Archives

Want the tedious management of uniforms made easier?

Frustrated with your uniform supplier and their endless excuses about the whereabouts of your stock?

You’re not alone… reliable stock supply of uniforms is one of the biggest pain points experienced by many organisations.

2017 brings a huge opportunity for you to put a stop to these frustrations. As a uniform partner, Advance Design listen to our clients needs and empathise with the frustrations they have had in the past, often over many years.

Our profession has become so fragmented and most have embraced the “me-too” philosophy of supplying absolutely everything from printed stubby coolers, to promotional bags to high end large-scale comprehensive uniform programmes. There’s just one problem. Being all-encompassing in product means uniform suppliers cannot adopt this philosophy to their service offer; nor is there a deep understanding of the specific demands of certain industry’s that stems from focus and specialisation.

We continue to receive calls from organisations experiencing pain with their current uniform suppliers. Their challenges are consistent in three areas:

• Frustrations around stock supply were endless!
• Difficulty re-ordering uniforms or exchanging ill fitting uniform pieces
• A lack of communication around back orders

The funny thing is the frequency of incoming calls from Procurement and HR Managers, Operations Managers and DON’s is increasing from one week to the next. It seems the problem is only getting worse.

So what are organisations to do?

I advocate a disruption to the current clunky processes, stresses and failures.

There are many papers which outline the key strengths one should look for when selecting uniform suppliers. It is important to note that most lack these!

I would recommend organisations who value their brand and their people and who want to make uniform ordering and management as easy as possible, should ask the following questions as a bare minimum:

• What is the exchange and return service offer?
• What is the online ordering and employee database service offer?
• How do you manage stock supply?
• What are your processes for handling back orders?
• Once the contract is signed and the first order is delivered, what is included in the service offer?

According to Clean Rental in their How to Solve the 5 Biggest Challenges with Employee Uniforms paper 2014, their conclusion is on point “…the benefits for employees and your company’s bottom line are worth the time it takes to research a solution that meets your needs and fits your budget.”

This is not simply referring to the actual style and fabric of your uniform but the entire package! I believe in the vital role a uniform plays for any service-based organisation with public-facing employees.

I sympathise with the frustrations and challenges you have faced. Let’s make a change to the stigma around being stuck with the uniforms and make it easy! Know that there are other options and that with one phone call you can commence the process of change.

We guarantee it’s that easy… just as it should be. Call 1800 639 611

 

BY KATE GIBSON
Advance Design, Trade Marketing

READ MORE

Proudly supporting the Bairo Pite Clinic

READ MORE

Proudly Supporting the GO Foundation

Empowering Through Education

READ MORE

Who Wins the Price War?

It will probably cost you!

Does it make sense to buy quality instead of saving money?

Remember being frugal doesn’t just mean saving money – it means spending your money wisely. Some things may be cheap now, but actually cost you more in the long run. Cost is also a very broad term – cost in dollars, cost in time, cost in frustration/grief/angst, cost in relationships, I could go on and on.

I’m sure you can come up with 10 products or services where you benefitted from spending more up front for a better, longer-term experience. I know I can think of times when I didn’t and regretted it!!

Let’s take the uniform buying process as an example…

Unfortunately deciding on a supplier based on price more often than not leads to spending more over the cycle – whether it’s in time, or replacement and replenishment costs to buy the same cheap products over and over again.

As I said…when we talk costs they extend far beyond monetary. What about how much time it takes you to deal with poor quality and reactive customer service departments? More importantly for the business as a whole, what about the impact on the perception of a business, the strength of the brand and the value in that brand.

One good example is a large health organisation who is known by everyone who has ever engaged with their staff to scrimp on uniforms. One would assume these cost-conscious decisions roll out across other areas supporting their employees. The picture this paints to outsiders reflects the value they place on their staff. For their staff, they are very disgruntled whenever asked about their uniforms. They do not feel valued, do not feel they look good and are not comfortable.  So staff morale is negatively impacted, the perception of the brand and the business is impacted and the confidence and professionalism has to be proven beyond first impressions.

