Posts Tagged ‘garment fit’

Garment Reuse and Recycling

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

Incorporatewear, the UK’s premier corporate clothing supplier, set out to provide an outstanding level of service and recently one of their longest-serving clients took the opportunity to record their experience.

Nationwide Building Society, which has around 750 branches in the UK, is the largest building society in the world and has been a client of Incorporatewear for over a decade.

During this time corporatewear colour and design has evolved considerably and Incorporatewear has been at the forefront of meeting Nationwide’s branding and wearer needs.

But nowadays the environmental life-cycle clothing needs to be considered in addition to elements of style, fit and performance.

Incorporatewear is not only an expert in meeting design needs, but also instrumental in ensuring that end-of-life garments are destroyed or recycled appropriately and securely.

Nationwide were so impressed with Incorporatewear that they recently filmed part of the company’s design operations as a part of their corporate PR activities and have kindly shared this with us.

http://youtu.be/-WpefQyoDP8

Sizing the Modern Employee

Monday, January 31st, 2011

Garment sizing is one of the most challenging issues facing corporate clothing suppliers and buyers today, and it’s one that Incorporatewear takes very seriously.

Wearers demand style, practicality and, of course, fit and we must address a range of factors when designing corporate clothing including global size differences, maternity wear and obesity. And we have to make it easy for wearers to get the right fit first time.

Obesity
As the shape of people changes, we develop design strategies to adapt. In our design studio, we have an array of mannequins with a whole range of different specifications. These help us adjust the styling of garments to suit anyone from a slim, petite size six to a more rounded size 30.

Global sizing differences
In our experience, a “one-size-fits-all-countries” approach to tailored wear won’t work. Our solution is to supply garments in petite, regular and long fittings as well as a wide choice of sizes. For many clients, we also offer a selection of garments within overall corporate wardrobes letting wearers choose from different styles, fabrics and sizing to increase the range of garments that suit them.

Maternity
Maternity is a factor that we take into account at the design stage of developing a new range. We offer styles that allow for the expansion of waistbands and ensure that maternity garments work alongside the rest of the corporate wardrobe. We want the expectant mother to be comfortable and to feel part of the team, not isolated in an oversized ‘tent’.

Online Ordering
Most of the items returned to clothing companies are due to size issues so we try to ensure our wearers get it right first time. Communication is vital so we issue “how to” guides, measuring packs including tapes and size charts, and DVDs. We hold workshops on self-measurement, and we provide a home measuring service. We regularly survey all the main retailers’ size charts and adapt our sizing books so that our sizes reflect what our wearers are used to on the high street. We also provide bespoke measuring guides to help wearers get the best fit for comfort and shape and we’re proud that our rate of “returns for fit” is well below the rate of the typical consumer mail-order clothing business.

If you have any sizing or garment fit related questions please contact us on 0844 257 0530 or info@icwuk.com