First impressions may not always be true, but they sure matter. Especially when it comes to small businesses and building their reputation. This is where uniforms play a big role. The last thing you want is leaving your customers the wrong impression by disregarding this seemingly small but-oh-so-important detail. Regardless of the business that you’re running, the primary goal of uniforms is to distinguish employees of various designations.

Although nowadays many workplaces show a certain level of flexibility when it comes to the uniforms their employees wear and smart casual is becoming trendier, don’t underestimate the role of custom work uniforms. Why custom ones, you’d ask? Because it offers tons of room for personalisation based on your employees and business’ specific needs, ensuring the designs, fabrics and sizing are right for your team.

Professional Image

source: @cargocrew

Research has shown that customers find people in uniforms to be more trustworthy and reliable. At the same time, work uniforms help increase employees’ morale as they feel like a part of a group. This, consequently, is a great strategy to motivate them to be as productive and as dedicated as they can be. Besides, as an added bonus of wearing the uniforms, you can expect to see an improvement in the inter-employee relationships as well. If workers still want to express their personality, there’s a way to go about it – they can personalise the apparel with the help of accessories such as pins and scarves.

Identification

source: @cargocrew

Don’t believe uniforms improve customer experience? Try running your business for a couple of days without them and see how difficult it becomes for customers to identify your staff among the rest of the people. This could easily lead to confusions and aggravated customers who won’t be likely to come back again and waste their time. Taking into account that we live in the era of the internet, such an occurrence can result in tons of bad reviews and cost you your reputation.

When picking your customized uniforms, you can choose different colours for the separate departments (if any) and make it easier for the customers to distinguish them. Not to mention that this can also be of help for employees when trying to spot colleagues or the manager!

Having in mind that colours are commonly used in marketing as a strategy to attract customers, you can have fun designing the uniforms. Certain hues can make your staff seem more approachable and this may even induce a spike in your sales.

Safety and Comfort

source: @cargocrew

If you’re still wondering why uniform is necessary, you should know that work uniforms are designed with comfort and utmost protection in mind. They are also created for specific work environments, keeping in mind the most common hazards that occur on the job and the range of preferred features, such as breathability, moisture-wicking and unrestricted body motion.

Cleanliness

This is yet another important aspect of professionalism. Since in some professions you just can’t avoid staining your clothes, it’s much better to stain your uniform that’s easier to clean and replace than staining your own clothes. Speaking of which, it’s exactly the uniform that teaches staff how crucial it is to maintain cleanliness and how to get in the habit of it.

Size Matters

The proper fit can make a world of difference in how your staff’s stylish work clothes look like. To be on the safe side even with a custom-made option, it’s advisable to get samples because sometimes different manufacturers have different sizes. In case samples aren’t available, check whether there’s a sizing guide on their website. This way you can get a better notion of the sizes for the different parts of the uniform, so you’d know how to measure and get the right size for every employee. The wrong size and fit can have a negative impact on the productivity of your workers.