If in readiness for the ‘return to normal’ post lockdown you’re thinking about sorting out the wardrobe for you and your team, then we’ve put together this handy blog with a few prompts of what to ask when looking for a new uniform supplier.

1. Can you explain to me the different types of garments you offer?

It may seem simple to us because we’re (claiming to be!) experts in corporate clothing but choosing the type of garment process you require is the main objective that we will help you decide upon when we initially meet.

‘Off the Peg’ garments literally are as they sound, these are stock supported corporate line items that are available quickly and designs are usually carried for up to 18 months / 2 years. This often tends to be the most budget friendly route when dressing Front of House, Promotional, Reception, Maintenance etc teams. These garments can still be personalised or customised by our in house seamstress team to add colour accents / contrast detailing to make them stand out as well as adding embroidery or print, but the base garment will be something already made and available at short notice.

‘Made to Order’ is often confused with Bespoke and although it’s similar, the difference with Made to Order is that the garments are designed from a standard, pre existing pattern for instance, the pattern of a jacket. So your team will try on a standard UK8/10 jacket sample for example rather than having individual body measurements taken and then we are able to use this pattern design to manufacture the jacket in your chosen fabric. This is a process we use regularly when a client requires something a little different but doesn’t necessarily have the time or budget for a fully bespoke experience. Made To Order garments can be manufactured swiftly as we already have the patterns and manufacturing in place, although it’s worth considering requirements going forward to ensure you’ve secured enough of your chosen fabric. (especially if it’s a signature design)

‘Bespoke’ is the most intensive process where we start from scratch on a garment line and garments are tailored to individual body measurements – this allows for complete freedom on design and creativity and without a doubt provides the most luxury experience! It also means that if you have a specific design requirement for your uniform, this can be incorporated into the garment from the outset. This does usually mean several repeat fittings to ensure the garment will fit each team member which also means this process has the longest lead time.

2. Can you tell me the recommended branding technique for my logo?

Example of 4Couture Vinyl print technique

Our in house print / embroidery team will help us to advise you on the best technique for your logo. The most popular (but not exhaustive!) branding techniques we use are;

Screenprint – for simple straight forward logos usually with no more than 6 colours in them.

Vinyl Print / Digital Transfer – Think football kits when you think of Vinyl printing, straight forward one colour print which is applied almost like the way you’d apply a ‘sticker’ using a heated machine.

Digital Transfer - is applied in the exact same way as Vinyl but we can print a full colour photo image, so for more detailed logos which include use of complex shading we’d use this technique to achieve the best results.

Embroidery – the one branding technique that has our hearts! The most long lasting and durable technique in our opinion and looks smarter when applied to business garments such as suit jackets / shirts etc. We go the extra length to produce detailed logos using embroidery where others may revert to print as we want to ensure we provide that crisp final finish!

With years of experience in embroidery, we’re not only knowledgeable about how best to convert your company logo to get the best final result but also, we’re passionate about threads, no joke! If your team need a hard wearing wardrobe that needs to withstand high temperatures when washed, then we know just the thread to recommend. But conversely, if you’ve got something beautiful that needs to go onto a delicate garment then we’ve got a thread suited to the job.

More recently we’ve started creating 3D embroidery as well as embroidering onto leather to create some genuinely show stopping pieces.

3. What are your lead times for orders?

Our in house mantra is that ‘we never miss a deadline’ and there has only ever been a handful of occasions in our 18 years where we’ve pulled a team all-nighter on a crazy deadline to delight a client! However, we don’t work to the wire on all projects – mainly because this doesn’t allow for any production errors that can sometimes occur, which we always fix with the client being unaware.

For this reason, our lead times are that we aim to turn around ‘standard’ branded orders within 10 working days once your logo has been set up on our machines. That being said, we will always make sure we achieve your deadline so if you have an immovable event that you need the garments for at a quicker rate then please let us know when we first speak so we can ensure we can help you.

4. What are your minimums?

Technically, we can offer garments from 1 piece when we’re producing bespoke projects or working with ‘plain’ garments that don’t need any branding. For all ‘standard’ orders of embroidered/printed garments, the minimums are 25 items for embroidery and 50 for print – these can be a mix and match of different garments. These are our general minimums but please speak to us about your requirements as we’re sure we can help!

5. Do you provide samples, if so how do I organise these?

We can provide samples where required & usually this tends to be done in the form of a meeting (but doesn’t have to be). When you’ve narrowed down your favourite garments we can then arrange to visit you with a selection of samples – even better if you have someone there on the day as a ‘willing’ model who will be happy to try the items on as this always makes it easier to narrow down your preferred look. Where a meeting with us isn’t required, we can send samples to a UK address FOC for our samples period.

6. How do I know what size/fit my team members will need?

Once we’ve worked with you to decide upon your chosen wardrobe requirements, the next step we provide is coming on site for a fittings session. When dressing large teams, we sometimes span this across two days where we will set ourselves up at your desired location and undertake one to one fittings with each team member. Whilst you may be panicking reading this thinking you have to get naked in front of us DON’T WORRY – you don’t!

