Pleats: From Fashion to Faux Pas

I’ve got a fashion pet peeve to discuss today. I see this faux pas occasional all year round but in the winter it comes out like water through a sieve.

I’m talking about pleats.

Specifically box, knife and kick pleats. What is the difference you ask? I know, you probably didn’t ask but to make my point I have to explain. But I will use pictures to try and make it easy and less wordy.

A knife pleat is pretty much just a fold in the fabric that has been stitched and pressed down at the top of the garment.



A box pleat is two knife pleats back to back, so it makes a little box of fabric. The common image for this is the classic cheerleader skirt or girly kilts of the preppy variety. Many times it goes around the whole garment.



The kick pleat is usually seen on skirts, in a single or double and is really just a box pleat that doesn’t go all the way around the garment. Two in the front or one in the back dead center is pretty common. As you can imagine a kick pleat in theory (aside from making a nice visual) is there to aid in walking, or kicking I if you prefer.



When you buy a decent quality coat, skirt or jacket (yes there is difference between a jacket and a coat) that have any of these pleats (or even slits) it will most likely come with the bottom of the pleats basted (loosely stitched) in place.

This is for shipping purposes it is a TEMPORARY element. The stitches are there to hold the fabric in place while it travels in a box or bag to your store with out getting pressed funny or falling out of shape, it is, and I repeat only TEMPORARY.

You should REMOVE this stitching when you get home.

P.S. This also applies to those damn tags on the cuff of a coat that say “100% Wool” or the designers name. These tags are stitched on with one pass of loose thread on each corner; this is your tip that it is to be cut off.

Thank you for your time.