Create Image, Identity & Opportunity
Uniforms are no longer just for school kids, mechanics and fast food attendants, they are being worn in industries looking to create a consistent image and team spirit among employees.
"People are looking for quality," insists Martin Anthony, president of Anthony Enterprises. "Buyers and employees want uniforms that are going to wear nicely and wash easily. The staff wants to do as little maintenance as possible, they don't want to dry clean and iron."
"Embroidered denim is certainly becoming extremely popular as a uniform look, especially the short-sleeve shirts in restaurants," says Mike Wikes, director of marketing for Atlantic Coast Cotton, whose firm carries three short-sleeve denim shirts that are ready to take orders and deliver meals in eateries. "Denim use is spilling over from the retail levels because denim is a popular fabric and it has a distinctive look. Keep in mind that denim was a work uniform before when denim shirts and pants were worn by laborers. Now denim has a different look with more fashion appeal."
Ties are on the request list for restaurants. "We have a lot of requests from upscale clients for silk neck ties in the restaurant industry," says Anthony. "They want something upscale for their managers and wait staff."
Besides finding apparel that will fit the bill for uniforms, buyers should try to find companies that will be able to provide colors, styles and patterns after the initial order. There is nothing more frustrating for distributors and clients than being told their reorder cannot be fulfilled because the mill has discontinued a style, color or pattern.
To avoid this, Anthony suggests finding a company that can guarantee design continuity by using a firm that creates and prints designs. These companies also can work with clients to incorporate their logo or message into an existing design.
Besides creating an image and identity, apparel used in uniforms is benefiting from the latest developments in work wear.
A new development in manufacturing and industrial facilities is the color coding of uniforms for certain areas of the facility to improve safety and productivity. This way a supervisor or safety inspector with a peripheral view of the plant can identify where employees are and where they should be.
Health care, pharmaceutical and food processing companies are using more Federal Drug Administration-approved shirts, smocks and pants. These items are manufactured, designed and styled with special buttons and snap covered closures to help prevent accidents and entanglements with machinery.
Workplace uniforms also bring the "what to wear" dilemma to the corporate casual market.
According to a recent study conducted by the University of North Carolina in Greensboro on appropriate casual business attire that found revealing implications for marketers and merchandisers including promotional products distributors. It stated, "Those selling to the corporate casual marketplace also should continue to adjust product mix to include casual business wear lines, including apparel items, or separates, in denim, cotton knits and worsted wool, along with matching casual pants, polo shirts and socks."
There is a growing trend that the workplace uniform is changing before a person is hired by a company.
According to the April 23, 1998 Wall Street Journal, the trend toward casual office wear bumps into the hot job market with more executives arriving in golf shirts and slacks for interviews. The story cites that employees may not want to look like they are going for a job interview or they are merely testing the market for offers.
Workplace apparel uniforms help create image and identity and can be found in virtually every industry that promotional products distributors already serve or can easily locate. And distributors should remember that growing businesses, especially restaurants, hire new employees more frequently than other businesses and their new hires need new uniforms. Establishing relationships with these clients could help distributors know what to order even if they are not waiting to eat at a restaurant.
