About the House | K&W Apparel
Adélaïde and William Bates, founders of K&W Apparel, in the pattern studio
About the House · Bandung, West Java

A family house on an industrial scale.

Two names on the door, two thousand people on the floor, and twenty five years of orders delivered when we said they would be. This is who you are working with.

Home · About
1999The year it began
2,000People in the house
25+Years of kept promises
2Sites, one standard
01 · Our Story

Twenty five years of keeping our word.

In 1999 Adélaïde and William Braun took a lease on a small floor in Lembang with six machines and a promise: the sample is the contract, and the date is the date. The first order was four hundred and eighty tee shirts for a surf shop in Singapore, delivered two days early. We have been early, or exactly on time, ever since. The floor grew into a house; the six machines became six lean lines; the promise never moved.

  • 1999: six machines, one cutting table, the first export order.
  • 2008: the Cimahi Mill opens, and cloth enters the house's own story.
  • 2016: the two thousandth colleague joins; the works council is elected the same year.
  • 2024: the solar roof switches on, and the house starts paying its light bill with sunlight.
See How We Work
An industrial sewing machine at work in the K&W atelier
Machine 01, still in service after twenty five years
Adélaïde and William Bates in the pattern studio
Adélaïde and William, reviewing a pattern the way they always have
02 · The Founders

The two names on the door.

Adélaïde trained as a pattern engineer and still signs off every new block with her own pencil. William ran production lines for other people for a decade, then decided to run one honestly for himself. They met over a disputed seam allowance, married two years later, and built the house on a rule they have never broken: no one is ever surprised by the bill, the date, or the quality. You will still find them on the floor most mornings, and one of them will probably answer your first email.

  • Adélaïde Braun, co founder · patterns, product and the fit standard.
  • William Braun, co founder · production, scheduling and the promise on dates.
  • Both still on the floor daily; both still answer to clients directly.
  • The next generation is already in the building, and started on the sewing floor like everyone else.
Work With the Founders
The House Rule

“No client is ever surprised by the bill, the date, or the quality. Surprise is the one thing we never ship.”

Adélaïde Braun · Co Founder

03 · Why Bandung

The right city chose us.

West Java has been textile country for generations: the mills, the dye houses, the craft schools and the hands are all here, and they have been for a century. Lembang's highland air is kind to cloth and kinder to the people working it. Bandung's design schools refill our studio every year, and the port of Jakarta is a day's drive away. We did not choose the city by accident. The city is the competitive advantage.

  • A century of textile heritage: mills, dye houses and craft schools within an hour.
  • Highland climate that is gentle on fabric and on the people handling it.
  • Fresh design graduates every year from Bandung's famous creative schools.
  • One day by road to Tanjung Priok, the port that reaches the world.
Meet the Floor
The Lembang hills around the K&W house
Lembang, where the cool air is good for cloth and for people
Green landscape around the Lembang house
The house in its landscape, and the promises that come with it
04 · Responsibility

A house that pays its debts forward.

Twenty five years in one place teaches you that the house is borrowed from the people who come after. So the solar roof went up, the water learned to loop, the waste learned second lives, and two thousand careers got a ladder to climb. Responsibility here is not a page on a website. It is the roof, the water, the wages and the works council, all of it measured and published.

  • Wages above minimum, hours capped, and a works council elected by the floor.
  • A third of our power already comes from the roof over the sewing lines.
  • 72% of production waste diverted from landfill today, 90% promised by 2028.
  • The full story, with numbers, lives on the sustainability page.
Read the Sustainability Story
05 · Careers

Come and build with us.

The best compliment a factory can receive is the person who came for one season and stayed for ten. We hire from the villages around Lembang and the schools of Bandung, train on our own ladder from operator to engineer, and promote from the floor first. Machine operators, pattern makers, merchandisers, lab technicians and line leaders: if you want to make things properly, there is a bench here with your name on it.

  • A real training ladder: operator to line leader to supervisor to engineer.
  • Promoted from the floor first; most of management started at a machine.
  • Clinic, canteen and a works council that meets management monthly.
  • Openings are posted here and answered by a person, always.
Apply or Ask
The people of K&W Apparel
Some of the two thousand people behind your garments
Compliance & Care

A factory your compliance team can stand behind.

Your buyers will ask hard questions one day, and the answers should already be true. Our management system is built to the international standards below, our documentation is audit ready, and our floor is open. Come and see it whenever you like.

ISO 9001 aligned QMSDocumented procedures and internal audits across cutting, sewing and shipping.
Social complianceWages above minimum, capped hours, a works council, and a third party audit every year.
Oeko Tex fabric optionsCertified yarns and finishes available across the catalogue for sensitive markets.
Traceable supply chainMill and dye house documentation on file for every fabric we sell you.
Start a Project

Let’s put our factory behind your label.

Send a tech pack, a sketch, or a question. A product manager who knows the floor replies within one working day, with dates you can plan a season around.

Request a Quote Call +447878759024
info@kw-apparel.com