Focus on Outdoor Workwear


TuffStuff introduced the Elite range to provide a more fashionable option for tradesmen Fashion vs. functionality


A typical workman is often in their work clothing for around 12 hours a day and with some working seven days a week it is easy to understand the demand on garments is very high. But can heavy duty workwear ever be fashionable, as well as functional?


I


ndustrial workers, builders, carpenters and tradesmen are some of the toughest trades to kit out, thanks to them subjecting their clothing and its components to more rigour and strain than any other working environment.


With many of these workers under the age of 35, fashion often plays a key element in product selection, suggests Kevin Selwood, sales director at Castle Clothing. “We are noticing this age range is widening with more and more workers in the latter stages of their careers being more conscious of the way they look,” he adds. “A few years ago, wearing a hoodie to work would have been questioned, or even frowned upon. Whereas todayʼs opinions have changed markedly, to the point where we now offer 10 different hooded garments as opposed to only a few five years ago.” “Small businesses and self-employed workmen are investing more into fashionable workwear in order to look different from their competitors,” adds John Williams, field sales executive at PenCarrie.


Given this, workmen wanting to look more fashionable in their working roles is heavily influencing the way in which workwear is developed.


| 32 | November 2019


Teri-Louise Deegan, marketing executive at Prestige Leisure, explains there is always room for style, adding that there are many creative ways to add stylish and fashionable dimensions to garments – even in industrial workwear. “While a fluorescent motorway coat or safety vest wonʼt be breaking into mainstream fashion anytime soon, through using clever techniques and adding certain features, workwear can be given style,” she adds. Teri-Louise highlights features such as quilted fabric effects, which can instantly add premium executive feels to an industrial jacket. “It changes the whole perception and exudes that the wearer has a sense of style,” she says. Brands such as Work-Guard, Dickies, Tactical Threads and


Yoko all offer products with flashes of retail inspiration. Take for example the Loudon Jacket from Dickies. This jacket features a polyester padded body with contrast fabric sleeves and a shaped hem. This is a nod to the sleek, stylish padded jackets that are dominating male outerwear retail sectors. The Elevator Jacket from Work-Guard features a padded body too, while also incorporating another major trend in the grey marl sleeves, giving the jacket an athletic feel. While Tactical Threads from Regatta Professional was


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