become timeless legacies with a USP of individuality and craftsmanship.

Personalized styles fuel growth

A recent report by Business Research Insight estimates, the global customized bespoke market at $59.890 billion in 2021 and is expected to rise to 131,601 billion by 2030 at CAGR of 10.9 per cent during the forecast period. Growth will be fueled by customer fashion preferences becoming personalized and rising disposable income among the urban youth that allows deeper pockets for specially-made clothes like custom-printed T-shirts. These T-shirts with prominent logos and slogans for spreading social awareness, backing a cause, or just being themselves with their own USP are becoming the hot-selling items in the casual category. Sports teams and clubs who design their own emblems and then aggressively market them are one of the biggest segments of the personalized custom-made garment segment raking in the profits.

Suits and wedding attire do well in the tailored segment

This tailored segment can be segmented into type and application, depending on who wears it where and why. In the type segment, coats, skirts, dresses, trousers shirts sell well, although the women’s and men’s coat segment had the biggest market share till 2028. In terms of application, the market is divided into online and offline, and in post-pandemic days, it is the online segment that is ruling the roost.

Men's wardrobes of suits, pants, shirts and Indian outfits have always been popular and bespoke suits are always the hot-seller in this segment. Traditionally crafted by a master tailor based on specific patterns and exact specifications of the wearer, these customized suits can never compare with the ready-to-wear collections.

Likewise in the women’s segment, traditional wedding, and festive clothing as well as Indo-western clothing with a rekindled appreciation for indigenous crafts and textiles are currently trending along with global western like dresses, blouses and skirts. Celebrity endorsements as well as social influencers are also helping this category in the online segment in a way that was unheard of even a decade ago.

Luxury brands big on customization 

Men’s formal clothes brands in India such as Raymond, Peter England, Arrow, Blackberry, and Park Avenue among others are now reputable names for both their ready-to-wear as well as bespoke suits and jackets with their immaculate history. Traditional bespoke clothing makers from London’s Saville Row such as Anderson & Sheppard, Dege and Skinner, Davies & Son, and Cad & The Dandy have created a unique road synonymous with a specific form of men’s wear clothing and attracts a high-profile clientele of global politicians, celebrities, and royalty. 

Most suit makers feel bespoke clothing can cater to any figure and having things made by hand in an artisanal way is an ultimate work of art which AI can never hope to replicate as it is all about personal interaction with the customer of measuring and fitting.

Connecting with the true process of craftsmanship is an expensive proposition in today’s world of fast fashion, but bespoke clothing is here to stay for all those who want to make a fashion statement with their own USP.