Imagine you walk into our store. Your jaw hits the floor at the glittering gowns on display and the racks of gorgeous lehengas, salwar kameez and sarees. It’s all so beautiful. But you are here on a mission.
Your mission, if you choose to accept it… well, you had no choice, really.
Your mission is to find a stunning lehenga and lehenga choli that you can wear at your cousin’s wedding next week, as per the orders received from your mom and aunts. You see, after your cousin, you are next-in-line on the matrimonial train. And now that your cousin has hitched her proverbial wagon, your entire khandaan has turned their focus on making you the next bride.
So, here you are. Staring at wonder at our display of ethnic wear.
You walk gingerly to the nearest counter and ask to see lehengas for weddings. Somewhere in the course of the conversation, the salesperson asks if you want to see semi-stitched, unstitched or ready to wear outfits. Since your cousin’s wedding is next week, the obvious answer is ready to wear, right? Not so fast. We’re here to clarify what each of these terms mean and why you could potentially select an outfit from any of these categories, even for an occasion that’s right around the corner.
What Are Unstitched Garments?
Found mostly in our salwar range, unstitched garments are material or cloth only. Another popular term for this category is dress material. While the garment will have the neckline structure in place, embroidery and embellishments all over, and separate pieces for the dupatta, kurta, and the salwar, you will receive uncut cloth that you will then have to cut to your size and stitch together.
Benefits of buying unstitched material:
Unstitched fabric gives you tremendous freedom to design your outfit according to your style and taste. Here are the main benefits of buying unstitched material:
- Cut to size: Whether you are petite or larger than most, unstitched material can be tailored to your specific measurements. You will have enough fabric for a full outfit, no matter your size.
- Get creative: Swap the kurta for the salwar or layer the dupatta material over the kurta—your creativity, your style, your outfit.
- Define your neckline, length, sleeves: You can determine your sleeve style—if you want full-length sleeves, half or sleeveless. You can also decide how you want the neckline to appear and the neck depth. While our unstitched material will have the neckline structured, that can be changed to match your creativity.
- Made for online shopping: When you buy a ready to wear outfit online, you don’t have the benefit of trying it on and ensuring it is tailored to your measurements. With unstitched material, this is not a problem. You avoid the hassles of returning outfits because of an incorrect size when you buy unstitched material.
- Tailored for you: There is no question about it. Tailored clothes look better than ready to wear. That’s because they are perfectly fitted to your measurements. No matter how much you might wish it were not true, ready to wear clothes are made for universal sizes. Whereas tailored garments are made to fit you perfectly and make you appear better put together. With unstitched material you can get your trusted tailor to fix you up with a finished outfit, exactly the way you want it.
What Are Semi-Stitched Garments?
When you buy lehengas at Koskii, you can get them ready-made or semi-stitched. Combining the best of both worlds, semi – stitch ensures you can buy a whole outfit and get it tailored too. Typically, semi-stitched comes with an unstitched blouse piece and a semi-stitched lehenga.
Benefits of buying semi-stitched material:
Semi-stitched garments have the structure and form of the finished outfit so that you can see what it will look like while giving you the freedom to tailor it to your measurements. Here are the main benefits of buying semi-stitched material:
- WYSIWYG: Don’t have the time or the creativity to design and style your lehenga choli? Semi-stitched outfits have the structure in place. So what you see is what you will get.
- Tailored to fit: Most semi-stitched outfits leave the critical sizing aspects unstitched. From sleeves and blouses to waistbands, these unstitched sections help you customize the outfit to your measurements.
- Easier to tailor: Semi-stitched outfits don’t require cutting or too much tailoring. Material cutting requires tremendous skill to get it right, while anyone with a sewing machine can close a seam or finish a semi-stitched outfit. With the exception of the blouse. As we all know, blouses are an art form that requires specialized skills to stitch properly.
- Almost ready: A semi-stitched outfit can be worn within two to three days depending upon the availability of your tailor.
What Are Ready To Wear Garments?
Most of what we typically buy when we shop in-store or online is ready to wear. At Koskii, salwar suits or lehengas with intricate sleeves or necklines are always in our ready to wear collection. These outfits have a specific style and must be sold as a whole unit without the freedom of tailoring it. Following universal sizing standards, ready to wear clothes provide the closest fit for the majority of the population. If your proportions are an anomaly, the garment may not fit you as well as a tailored outfit would.
Benefits of buying ready to wear clothes:
Ready to wear outfits can literally be worn straight from the changing room. See. Try. Buy. And walk out with the garment on. Here are the main benefits of buying ready to wear clothes:
- Instant gratification: Let’s be honest. No one has the patience to buy something and wait for it to be tailored. Ready-made clothes feed our insatiable appetite for ‘instant everything’.
- Same-hour ready: Have someplace to go to within the hour? Ready to wear will get you there. There’s no wasting time tailoring anything. Ready to wear garments can be worn as is.
- More style options: Imagined by a designer and created with that design in mind, ready to wear clothes have more drama and flair. There also may be more variety and style options available when you shop because the designer has more control over the process.
Shop Our Ready-To-Wear Collection
From style to prices, unstitched, semi-stitched and ready to wear provides you with many options. While ready to wear has many benefits, it might be problematic when shopping online or if you don’t fit within the standard scale of body proportions. Semi-stitched is the best of both worlds, while unstitched offers you a host of customization opportunities.
Happy shopping!