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The Korea Times has revealed that in Seoul, there are concerns about dress codes in the workplace. A local survey of 578 recruitment officials revealed that complaints about ‘ugly’ workplace clothing are quite different to the ones that might be seen in the West – topping the list of unpopular garments are miniskirts and low-cut dresses!
After that, men wearing V-neck shirts that show their chests are considered the most offensive to colleagues. And third on the list: see-through clothes. Amazing. It’s a whole new insight to the world of Korean offices.
Fourth on the list of unpleasantness: unwashed garments – because they make the place smell bad. Fifth, slippers with bare feet (do they mean sandals, perhaps, or are the Korean office workers actually turning up in their fluffy footwear?) and eighth – sleeveless shirts or dresses.
If this sounds amazingly trendy – don’t forget that Korean Air had its 1990s uniform designed by the late Gianfranco Ferré. And if you get told off for wearing your bunny slippers to work, say they do it in Korea!
At a time when the ‘double dip’ is being talked about as a real possibility, recession-wise, it may seem odd to be advocating a uniform as a money-saving, and maybe even money-earning, measure, but there are four reasons that investing in a staff uniform can save money and may actually boost business.
1. Health and Safety – there are many reasons why wearing a uniform can save a business money and safety is the main one: investing in proper footwear, specially designed clothing such as overalls or aprons and carefully chosen accessories like toolbelts, caps or gloves can mean that there are many fewer accidents which not only means less time off work with injuries but is a major force in avoiding compensation and injury claims from disgruntled employees who’ve harmed themselves in the workplace.
2. Pocket money – literally! These days, when every penny counts, people love to be able to wear a workplace-provided uniform as it means that they don’t have to wear their own clothes in the workplace and that means they save money!
3. Productivity – people wearing uniforms tend to waste less time in the staff toilets, checking themselves out in the mirrors – a US based time and motion study found that uniform wearing retail staff worked, on average, 27 minutes more in a day than those in their own clothing.
4. Team building – when individuals are dressed alike, they become a team – that’s schools give children a vest to pull over their normal clothing when they are playing a team sport. Similarly, when people in the workplace are all dressed alike, even if it’s only the same printed T-shirt, they will identify as a team and be more committed to team goals.
The Schoolwear Association is reporting that, once again, children are getting bigger. This year it’s trousers that are in the spotlight, as boys in particular become taller and sizes in specialist stores are now up to 36 inch leg lengths on 30 inch waists.
Trends in uniforms are subtle but vital to kids, who feel left out if they don’t have the ‘new look’ which this year includes waisted blazers for girls and deep coloured polo-shirts for Physical Education lessons.
And a school in Shropshire is threatening to exclude pupils who don’t stick to their uniform policy – after complaints from some people that students looked scruffy. Controversially, hoodies are not allowed, shoes have to be plain and black and accessories are limited to one watch and a pair of earrings. The idea is to encourage children to focus on their appearance as part of a drive towards higher standards and improved GCSE results.
There’s a clear link, in many people’s eyes, between uniform, expectation and achievement and whether it’s putting pupils in a set uniform or kitting out staff in a smart set of personalised workwear, uniform clothing is seen as a key feature in success.
As long as the good weather holds, people will want to be outdoors – and that means that promotional activities including outdoor cooking will be incredibly popular. Offering burgers or hot dogs and their vegetarian equivalent can be a brilliant wheeze to get people to visit your business.
It’s easier to hire in a caterer than to do it yourself as they will have the skills to ensuring cooking and serving staff meet the demands of legislation in terms of health and safety and hygiene and that people get served swiftly and professionally.
Make sure your hired-in staff are wearing your promotional clothing: invest in T-shirts with a strong promotional message for those who are clearing tables and cleaning up. Teamed with printed aprons and logo-embroidered caps for people actually serving food, the complete clothing range means that everybody looks smart and everybody is carrying the same message that supports your business.
Take it to the max by having napkins overprinted with your business details and giving away squeezy sports drink bottles with a promo message from your firm. You can even invest in customised ‘doggy bags’ with your business name and address details on them.
When you choose a logo, consider using a monogram. This is classically a design composed of one or more letters and it was often used as part of a signet (or signing) ring to seal documents with wax.
Today there are very famous monograms such as Yves St Laurent and Luis Vuitton which have become brand identifiers – perhaps the same is possible for you?
A good monogram says something about the business it represents – it both identifies the company and encapsulates it. In addition, a monogram has to be swiftly identifiable, clever, easy to reproduce in a variety of ways, and not too expensive to replicate.
A gold logo, for example, looks fantastic on buildings, but could be prohibitively expensive to reproduce on polo-shirts. In this case changing the gold to yellow could reduce costs while keeping the same ‘feel’ to the overall design.
Many logos are three dimensional, a design feature which can be achieved with embroidery as well as ink or transfer, and which looks particularly good on a cap or knitted hat as well as making a good emblem design for coveralls and high visibility clothing.
Simple white stitched monograms look particularly good on formal work shirts, towels and aprons, where they give an impression of cleanliness and classic styling.
A failing Norwich comprehensive school is being turned into an academy and as part of the drive for excellence, the pupils will wear Savile Row-tailored school uniforms. Designed by Thomas Mahon, who has dressed the Prince of Wales, the new uniform with a traditional logo: a school crest; a jacket and formal trousers is set to create a smarter attitude according to the new academy’s head. She says ‘The Savile Row uniform shows we want the best for the school and students. It shows we hold the students in high esteem that we have got them the best possible uniform’.
