If you’ve tried on a Medelita lab coat, the first thing you probably noticed was the fabric, followed by the exemplary fit. Compared to these designer lab coats, the standard-issue cheap white coat feels practically like a preschool smock – you know, the ones they give to students before a messy finger painting session!

Why is the fit of these coats so remarkably different? Of course, there is a massive amount of time and care that goes into the design of every coat, but what makes these lab coats fit like a blazer or suit jacket rather than a typical lab coat is the fine construction – specifically the curved seams that allow proper fit and full range of movement.

This is just one of the many ways you can tell if your white lab coat is high quality. As any home seamstress can tell you, sewing straight seams is a piece of cake compared to sewing curved seams. Though the effort is well worth it when you reveal the finished product, creating a coat that fits well involves a lot of these curved seams, and that can be a painstakingly slow process.

The typical standard-issue lab coats that you’re probably used to are crafted with all straight seams. That’s why these frumpy white lab coats are so boxy and shapeless – they’re designed to fit a cardboard cutout, not an actual human who moves around while wearing their lab coat. The human body has curves, which is why Medelita deliberately takes the time and effort to design patterns that incorporate appropriately curved seams in the arms, shoulders, neck, and waistline of their lab coats.

It takes time and effort to build the perfect lab coat, but most of the clinicians who have tried a designer lab coat now feel they can never go back to the straight-seam standard.