Introducing a uniform for your employees can have many benefits. It can firstly allow customers to easily identify your staff members and could help your company to appear more professional. It can secondly help to make sure that your employees are presented in a certain way – a dress code can be easily misinterpreted, while a uniform does not have this issue. Finally, a uniform could be beneficial to your employees by making them feel part of a team and inspiring company pride.

But just what should your company uniform look like? This is completely up to you and your team to decide. Ideally, you should try to consider a few practical factors. This post delves into some of the important factors to consider when choosing the right company uniform design. 

Branding

Customers need to recognise that your uniform belongs to your company, which means incorporating elements of visual branding into it. If you don’t already have an established visual brand, this could be something to consider. A few elements of branding to consider when designing a uniform include:

• Logos: It’s worth displaying your company on your uniform. This could be anything from a large logo on the back of a t-shirt to a more subtle logo on the pocket of your jacket. Make sure the logo is the same as the logo used in the rest of your marketing.
• Colours: Do you have a company colour scheme? This could be worth incorporating into your uniform. If you haven’t established a brand colour scheme, it could be worth looking up the psychology of different colours and the effects they have.
• Style: The style of your uniform can also help to communicate what your brand is about. For example, when looking for a uniform for your bar, you may want to consider what type of bar it is. A more upmarket bar may benefit from a more formal uniform such as a shirt and tie. A sports bar may benefit from something sports-related such as these referee uniforms at Mato & Hash. 

Health and safety

It’s important to find a uniform that’s safe to wear in your work environment. Certain jobs that deal with chemicals may require specialist overalls made of a certain material. Other industries meanwhile may require hard hats, hi-vis jackets or certain types of shoes. 

No uniform can provide complete safety and there may be times when you need to choose between two safety features. For example, some restaurants prefer kitchen uniforms with long sleeves because they can protect the arms from burn injuries. However, others prefer shorter sleeves, because they have less chance of accidentally touching food and causing contamination. This post at Heathbrook offers more information on incorporating safety in uniforms. 

Comfort

It’s important that your uniform is comfortable for your employees to wear for long periods. Factors such as softness and breathability could be important to consider when designing uniforms – particularly when designing uniforms for physically active jobs or jobs in hot environments. Materials like cotton are favoured for this reason. 

It could be worth adding features like breast pockets to shirts for convenience if employees need to carry pens or keyfobs. Such details are often overlooked when designing a more casual uniform. 

Inclusivity

Your uniform should be appropriate for different types of people to wear – no group should feel discriminated against. This is why it’s important to find a uniform manufacturer that can offer a range of different sizes so that you can order the right fit for every employee. 

In some cases, it could be worth offering flexible options. For example, instead of making it a policy that all women wear skirts, consider offering the option of trousers. You should also consider certain religious wear such as headscarves and turbans – make sure that any company headwear can be worn alongside these religious clothes (or ask employees to wear headscarves and turbans of a certain colour to still represent your brand). 

Cost

Certain types of uniform could cost more to produce. If you have a large team of employees, you may want to consider the impact this will have on your overheads. 

Opting for certain materials and designs could be cheaper, but you need to make sure that you don’t compromise too much on other elements like comfort and branding. It’s worth creating a budget first and then shopping around to see what you can get within this budget. Some companies may offer discounts for buying uniforms in bulk, but these may all have to be in the same size and style, making them only appropriate for larger companies.