Functional clothing made using high quality sewing methods.
Now you can finally own a garment made with luxury, high-end techniques, without the exorbitant price tag.
We believe you shouldn’t need to choose between well-made, functional clothing, and beautiful designs. Hence, we found the sweet spot between quality, cost, and function to bring you garments that are beautiful inside out.
In this article, we share a little more about what makes a Kinquo garment different, and some details you can use to make conscious purchasing decisions moving forward!
Some Basics: How is a Garment Made?
A garment is made using flat pattern pieces, much like engineering drawings or building blocks of the garment. We use these 2D pattern pieces to cut parts of the garment out from fabric. The fabric is then shaped to a desired design using seams, darts, pleats and many more design details.
What is a Seam?
A seam is where two or more fabric pieces are joined using stitches. Example: A side seam is where the front and back pieces of the garment is joined at the side of the body.
What is a Hem?
A hem is when the bottom of a garment is turned under and sewn to hide the raw edges and finish the garment. Hence, the term “shortening the hem” when making clothing shorter in length.
What Makes Us Different?
Functional Design:
We try as much as possible to add functional details to our designs. Some examples:
- Functional 4-pocket trousers – we make our pockets deep enough to hold an average mobile phone.
- Shoulder snaps for wider necklines - this keeps bra straps out of sight and necklines where they should be.
- Pockets on dresses – femininity meets function, where possible.
Bias Bound Seams:
This seam uses an additional strip of fabric to cover the raw edges on the inside of a garment. It adds a step and complexity to the sewing process, but we love this method as it creates a clean, couture-quality finish while preventing the fabric from fraying. It also keeps the inside of your garment neat and tidy! No scratchy, messy seams touching your skin and longer lasting garments.
French Seams:
Usually used in men’s formal shirts, these seams keep the threads out of sight, giving the garment an elegant touch. The seam is strong and keeps the fabric from unravelling because the raw edges are hidden within the seam. It reduces the amount of messy thread that touches your skin, which means only the soft fabric will be! This method of finishing can take twice the amount of time as finishing a seam the “normal” way, but we think it is worth it!
Linings:
Our linings are sewn where the fabric will touch your skin, to give the garment an inner structure, and also ensure that only the softest fabrics will be in contact with your body as the itchy seams are all hidden inside the lining. All our linings are Lyocell fabrics, which are breathable, have great moisture management, and are super soft.
Blind Hems:
This style of sewing the hem creates an invisible, sophisticated finish on the outside of the garment. Our blind hems are sewn meticulously and lovingly by hand by our artisan makers.
We are proud to share that every function, stitch, and seam on your Kinquo garment has been carefully selected. If you want to know more about our garments or chat about the way clothes are made, please reach out to us at hello@kinquo.com.
You can also learn more about our sustainability journey here.