Good and well made workwear is the best investment anyone in the building trade can make. Far more important than your tool-set, your ass sorted hammers, screwdrivers, pliers, wrenches, picks and shovels is your clothing. This can be likened to the military where uniform and especially footwear are considered the prime factors in allowing a soldier to function.
Proper work clothing should do many things, but here is a summary of the main purposes and functions that it will provide:
- Naturally the prime area of concern must be safety. It is imperative that sensitive and vulnerable areas are protected. Hence sturdy work boots or even rigger boots are a must to protect feet from impalement or crushing. It is also important that these boots afford a good level of grip and moveability so that the wearer has a suitable freedon of movement. Trousers/ Overalls, Gloves and Headwear should also be worn in keeping with the specifics of the industry involved to protect areas most likely to be at risk.
- A secondary, yet imperative requirement of workwear is that it provides comfort. Clothes should not restrict movement and should provide a good level of protection from the elements. Most workclothes now have padding and reinforced areas to protect the wearer. They also have brought into the industry new materials such as GoreTex and other water resistant finishes which simultaneously allow the body to breate and provide protection.
- Of course far less important than the above reasons, but one, nontheless a contributory factor in choosing workwear is one of fashion. Workwear in now made by some leading brands who also have a foothold and influence on the highstreet such as Caterpillar, Timberland and Helly Hansen. Simply workwear, an online retailer of workwear and apparel have good selection of just such workwear in the section : work jackets, similarly a thorough selection of work boots is to be found in their safety footwear section. It is interesting to note how the fashion industry has been influenced by both military and other such rugged trades’ work uniforms.
In summary, a builder or other such tradesman needs to equip himself just like a soldier, with military precision. Careful thought needs to be applied with regards to protection, mobility and style ( even soldiers care about how they look you see. )