Our fittings days are aimed to make team members feel comfortable and have a bit of fun whilst trying on their new wardrobe. We will bring along each size of the chosen garments and one by one your team will get to try on and with our help we can make notes about any alterations such as leg lengths, jacket sleeves, bust sewing down etc that may be required. This in return means no employees will order the incorrect size or fit and even more so, will leave the session feeling like their employer has really invested in them.

A typical fittings session for us is usually based in a large meeting room where we can set up the rails of garments somewhere close to the toilet facilities so team members can try the garments on in private and come out to show us when they feel comfortable in the sizing – we can be flexible as to where we base ourselves for the day, we don’t mind where we get put!

Overwhelmingly, the feedback from our team on site fittings days has been brilliant, we often get asked if staff can buy more then their allocated amount or individual’s will comment about how they were previously nervous but after the 4Couture experience they’re just excited and can’t wait for their new work wardrobe to arrive. Fittings sessions are one of our favourite parts of any project as they are so much fun :)

7. I’m worried you won’t supply clothing in my size?

Firstly don’t panic! We’ve worked with many different body shapes and sizes throughout the years and we will always make sure we accommodate all requirements. Corporate manufacturers are working continuously with the changing demands and where it used to be rare, we’re now seeing many more ranges facilitating sizes from UK4 – UK30 & XXS – 7XL. When we work with individuals who fall outside of a certain size range, we have options such as high street brands – whom the wearer may already know and love to make them feel comfortable. And also when time allows, we can always tailor garments to specific requirements – this can sometimes mean tailoring a shirt in its smallest size so it’s even smaller across the chest/sleeves to fit an individual size or it might mean making a one off garment in a larger size to rest the match of the team. Whatever route we decide upon please do not worry, we will always ensure your team members are listened to and we’ll do our upmost to address any concerns.

8. How many garments should I allow my team members? How do I get them to wear the garments in the way I envision them?

This is a question we regularly get asked and we’re happy to provide the following as a rough guide to help;

For a full time team member, we recommend providing the following: 4/5 x shirts, 3 x trousers / skirts, 2 x Jackets

The reason behind this thinking is that garments need a period of rest and what with washing and wearing so frequently, you want to keep them looking as crisp as possible so this allowance should help do the trick.

Upon delivery of your final wardrobe, where individual names / requirements have been provided to us, we will pack and label the garments up so each team member receives a ‘mini’ parcel containing their wardrobe. Inside this parcel we can also pop in ‘Grooming Guidelines’ which we can work with you to create if you have a message you want to convey to the team or we can use our standard text if required – it’s always easier enforcing wearer rules when it comes from a third party!

Topics covered in typical Grooming Guidelines can vary from how the wardrobe should be worn (shirt tucked in, no flip flops for HSE etc) to personal grooming such as hair tied back / no chipped nail varnish / no visible tattoos. Finally, also how to care for the garments with washing instructions and even examples of footwear styles you’d like the team to make sure they wear on shift.

9. How do I manage stock for future orders / team members that join?

This is a two-pronged answer depending on what you decide works best for you. If you choose ‘off the peg’ suiting items for example, then because these are stock supported as mentioned above, you may decide not to hold any stock and just place new orders as and when you have new starters / top ups are needed. If you do want to keep a base level of stock on hand however, our warehouse team are experienced in running client inventories and we have secure storage facilities for your uniform.

If you choose a MTO / Bespoke process or would just like to be assured that you can receive stock quickly then you may decide you’d like us to hold some inventory stock for you in our warehouse. For our hotel clients where staff recruitment tends to be quite high, items such as branded aprons are a great product to keep in inventory stock. This means our client will order a bulk amount upfront that we will embroider and store, to be called off when needed – so because the items are ready to ship, you can receive the items within 48 hours.

11. Where do you source your products from?

In a nutshell we source worldwide however, for our off the peg ranges, many of these are manufactured overseas usually in Europe or the Far East and then shipped to the UK for stock holding. We have partnerships with factories both in Europe & the Far East & here in the UK. At any point of working with you we can provide further information if required. Since the UK has now left the EU then we are working hard with our UK contacts to increase our sourcing from UK factories as well as expanding our own in house production capacity.

12. What makes you different from my current supplier?

We pride ourselves on our service! We don’t sell ‘off catalogue’ so instead we work with you on an individual basis to determine what your team requirements are. Along with our fittings days service and in house seamstress department, we make sure that our attention to detail is next to none for every employee wearing the wardrobe! That being said, we’d never try and steer you away from a current supplier if you’re happy with the service they offer, as we’re strong believers of working with our customers to build long lasting relationships.

In the last 18 years of business we’re very proud to say that we have a number of retained clients who have been with us for more than a decade, we never take them for granted but we’re chuffed they’ve continued to choose us as their uniform partner.

I hope you’ve found this informative and if there’s anything else you’d like to know, drop me an email at hello@4couture.com