Well-chosen uniforms can be a good way for a company to project the branding and overall image it wants. Professional uniforms can make a location seem more specialized, and they can make staff members easier for visitors to recognize and approach as necessary. Over time, details like quality uniforms can help to improve a store’s overall appeal and reputation, encouraging the perception that a company cares about both its customers and its workers.
Ways Uniforms Can Improve Your Store’s Reputation
Some of the ways uniforms can potentially improve a store’s reputation include the following:
1. Defining Brand Identity
Employee uniforms can help define a brand’s identity. When you imagine big brands, you might notice the companies controlling these brands often try to link certain images and colors to their identities. One of the ways they can do this is through employee uniforms. Retail employees are a very front-facing element of a business, and this means they serve to establish the brand identity you want as a company.
Oftentimes, a simple and effective way to use uniforms to establish your brand identity is to identify two or three core colors you want linked to your brand. Then, have employee uniforms in those colors for the roles that see the most customer interactions. It can reinforce the identity you want in a customer’s mind.
2. Unifying Store Aesthetic
Similarly to how uniforms can establish brand identity, they can also help to unify a store’s overall aesthetic. A retail store won’t necessarily be “themed” in the traditional sense, but most stores still have some type of aesthetic the team running it wants to aim for. It’s important to view employees as an element of that store, with the clothes they wear either contributing or detracting from a store’s aesthetic.
Obviously, there are limits to how much uniforms need to reinforce aesthetics. Employee uniforms still need to have the necessary utility and any safety necessary features to make them effective in their roles.
3. Improving Role Recognition
Uniforms are a great way to clearly show an employee’s role in a company, even if the person interacting with them may be unfamiliar with that particular employee. This is useful for both workers and for customers, as it lets a person tell at a glance (even at a distance) what a given employee is likely to know and what level of authority they may have.
How much a company should color code roles depends on their goals. Oftentimes, just coding by department can be helpful. Additionally, leadership roles may be coded differently, such as all leaders wearing black or even a darker version of their department’s associated color. For added recognition, one might also want to consider just labeling uniforms by department, making roles obvious even to people who don’t know your color coding system.
4. Projecting Professionalism
Generally, employees can dress more or less how they like in their personal lives. Uniforms help signal to both other workers and to customers that an individual is currently working in service to a company and that they are here to represent that company and its customers’ interests.
Of course, there are limits to what uniforms alone will do. Uniforms are just a good first step to signaling to others that a company takes itself seriously, and it has an identity it is working to maintain. Without uniforms or at least a dress code, a group of employees will often just look like any other group. This isn’t universally bad, but it’s usually something retail locations want to avoid.
5. Keeping Employees Safe & Regulation Compliant
Uniforms aren’t just about image. Some roles have risks involved that the right choice of uniform can help mitigate, such as how workers who may be around moving heavy machinery can benefit from sturdy materials and protective gear. Equipping workers in hazardous areas with high-visibility clothing, or at least colors designed to catch the eye can help to reduce the risk that an individual isn’t seen by others. In turn, this can potentially prevent serious accidents.
While less common at the average retail location, some businesses may also have specific regulations and guidelines they need to be following when it comes to uniforms and similar gear. These rules are usually designed to keep workers safe, and following them is important both ethically and legally. Failing to follow important safety regulations can lead to serious legal and financial problems, especially if an accident occurs as a result of a company’s negligence.
6. Easing Customer Interactions
Finally, uniforms tend to make customer interactions easier. When someone is dressed in a uniform, it signals to customers that the person is a worker and has at least some level of familiarity with a store. They can either provide the help needed or at least tell a customer where they can get that help.
This is something that isn’t necessarily true with a dress code. While a formal or work casual dress code can signal that a person likely works at a location, it doesn’t rule out that the individual one is looking at just came to a location dressed in a similar manner.
How Alsco Uniforms Can Manage Your Retail Uniforms
Uniforms help a company guide the experience a customer and workers are going to have while at a retail location. They help to reduce the unknowns. A uniform clearly differentiates employees from store visitors and keeps management in control of the image a location is putting forth. As long as these decisions are taken seriously, they can then help make a location seem friendlier, safer, more professional, and easier to navigate.
If you ’re looking to get uniforms for your retail location, or for workers in any other industry, Alsco Uniforms can help. Take a look at our uniform rental services to see how we can simplify your uniform management process. When you rent uniforms, you don’t have to worry about replacing soiled, torn, or worn uniforms. We simply swap those out of the rotation and replace them with new, clean uniforms.
Contact our team if you have any specific requests or questions. We have decades of experience equipping teams and can meet the needs of a business regardless of scale. Reach out today to get started.