When people purchase apparel they ask questions about size, color, fabric content and even shrinkage. While these are important to the buying decision, the answers will not explain how well the garment will hold up to washing, life of the garment, softness, moisture absorbency, strength, pilling and more.
At MyChefCoat we realize that people in the cullinary industry work hard to prepare good food. You understand the critical nature of cooking times combined with the right ingredients, and the right way to introduce and present those ingredients. That is just the beginning. So if you are going to work that hard to prepare those meals, the clothes you wear should also work hard stand up to stains, wash easily, last long, be comfortable and look good.
We would like to illustrate the fabric and sewing standards that we use in making our apparel.
Poly/Cotton Twill
To build a good chef coat, chef pants, apron or chef hat you must start with the yarn. Our fabric is 100% 
made in the USA and is a blend of 65% polyester and 35% cotton. The polyester provides color fastness, strength, stability, and shrink resistance while the cotton provides softness, moisture absorbency, and less pilling. Just blending these 2 products does not insure that all these features will be optimum. There are many ways to twist or spin these 2 fibers together. We prefer MJS or Murata Jet Spinning. This is not the usual twisting of 2 fibers, which will shrink due to washing. MJS is a series of core fibers, which are wrapped with additional fibers.
The benefits of MJS yarn are:
- Resistance to Pilling
- Better Moisture Absorption
- Quick Drying
- Stability Against Deformation
- Less Hairiness
- Less Shrinkage
- Strength
- Softness
- More washings
- Longer life of the garment
Many overseas manufacturers do not have access to MJS yarn.
The resistance to pilling of MJS yarn lends itself to more laundering. This is the ideal yarn for fabrics, which need to have frequent washings such as chef clothes.
All goods are finished with a 2-3% crinkle resistance finish.
Our clothes will not shrink more than 2-3% after 3 home launderings.
The weight of our fabric is 1.18 lbs. Per yd of fabric.
Our fabric is 82 X 44 which means in each inch there are 82 individual threads in the length of the fabric and 44 threads in the width.
The size of the yarns or the "weight" is called singles. The thickness of our yarn is 12 singles for the wrap, which are the yarns going lengthwise, and 14 single for the fill yarn, which goes perpendicular to the warp. Single is the actual measure of the yarn where the lower the number the heavier and thicker the yarn. An 8 single is heavier and thicker than a 30 single.
So what does all this mean? We start with a good solid, durable yarn that will stand up to repeated washing, resist pilling, resist shrinkage, will not deform rapidly, is not hairy and is soft. Then we weave it with the right weight of yarn to build a good fabric. Not a bad start when you want to make good chef apparel.
Two piece cuff on all long sleeve coats. Sewn in clean collar for a more comfortable feel.
Full cut and mitered breast pocket and thermometer pocket on all chef coats. Bar-tacked at all stress points on all of our garments including the breast and thermometer pocket as well as a bar tack where the sleeves roll up to prevent tearing at the sleeve.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
