Sizing a Uniform for Everybody Who Works There
By The Velocity Wear Team
Uniform sizing is treated as a procurement detail and experienced as a statement about who the organisation expects to employ. Someone who receives a garment they cannot wear, or is told their size is a special order, has been given information about their position that no policy document offsets.
Order the full range as standard
The most common failure is a range that stops too early at both ends. It is usually justified by cost, and where a manufacturer sets minimums per design rather than per size, that justification does not hold — a full spread inside a 20-piece minimum costs the same as a narrow one.
Where sizes genuinely carry a surcharge, consider absorbing it centrally rather than passing it on. An employee paying more for the same uniform is a visible inequity.
Unisex is not neutral
"Unisex" in practice usually means a men’s block relabelled, which fits some bodies well and others poorly. It is efficient and it is not neutral.
- 1**Offer both fits where you can,** and let people choose without justifying the choice.
- 2**Do not label them by gender if that is awkward** — Fit A and Fit B, with measurements published, lets people pick what fits.
- 3**Check the whole range in both fits,** since one is often stocked less deeply than the other.
The cases people forget
- **Maternity.** A programme with no maternity option forces someone to either buy their own or stop wearing uniform. Both are bad outcomes and it is entirely foreseeable.
- **Religious dress.** Longer sleeves, longer hems, headwear compatibility, and garments that work with what someone already wears.
- **Adaptive needs.** Seated fit, alternative fastenings, ease of dressing. Rarely offered and straightforward to accommodate if asked about.
- **Temperature.** People run hot and cold differently; a layering option is more inclusive than a single garment.
Ask rather than assume
A single question in the sizing survey — "is there anything about the standard garments that would not work for you" — surfaces almost all of this, privately and before the order. It is the cheapest inclusion measure available and it is skipped almost universally.
Publish measurements, not labels
Sizing varies between brands, so a size label is not information. Garment measurements let everyone choose accurately, and they remove the awkwardness of someone having to ask what a size actually means.
What it costs
Less than the alternative. Unworn uniform is wasted spend, exchanges cost handling, and someone being unable to participate properly costs considerably more than a wider size run — which, on a per-design minimum, may cost nothing at all.
