With increasingly busy lives, most people learn to optimize their time by consuming “off-the-rack” products, made for people like them, offered at scale, and priced for profit. For most of the things we need, off-the-rack is good enough. Bespoke is a term often used interchangeably with custom and generally describes the process of having something built vs. buying it “off the rack,” from clothing to furniture to software.
Bespoke (/bəˈspoʊk/) custom made-from-scratch for a particular person or customer.
During a trip to Nigeria, I had an opportunity to have some clothing made by a local dressmaker in Abuja. I believe the last time I’d purchased a custom-made dress was high school prom (or, as my shady teenager says, “back in the 1900s”).
- The first challenge was deciding what I wanted; what do you even ask for with near-limitless options and an appetite for “off-the-rack” products.
- The second challenge was time; purchasing on-demand goods is a very different energy than the careful planning, thinking, and refinement required to complete a bespoke transaction. Is it worth the effort? And what do you value most: products, process (experience), or people?