Many sectors of activity are subject to regulations concerning the wearing of work clothes. Construction, industry, health care, restaurants… Several million people are concerned by the need to wear clothing adapted to their profession. Since their creation, professional clothing has been optimized to better meet the needs of each profession. Thus, garment makers have been able to adapt their products by working on the patterns, developing new materials, adjusting the reinforcements… To provide ever more protection and comfort, but also by bringing a more “fashionable” touch. Focus on the functions that must now be fulfilled by professional clothing.
This is its primary function. Originally, workwear was created to protect against dirt. Its role has rapidly evolved to provide ever greater safety to professionals exposed to health, safety or thermal risks. There are many French and European standards governing the wearing of specific clothing for each profession.
Jobs exposed to identified risks: machines, products, electricity, altitude, climate… are subject to a European law requiring the wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE). Innovations in materials and design have led to the evolution of PPE into resistant, practical and comfortable garments that provide ever greater protection and comfort for the professional. Every profession can be concerned by the wearing of PPE, which is not limited to a resistant garment to ensure overall protection. The head, eyes, hands, feet, respiratory tract, auditory tract… Must be protected with specific equipment, depending on the work environment.
The risks of inhalation, contact or ingestion are frequent among health professionals, catering or agricultural professions for example. These jobs involve exchanging civilian clothes for a uniform that meets the requirements of cleanliness and hygiene to protect against the risk of contamination. The objective is twofold: to ensure the protection of the personnel but also the sterility of the manufactured products. In the case of employees in a collective kitchen, ovens, cooking tables, sharp tools, fumes… represent risks linked not only to the manufacturing process but also to the workplace. The right and healthy work clothing has the ability to protect them from these risks. It also acts as a barrier between the body and the product.
Many professions are carried out outdoors, regardless of the climate. Professionals are exposed to the sun, wind, rain and cold all year round. In the exercise of these professions, work clothing is necessary to ensure the protection and therefore the productivity of the teams. The European standards impose the wearing of standardized clothing: materials treated against water penetration, breathable, thermal insulation and protection against the passage of cold through the fabric, etc. Company managers are obliged to provide the appropriate standardized clothing. The obligation to wear must be included in the internal regulations or communicated in a memo.
The evolution of morphologies and mentalities has forced workwear manufacturers to rethink their patterns. Both men and women are taller, and more and more women are working in the industrial, construction and restaurant sectors. It was therefore a question of working on the lines to bring more comfort while developing the style… Because the look is important in the workplace, as Stéphanie Le Quellec, a starred chef, reminded us in an article in Hôtellerie Restauration:
It is a garment that we wear twelve hours a day, it is like a second skin. It has to be comfortable, but also elegant and sober to represent the house
Always more functional, workwear is also becoming less strict and more trendy. The new generation of workers, accustomed to sportswear and streetwear in the city, is thus seduced by more design-oriented workwear ranges. The wearing of work clothes in the company is becoming more accepted. This modernization also responds to an evolution in lifestyle. This makes it easier for construction managers to go from a job site to a business meeting with the same outfit. range from Lafont,
the Work-in range
is the perfect example of protection, comfort and design.
In the collective unconscious, the wearing of certain professional clothes is a strong vector of image. The doctor wears a coat, the chef wears a jacket and a hat, the mechanic wears overalls. It can also highlight a distinction or a proof of know-how (the blue-white-red collar of the MOF, the color of the belt of a judoka…). Some companies and brands use the workwear as a communication vector: their teams are provided with a personalized outfit (embroidery, silk-screening, custom colors, exclusive patterning…). It is about identifying a professional at a point of sale, identifying a professional outside of his or her workplace (transportation professional for example)… But also about providing a sense of belonging within the company. Professional clothing has become a real marketing weapon for brands, a communication tool to reassure or seduce a customer.
Textile industries, in constant search of innovation, are developing ever more technical fabrics. Among them, intelligent textiles equipped with micro-processors, silver composite textiles to eliminate perspiration and retain heat… Professionals are looking for more and more technicality but also practicality, regarding maintenance, recycling or durability of their professional equipment. Finally, new technologies and hyper-connectivity are a significant issue in the future of professional clothing…
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Lafont is above all a quality product. The materials are very resistant and comfortable, and for some time now, the creative side has been added to make you want to wear your uniform in a different way.
If I had to define what makes me think of Lafont, it’s the juniper brandy for the traditional side that the brand inspires me.
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