Adom is a Czech clothes manufacturer from Liberec that offers not only babywearing jackets, but also many other soft-shell, non-soft-shell, adult, children, and even dog garments. To be honest, whether these are babywearing or non-babywearing clothes, it is no haute couture (despite the fact that ˈAdomˈ spelled backwards is ˈmodaˈ, i.e. ˈfashionˈ in Czech 😀 ) – especially some of the pieces of clothes for adults are something I would not hesitate to send straight to fashion hell right away.
I suppose you have not heard about Adom yet, have you? Well, if I did not own one of their jackets, I would not probably know about its bare existence, either. Maybe one of the reasons is the quality of their web presentation – most of photos of the babywearing clothes are of poor quality, with models with no make-up or no styling whatsoever, with a doll instead of a baby, in someone’s living room in front of stairs or in a garden in the best case. Let’s face it – all of us primarily choose our clothes with our eyes – which is a shame in case of Adom in my opinion, because their products are very well sewn and designed and moreover their price is very affordable.
My own jacket is second-hand and I bought it without much thinking and researching other possibilities (which was possibly better than if I did an extensive research on the Internet – I would not be able to choose anything, then). My basic requirements were that the jacket should be unisex enough so that my husband would be able to wear it, and big enough so that it would fit to my not-that-thin mum, too. This M-size Adom jacket meets these requirements without any problems (however, I would rather wear S-size myself with my current weight and figure, but what can I do 😉 ).
The soft-shell used is the winter kind – lined with fleece and therefore, it is very warm – it holds up to 10 degrees without any interlayer and with my Iw design hoodie we felt very warm and comfortable throughout the last winter with Emilka. The quality of sewing is very good – it is obvious that Adom clothes are sewn by real professionals. Concerning the quality of the used materials, I have a comment only on the zippers – they are quite small and delicate and sometimes when I do not aim right when fastening the jacket (which is quite easy, not aiming right, with a wearie on), the zipper disconnects.
As far as the design of the insert and generally the solution of babywearing in this jacket goes, I am more than satisfied! It is possible to fasten the insert right up to the level of the neck of the wearie (i.e. not too low and not too high), the little hood is lined with fleece and holds its shape without problems – in case you need it, you just simply put it on the wearie’s head and it holds in its place without any adjusting – even if the wearie is not sleeping at that particular moment. The only thing I lack to be absolutely super-duper-happy is that this hood is not detachable.
The system of wearing on the back is ingenious! You do not need to unfasten the insert and refasten it to the back, but the rear ˈinsertˈis integrated! You just unfasten the two zippers on the back and the studs on the upper hem and you have the space for your little one – as I said, ingenious, don’t you think? 😀 The hole for the head of the wearie is high enough, just as I like it, and moreover this solves the usual manufacturer’s dilemma when it comes to back-babywearing (either you must have the insert very long, but you will not be able to fasten it to the maximum when wearing in the front, otherwise it would cover the whole baby’s head, or the jacket must have a kind of ˈtailsˈin the back, something like tailcoats have, so that you can fasten the insert high enough). If it was possible to attach a hood to this ˈhingedˈinsert in the back, I would be happier, but I can live without it very well, too.
Concerting the ˈoperationalˈ properties – you can adjust and tighten the lower hem of the jacket quite a lot so you do not need to worry about being cold form ˈdown belowˈ. The hems of the sleeves are elastic and there are no ˈthumb holesˈ on them – despite not looking that well on small people like myself it gives the jacket a great variability for wearers of all heights and lengths. What I love about this jacket are its wonderfully big pockets! Two of them are in the level of the waist and a smaller one on the chest, all fastened by a zipper. I can stuff nearly anything I need into the two big ones – my wallet, umbrella, a little snack, gloves, a hat… The big hood is detachable and it is possible to tighten it around the face, which literally saved my life a couple of times last winter. The only thing I miss on this jacket is some kind of a neck protector… Well, at first I was very unhappy about it, but then I knitted myself a merino infinite scarf that works just as fine as any super-sophisticated neck protector in the world.
Without a wearie, well, it is just an ordinary sports jacket, nothing really fashionable; however, considering the fact I never wear it without Emilka and that it is so amazingly universal and functional, I am more than happy to forgive it not being stylish enough.
If you need a jacket, that not only you could wear, but also a babywearing daddy or a babywearing grandma or grandpa could wear, and you also want to wear on your back with maximum comfort, them I can only recommend the Adom jacket!
