If you ever visit a European factory or job site, one thing you will notice is the clothing the workers are wearing. It is not like an American jobsite, where many times workers will wear torn jeans or almost worn out clothing. Many European workers will have a professional look to them and the clothing they are wearing contributes heavily to this look. Their clothing will look like it was designed for the job they are doing, such as pockets for all their tools, and fabric that looks like it can last through the job.
Looking closer at the clothing market there, you will find several brands that target this workwear market. Brands such as JOBMAN Workwear, Snickers, and Blaklader are easily available all over Europe. These brands make clothing designed with the worker in mind, building clothing that is durable, functional, and comfortable, while at the same time looking very professional.
One company that makes fabrics for this clothing calls this type of clothing “imagewear”. According to an article in EHS Today, this is workwear that is for those workers “who want to look more professional, yet they still need work wear that is functional and durable.” In the U.S., the term “imagewear” many times means clothing with a company logo on it. But this “imagewear” is for improving not only the company’s image, but the employee’s, as well.
This level of clothing is currently hard to find in the US. We do have our trusted brands of what we call work clothing here, such as Carhartt, Dickies, Red Kap, and Wrangler. But none of them have the level of clothing that can be found from these European brands.
Transplanted workers from Europe notice this difference in the workwear market here right away. “Where are the real work pants?” one worker asked me recently? I pointed him to some of our trusted brands. “Those aren’t real pants,” I was shocked to hear him say.
From his comment, I looked closer at these European work pants, such as JOBMAN Workwear. For instance, on the JOBMAN SilverLine work pants, I found triple stitched seams, reinforced knees, holster front pockets, fabrics designed for extra durability, and other innovations. These pants really are designed for workers. And, they do have styling built in to their design as well. Not only do they have reinforced knees out of extra durable material, these pants have an internal pocket for kneepads built in. This keeps the kneepads right where they need to be, insuring that everytime the worker has to work on his knees, he has protection there.
The first thing that comes to mind when looking at this clothing is quality. This isn’t cheap clothing! The prices of this workwear are, of course, more than a normal pair of work jeans. But, these companies estimate that their products will outlast regular jeans at least two to one, sometimes even more than that. So, rather than buying two normal style jeans, one pair of these European workwear jeans will perform many times longer than the cheaper pairs. So, over the long haul, the price is comparable.
This level of workwear is new to Americans, but as more and more American workers find out about the comfort, styling, function, and protection of this clothing, we will start seeing this clothing showing up on American jobsites and in Amercian factories.
I found that JOBMAN has a whole catalog of products for workers, including clothing designed for construction workers, carpenters, concrete workers, floor layers, mechanics, chemical workers, outdoor workers, highway workers, and workers in extreme weather. This whole company is about manufacturing workwear that keeps the worker safe, comfortable, functional, and looking very professional. The other European brands have similar products and designs.
This workwear is now available in the U.S. JOBMAN Workwear now has a website where workwear for all of the major types of workers and work environments can be ordered in the U.S.
