5 Unexpected Reasons to Love Your Kimono Robe Even More

If you’ve been following along on the KIM+ONO journey for some time now, then you know all the reasons to love these silk robes for women. Steeped in a rich history and family heritage, each and every kimono robe is designed with you in mind. From the softness of silk, to the durability of luxurious charmeuse, to the decadence of our velvet trimmed kimono wraps, there’s always something to love in these pieces.

But as a small family business, we know that what goes into all of our pieces from men’s kimono robes to plus size kimono robes, is much much more than just the kimono fabric and design. In fact, there are so many stories and little anecdotes about how these pieces get made, that each kimono duster robe ends up being more than the sum of its parts. It wraps you up in luxury, but it is also produced with intention and allegiance to our core values and family heritage. We always want you to feel good when you wrap up in one of our silk robes for women, so today in the journal, we want to share some unexpected reasons to love your kimono robe even more.  

The handpainted process of our handpainted silk robes for women is unmatched — and that’s because it’s not an art form that is commonly practiced today! Our co-founders, sisters Renee and Tiffany Tam, fell in love with this handpainted production process as little girls when they saw it implemented onto traditional Japanese kimono. This experience — of seeing talented artisans paint traditional Japanese kimono — informed how they created KIM+ONO and the handpainted production process for our Handpainted Silk Collection. From start to finish, it takes seven days to create. It starts with a hand sketch and is then saturated in rich watercolors and painted with a traditional sumi brush. You can see behind the scenes of our unique production process here.

The Tam sisters grew up working alongside their parents in their Chinatown stores. Business has always been part of the family. So when Renee and Tiffany decided to branch off and create their own silk robes for women, they had their parents and years of that experience behind them. Their AAPI heritage has been integral to both the kimono wraps and silk robes for women they create, and where their brick and mortar store is located, in Chinatown, San Francisco. When you pick up your own kimono wrap or plus size kimono robe, you’re supporting a small family business in the AAPI community and a brand co-founded by women. You can feel good wrapping up in our own rich history and traditions, knowing you’re supporting a small family business.

While the prices for our kimono wraps are set based on the cost of these delicate fabrics, our sustainability efforts, and commitment to healthy and safe working conditions for all of our workers, we do also love passing on ways to save for each of our silk robes for women! When you purchase your first kimono robe, you can sign up for our VIP list here and receive a 10% discount for your first purchase. If you love it and want to share it with a friend, try out our Refer-a-Friend program and when your friend makes a qualifying purchase, we’ll send you $15 to spend on your next purchase. And if you’re a frontline worker, we offer 15% off at checkout on everything from our kimono wraps to plus size kimono robes so you can wrap up in a little extra luxury, too. In addition to all of those promotions, we love to say happy birthday to you! Sign up for our newsletter with your birthday details and we’ll send you a special 15% off code every year on your birthday to treat yourself. We want you to feel good about supporting our small family business with these extra ways to save on every purchase.

 

Being located in San Francisco and seeing firsthand the impact of fires, floods, and more, we know that sustainability is integral to our business and important to our customers. We want to create pieces that last a lifetime; ideally these silk robes are something you pass down from generation to generation, just like traditional Japanese kimono were. In addition to our products themselves being something to last a lifetime, we also want to reduce our footprint in our day to day operations. We are moving away from plastics, using paper products for packaging as much as possible at the store. And all of our gift wrap supplies can be reused or recycled. We take measures at the store and in the warehouse to reduce our footprint by reusing large carton boxes and pieces of paper from shipping, and making sure we have a hot/cold filtration system in place for our team instead of using plastic water bottles. We are always looking for ways to reduce our impact, and you can feel good wearing your plus size kimono robe, knowing that every effort is made to produce these ethically and sustainably. 

One of the most unique parts of our handcrafted production process isn’t even just the machinery and looms used to craft these silk kimono robes, but rather the talented artisans behind every piece! We have had folks ask from time to time if these are American made pieces, and while they are produced in China’s Silk Village, that doesn’t tell the whole story. The family of artisans we work with is the same family of artisans that our co-founders’ parents have been partnering with for decades. There is a rich and personal history between the Tam family and the artisans producing these pieces. In fact, we wanted to showcase these artisans on our site so you can see who exactly is crafting your beautiful silk robe. It’s nice (and important to us) to have a face behind our products, and for you to know that these are not mass produced, but rather handcrafted with skilled technique and intention.

We hope you love your kimono robes from the moment you pick one out online, through your entire life, knowing that it has been handcrafted with care, just for you.