Corporate clothing is a fantastic business tool and is well worth the investment. It’s worth spending the time making the correct decision for everyone involved, including your customers, to ensure your professionalism and expertise are reflected during first impressions.
Here, we’ve created a quick guide to buying corporate clothing for your business.
Ensure a link to your brand
Firstly, it’s important to ensure that your team represents the brand they work for the correctly branded clothing.
If, in recent years, there have been a number of uniform versions, different team members will own different items of clothing. So make sure your newest version of your uniform or corporate workwear is shared across the business.
Similarly, if you are adding in text in addition to a logo to the clothing, make sure to use the same colours and fonts, again ensuring there is no confusion for any customers.
By taking these steps, your business and your team look much more professional and it allows your company to be represented and even recognised by your corporate clothing alone.
For more information on the importance of corporate clothing in establishing your brand identity, check out this article by OurBusinessNews.
Assess your clothing options
When it comes to purchasing corporate clothing, you are thoroughly spoilt for choice, so it’s important to give some thought to the most appropriate type for every part of your business.
Firstly, you need to decide whether you want a full uniform or a more uniform look. A full uniform is generally a prescribed set of clothing that must be worn by everyone, whilst a ‘uniform look’ is very similar clothing that runs on a theme instead of set rules, that can allow more fluidity in dressing.
Secondly, now is the best time to decide whether you want your workwear to be stitched or printed. We spoke to branded workwear specialists, Stitch Embroidery, who said: “Its comes down to individual needs. Both have their positives and negatives but you shouldn’t postpone adding branding to your corporate wear”
“Embroidery is more hard-wearing and appears more professional, but printing often works out cheaper so is great for the smaller companies who just want a quick solution. Printing can also be more appropriate if your logo is more intricate.”
Consider your teams opinions
Before you look at purchasing your favourite option, it’s also important to get the opinion of your employees. After all, they will be the ones who wear it most of the time.
If you specialise in more manual services, it’s important to ensure that the clothing is comfortable, well-fitted, durable and of high quality. If you are looking for more office suited clothing, then maybe opt for more traditional corporate-wear.
Essentially, if employees don’t feel comfortable wearing the chosen clothing, it’s unlikely that they’ll perform at their best, so make sure to ask for their opinions and take note of what they would prefer.
Get a preview sample
Finally, before you sign the dotted line, it’s important to see both a visual and a physical sample of your new corporate workwear.
By seeing a preview first, you get to make fine tweaks to the final appearance to achieve your perfect design before you pay a penny. Then, once you’ve perfected your design visually, request a physical sample before putting in an order.
The process behind choosing corporate clothing can seem never ending, particularly in a big business. With lots of opinions offered, there is never one perfect design. It’s important to keep your brand and customer in mind at all times to ensure your business is represented in the best way possible.
