Atelier
6 min read
Why we only cut one coat a season
One pattern, refined for months, beats ten rushed ones. Inside the slow decision behind the Alfama Overcoat.
Inês Duarte
Every spring the atelier argues about the coat. Not which coats, plural, but the one. We draw a dozen, toile four, and wear two of them around Lisbon for a month before we cut a single production piece.
One pattern, many fittings
The Alfama Overcoat went through eleven fittings. The shoulder moved forward by six millimetres, the pocket dropped by two centimetres so a hand rests in it naturally, and the hem lost a little weight so it swings rather than flaps on the tram.
A coat should feel finished on the first day and better on the thousandth.
Why fewer is better for you
Cutting one coat means we can buy the whole run of cloth from a single mill in Biella, pay for the hand-finishing that matters, and keep every size in stock until it is gone. No markdowns, no next-season version of the same thing.
It also means the coat you buy this year will still be ours next year: repairable, re-buttonable and fitted again for free at any of our Saturday sessions.
About the author
Inês Duarte
Inês founded Zamis in 2019 in a former tailor’s workshop in Graça. She designs one considered collection a year and still fits every client on Saturdays.
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