Bespoke comes from the word Bespoken its origins are: 'Bespoke' is actually a term which dates from the 17th century, when tailors held the full lengths of cloth in their premises.
When a customer chose a length of material, it was said to have been spoken for. Hence a tailor who makes your clothes individually, to your specific personal requirements, is called "bespoke". This is unlike made-to-measure, which simply uses a basic, pre-existing template pattern, which is then adjusted to roughly your individual measurements.
It then got passed on through the various trades to any craftsman that made one off things to personal customers specifications.
Norris is way off the beam on this one, Bespoke has been about for 400 years or more so where he gets the idea that long before it became trendy I do not know. It's a very common usage word here in the United Kingdom. Just tap in Bespoke in UK Yellow Pages and you will get loads of hits with companies using it as their name.
All the famous London lightweight frame buiders would either refer to their stock frames as off the peg or their specials as bespoke made.
Have even heard them say in Somerset in the 1960's when you fancied a girl at a local dance that she is bespoken for or abbreviated to bespoke in other words she has got a fellow and is courting, chatting, walking out with or quite simply spoken for.
Best wishes Joe. Croeso Cymru Joe King Nr. Maenaddwyn Ynys Mon Wales