Basic Tips for Choosing the Right Uniforms

Employee uniforms are one of the most important parts of your brand and organization. However, when considering potential work uniform styles for their company, many employers and managers find themselves at a loss.

Make the wrong choice, and you’ll affect not only your company’s image but your employees’ happiness and productivity too.

At Prudential Overall Supply, we have decades of experience offering companies across a range of industries comfortable, affordable, and professional work apparel. Additionally, our uniform rental and leasing programs ensure every business has equal access to the attire employees need to make the most of all the advantages uniformed staff provide.

So whether you’re in search of a company to help you implement work uniforms into your business for the very first time, or you already have uniforms but wish to update and upgrade your choices, this article is for you. We’ve compiled all the information you may need to make smart, rewarding choices while outfitting your employees with the best uniforms possible.

Why Work Uniform Styles Matter

Work uniforms may seem like a small detail when running a business, but when done right they can bring a whole new level of professionalism and competitive edge to your company.

Choosing the right uniform style and design is of utmost importance. Whatever employee uniform you choose looks professional and neat while still providing employees with the functionality and comfort they need to do their jobs well.

Another crucial part of choosing the right uniform is promoting your company’s brand image. The idea of a brand image is not a new one. Even in the most basic levels of commerce, people package and brand their products and business. The right kind of brand imaging can help foster financial growth, instill trust in your consumer base, and help expand your market.

While a modern company can do this through social media and advertising, the best way for customers to understand your brand or company is through their experience with your physical premises and your employees and, therefore, their appearance.

Businesses where employees are clearly identifiable by their work uniforms are proven to encourage customer-employee relations. Having a happy and satisfied customer base is the first step toward promoting your company and brand image within your community.

7 Things to Consider When Choosing a Work Uniform

Ready to choose the perfect uniform for your employees? Here are some of the factors to keep in mind as you consider your options.

1. There’s No “One Size Fits All” Solution

Even if your company fulfills a highly specific purpose or sells a specific product, you will undoubtedly need more than one style of uniform to match the requirements of various positions within the business.

For example, even though all employees in a restaurant are focused on food service and hospitality, they cannot wear the same uniform. Chefs, waiters, front-of-house staff, and bussers all require distinct attire that caters to the roles they fulfill. You may need to choose several restaurant uniforms for each of these roles to ensure your employees can do them to the best of their abilities. The same goes for all other business uniform needs, from automotive stores to healthcare centers.

2. Some Features Are Non-Negotiable

In industries where certain workplace hazards are commonplace, employee uniforms must include the appropriate attire to help minimize the risk of injury. For example, in industries where employees work in areas of potential flammability or fire exposure, flame-resistant clothing is necessary to help prevent accidents. Other examples include construction workers requiring hard hats and healthcare workers needing comfortable, slip-proof footwear.

When choosing uniforms for your workers, it’s important to keep these safety requirements in mind. Luckily, Prudential Overall Supply Company provides a wide variety of safety uniforms and accessories for you to choose from, making selecting appropriate apparel as easy as possible.

3. Keep It Professional

Remember, your employees’ work uniforms are the first thing the public will notice about them. There’s also a chance that local people will see your employees in their work clothing, before and after work, so you’ll want your uniform selection to embrace the image you want your company to represent.

4. Color Counts

If your company has a standard or corporate color code, you’ll want to incorporate that into your uniform selection. However, you should also keep in mind your employees’ work environment. If the uniforms are likely to get stained easily, choose colors that will camouflage or hide any stains or dirt.

5. Go for Classic

Avoid trendy uniforms that have the possibility of quickly going out of style, leaving you to rethink your work uniforms from the ground up. Instead, account for a big difference in individual employees’ shapes, sizes, and comfort levels and stick to a classic look that will last.

6. Function over Fashion

The most important part of any work uniform selection is making sure that it doesn’t impede an employee’s ability to do their job. Very loose-fitting clothing has the hazard of getting caught in machine parts, while white cotton will become see-through when wet. Alternatively, excessively tight clothing may not get in the way of your employees’ duties but could make them uncomfortable, especially if their jobs require them to move around in small or awkward spaces.

7. A Uniform Service Can Make All the Difference

One of the best ways to ensure that your company is making the most out of its uniform policy is to pick a quality uniform service. The right service will not only make functional and professional uniforms available to businesses to hire or lease but also clean and deliver fresh uniforms on a regular schedule and take care of any employee clothing emergencies that pop up, including adjustments and tailoring.

Uniform Examples from Prudential

At Prudential, we stock a wide variety of uniforms for different industries. To give you an idea of where to start, we’ve compiled a list of our uniform recommendations based on certain workplaces and positions below.

Best Retail Uniforms

• Chefs’ uniforms include chef’s jackets, pants, hats, and aprons. These items ensure your business adheres to health code regulations and help employees do their jobs more efficiently and professionally.
• Automotive uniforms include items like overalls, work shirts, gloves, and safety shoes. When it comes to automotive repair, customers are left to trust the auto mechanics to know what is wrong and how to fix it. Customers, and people in general, are more inclined to believe people in uniform. A clearly branded, clean, and professional-looking uniform will lend your employees more authority and reliability, in turn benefiting your business.
• Retail uniforms share many similarities with front-of-house kitchen staff. The best retail uniforms will be neat and understated and hold up well throughout the day. That means opting for wrinkle-resistant apparel and shoes that keep employees comfortable despite needing to be on their feet most of the day.

Implementing and Maintaining Professional Employee Uniforms

So you’ve chosen the perfect uniforms for your business. What’s next? No matter how great your new uniforms look, your next priority will be to keep them looking clean and new for as long as possible. That means ensuring they are laundered properly. A great uniform service company, like Prudential, can assist in this regard. At Prudential, we’ve established a convenient, efficient system for laundering work apparel and work uniforms.

Our laundry services are environmentally friendly, and help businesses maintain their image in an economically and ecologically sound way. It starts with a pick-up from your desired location; a Prudential representative will come out to the location and collect the uniforms that need to be cleaned. Once they arrive at a laundry facility privately operated through Prudential, the laundry is sorted according to soil type, and then cleaned.

After each garment is cleaned, specific items are professionally finished. If any repairs are needed for the uniforms, Prudential will make these repairs before delivery, helping you cut down on uniform repair costs and saving your business time and money. Even better, as part of our popular uniform rental program, we’ve included regular laundering of uniforms in the rental price so you have one less thing to worry about.

Choose Prudential for Hassle-Free Uniform Services

Prudential Overall Supply Company makes supplying your employees with work apparel easier than ever before. Companies can either choose uniform rental or the purchase of these work clothes.

Our rental service even has a tracking system, which means that a Prudential employee will show up at your place of business, account for all of the uniforms, and then take these soiled uniforms to a Prudential facility for cleaning. After the uniforms are cleaned, finished, and repaired, if necessary, they are returned to your place of business, ready for your employees to wear.

Our online uniform store also makes finding the right uniform style for your business easier than ever, with no need to physically visit any of our stores or facilities in order to access our services.

Beyond these standout features, we also offer our customers the complete peace of mind of working with uniform industry experts. Prudential Overall Supply Company has been in the business of supplying other businesses with work apparel and other facility services for more than 90 years, and we are still growing and developing our offerings to better cater to business owners and employers every day.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to one of our friendly customer service representatives, or check out the Prudential website to learn more about our industry-leading products and services.