But in Huddersfield bus drivers are overheating about their workplace clothing. They want to be allowed to wear tailored shorts as part of their uniform, but recent new clothing rules outlaw shorts, although passengers are wearing the bare minimum on the hot, city-centre buses. One driver said, ‘we have asked the managers if we can change the uniform, but they had said it is not company policy.’
What role does uniform have?
Both these cases seem to suggest that a minimum standard is set by clothing, and that those wearing the clothing are encouraged in some way to reach for a certain level of behaviour and attainment through wearing the clothing.
On the other hand, clothing that is overly restrictive and uncomfortable may contribute to lack of attention to tasks and to frustration and even rebellion on the part of those being forced to wear it.
Choosing a uniform for your workforce or charity that suits both men and women takes a little consideration.
The recent hot weather in the UK has been highlighting the differences between men and women and the way that they wear their uniforms. Several unions have received requests from women members for a review of uniform policy in the workplace after men have been allowed to wear either lightweight summer vests or to remove clothing on the upper body entirely during work breaks, but women have not been allowed to wear ‘bikini’ or ‘tankini’ tops.
The issue appears to be one of sexual equality, but the female workers say that it’s actually a temperature-related concern – men are allowed to wear less, and so they are finding it easier to cope with the heat; women are required to wear more and so they are suffering more from the effects of temperature increases.
Last year, Kent women police officers raised concerns that their compulsory uniforms were too revealing, clinging to their cleavages and causing ribald remarks when they were out on the beat.
To choose the right uniform:
• Involve women in the selection of clothing items
• Be sensitive to cultural differences – some women like to cover up, some are happy to flash the flesh, but men may also be modest or exhibitionist – try to offer a range of tops from long-sleeved shirts through to vests so that everybody can choose what suits them
• Remember that colours can affect comfort – clothing items such as white T-shirts can be revealing and tight clothing such as tailored trousers can accentuate the body.
The success of the massive American TV show Glee has led to an increased interest in the idea of the glee club. A glee club is a musical group, usually dressed identically in a bright uniform, that sings short songs – traditionally in trios or quartets, and amazingly, the very first Glee Club was founded at Harrow School, in London in 1787!
Today the glee club is being used to promote workplace harmony – literally. Big companies are using the staff room dynamic to encourage teams to form, sing a song and get marks out of ten from the rest of the staff during lunch-breaks. It’s become so competitive in some places that unions are looking at the effect of ‘glee bullying’ and glee-style T-shirts are becoming popular in big factories
And if you don’t want your workforce singing on the job, recent research has shown that the colour orange inspires most workplace optimism and even as simple a thing as changing the colour of a logo embroidered on a work polo-shirt to orange can be enough to create a feeling of positive expectation and dynamism in the workforce.
Many businesses have chosen to overhaul their workplace uniforms during the current recession and there are three reasons this may be happening:
1. Employers want staff to feel invested in and important when times are tough, so new uniforms give them confidence and emotional support
2. Businesses, especially retail ones, want potential customers to be able to spot a member of staff immediately so they can ask questions etc. This means the business is less likely to lose sales through a customer failing to find a staff person to serve them
3. Customers value being looked after by uniformed staff because it makes them feel their custom is valued; so businesses with a smart uniform gain more trade in tough times.
Because uniforms only look good if they are well cared for, many companies are also setting up manuals that explain how to launder work clothing. They may also make a clothing allowance to cover the cost of caring for clothing and/or a fund for replacing worn out items. Staff can be encouraged to look after their clothes with some simple tips:
1. Work shirts will look better for longer if you rub a little undiluted washing liquid on the collar and cuffs before washing – this removes the ground in dirt that makes these areas look dingy.
2. Black T-shirts and other cotton items should be washed and ironed inside out to preserve the colour as long as possible.
3. Tumble drying ages clothes fast, so line drying should be encouraged.
We tend to assume that logos are a
modern invention but they date back to the so called ‘dark ages’ when the world was starting to industrialise and people were no longer totally self-sufficient. They needed to buy bread, beer, shoes and other daily items, but they couldn’t read, so when they got to town they would visit a market. Once markets began to give way to shops, the business would hang a symbol outside to show what was on sale inside. We use the same system today: a roof and walls means a building firm, while a glass with a foaming top is clearly indicating a place that sells alcohol.
How to decide what to include
A good designer will focus on your business but use some fresh ideas to give your logo a distinctive look. There are thousands of companies that incorporate a computer, keyboard or mouse in their designs to show they are related to the internet, but more imaginative uses are also possible – a computer repair company has a monitor on a stretcher as its logo and this picture is embroidered on polo-shirts worn by their technicians.
Colour choice is vital – dark colours show seriousness and business-like behaviour, bright ones suggest fun and excitement. Red is for danger, blue is masculine, pink feminine and grey and navy blue are ‘classic’. Picking the right colour is vital, especially for your workplace uniform.
Think about colours that wear well, are easy to wash and don’t blend into the background when displayed on printed clothing – a navy logo isn’t much good on a navy T-shirt! Unless you have a huge budget, stick to simple colours. Choosing just two, with black counting as one colour, will keep your costs down.
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Customised Uniforms | Promotional Clothing | Embroidered Polo Shirts | Printed T-Shirts | Embroidered Shirts | Personalised Sweatshirts | Promotional Fleeces | Embroidered Clothing | Screen Printed Clothing
Transfer and Cad Cut Printed Clothing | T-Shirt Printing | Cheap Clothes