When you start looking into whether to spend or save, there is one consistent theme on every, single blog – spend more on items to get better quality, more comfort and extra durability. Additionally many state if you save on product, you sacrifice on something else like service (which translates into time).

Battling over price – who wins?

Most companies can undercut the competition, the question isn’t whether they can, it’s whether they want to. AND if they do, what business do you think doesn’t have 5 ways up their sleeve to reduce their costs to still recoup their margin – whether that be in terms of customer service (like Aldi), costs for anything outside the box (like when building a new house) or a price hike when it comes time for replenishment after 12 months (like electricity and insurance providers).

Anyone can choose to be the cheapest by supporting a competitive price guarantee of 5% on like-for-like products.
When talking uniforms and given the power they have over employee morale and brand perceptions, the cheapest solution will end up costing you in more ways than one!

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. ’Til your good is better and your better is best.” St Jerome.

 

BY KATE GIBSON
Advance Design, Trade Marketing

READ MORE

Polyester vs Cotton

Let’s break down the argument!

There’s a lot of pressure placed on uniforms today.

• Professionals demand comfort, ease of use and iron-free; with features making them dry, cool and functional to carry out their jobs effectively.
• The consumers in these professionals also ask for different styles, colours, fit and fashion-forward looks.
• Organisations are increasingly seeing the power of the uniform to unite teams, set distinction among roles whilst still holding true to a common theme, to be durable and above all to present their staff professionally, consistent with their brand and business.

That is a lot to ask of a piece of clothing, yet completely achievable with today’s fabric technologies and compositions. Historically with natural fibres this would have been an impossible task!

We have learned via HR professional Ingrid Cliff’s article on Business Uniform Design Challenges  that many businesses face challenges when it comes to decisions relating to uniform design. According to Ingrid, the natural fibre camp stay true to 100% cotton. These employees end up battling with the polyester easy-care camp who don’t own an iron and do not want the hassle of high maintenance uniforms!

Industry feedback and experience has taught us that peer pressure backed by the ever-mounting evidence around synthetic fabrics providing the feel of cotton and other benefits, is persuading many to compromise and embrace polyester/cotton blends and even more recently polyester/rayon blends.

So what are the features of polyester/cotton blends? They provide the softness of cotton with the durability of polyester. That means they tend to keep their shape and more importantly their colour. They are not prone to wrinkling (supporting the iron-free stampede in uniforms) and generally cost less and last longer.

Newer polyester/rayon blends provide the feel of cotton but all of the performance benefits of polyester.

Key criteria used in the clothing and apparel industry for comparison are:

• Colour fastness (resistance to fade)
• Shrink resistance
• Will maintain shape
• Easy care (iron-free)
• Less absorbent (keeps you drier)
• Durability when subjected to repeated washing and detergents

Polyester out performs cotton in each of these areas…without question!

Cotton will fade. It may shrink. It will most certainly pull out of shape and will require ironing. It will absorb perspiration! Scientifically this helps to cool the body however from a presentation perspective when referring to uniforms this results in them remaining wetter for longer. I have never met a business or a client who would prefer to see employees wet with sweat whether they be providing care services in an individuals home, serving you at a restaurant or helping your child in the emergency ward of a hospital.

It’s important to not completely negate cotton as it is best for those with skin allergies and where there is potential exposure to flame such as for chef’s and kitchen staff and maintenance workers.

“Yarn-treated” polyester is the first-choice fabric for major fashion and activewear brands for its wearability and comfort. The new generation of polyester filament sets new benchmarks and provides performance benefits and a standard that cannot be replicated with natural fibre.

An important fact for the uniform industry is that effective antibacterial treatments can be applied to the yarn to help manage odour and control bacteria accumulation.

So…when you next face the daunting task of styling and selecting your new uniform, consider starting with what features your brand and your staff need. If you can’t find something…go bespoke and create your own custom-made solution to tick every box!

BY KATE GIBSON
Advance Design, Trade Marketing

READ MORE