Savile Row, Suit You Sir

Anxious to protect the "international home of the mysterious art of bespoke tailoring" Savile Row is rolling up its immaculate sleeves to fight for its artisan livelihood. Despite riding out the credit crunch, it's under siege from firms offering 'made to measure' suits at slashed prices from the classified pages of the Sunday papers and others eager to appropriate the bespoke tag.

A Savile Row bespoke tailored suit will set you back around £3000 and involve your most intimate measurements, several fittings and around 50 hours of intricate work. A 'made to measure' suit can be cobbled together in Asia based on your measurements then sent back and adjusted to you for around £500. There are even websites offering 'bespoke' suits online. Get out your tape measure, fill in your key measurements, click submit and voila, in 14 days it's mailed to you. Hardly a comparable tailoring experience.

The Savile Row Bespoke Association has trademarked 'Savile Row Bespoke' in an attempt to protect the meticulous, specialist and traditional trade that has helped make this part of London the "International Capital of Men's Elegance". But what to do if Savile Row is truly out of reach and you don't want to trust your inner leg measurements to a faceless website? Top tips from a Savile Row blogger here.