Fashionable workwear for ladies

Workwear needn’t be dull and practical. Look the business in everything from skirt suits to dress coats, says Francesca Craggs.

Gone are the days when only a two-piece suit would pass as suitable office attire. Today women’s workwear takes on many different guises.

From this season’s power-dressing, to something a little more on the casual side, anything goes for the office in 2009.

For those who want to make a bold statement, autumn/winter collections have a wealth to offer. It’s all about the shoulders this season and high street collections are brimming with some great workwear options. Jackets and shirts with statement shoulders are not only stylish, but very ‘now’ and extremely smart. Wear statement shoulders with confidence, but don’t forget to keep the bottom half of your outfit understated. A sleek black pencil skirt or tailored trousers are a great way to complete the look.

UHF-band RFID Tag for uniform sterilization at work

Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Frontech Limited announced that they have begun to offer the world’s first(1) flexible UHF-band RFID tag for garment management that can withstand high-temperature sterilization(2). The tag is intended for use in uniforms worn by employees at plants that manufacture products such as medical supplies or semiconductors, in which it is necessary to sterilize uniforms at a temperature of 121?.

Fujitsu and Fujitsu Frontech have fully demonstrated the new tag’s durability by conducting repeated environmental tests under a high temperature of 121? and high pressure conditions of 2 atm, using autoclave sterilization(3), one of the most effective sterilization techniques.

Utilizing the tags will enable companies to manage uniforms much more efficiently in locations such as plants where uniform sterilization is required.

In order to prevent plants that manufacture items such as medical supplies and semiconductors from being contaminated by microorganisms and other outside pollutants, uniforms worn by employees are thoroughly sterilized in advance. While most microorganisms can be eliminated at 100? over a short period of time, in the case of uniforms worn at medical supply and semiconductor plants, it is important to eliminate microorganisms that have a significantly higher resistance to heat. In order to accomplish this, it is often necessary to employ autoclave sterilization, the most effective sterilization technique in use to kill microorganisms at temperatures of 121? and pressure conditions of 2 atm.

Flexible UHF-band RFID tags for garment management have been widely adopted by various manufacturing plants with the aim of efficiently managing employee uniforms. Up until this point, however, no flexible UHF-band RFID tags for garment management able to withstand temperatures of 121? were commercially available. As a result, manufacturing plants where high-temperature sterilization is required have faced the common challenge of having to manually handle uniform maintenance.

Alexandra Workwear climbs back into profit of pounds 1.7m

ALEXANDRA Workwear, maker of clothing from boilersuits to nurses’ uniforms, bounced back into profit last year, helped by a lower interest bill and the absence of one-off costs.

 

Pre-tax profits were pounds 1.7m for the 12 months to 30 January. In the year before Alexandra lost pounds 500,000.

 

The company targets small business customers and has a 200,000- strong client list. The results pleasantly surprised the stock market and the company’s shares jumped nearly 8 per cent to 128p from 119p.

 

However, operating profits slipped back from pounds 3.6m to pounds 3.4m. Operating profit margins also suffered.

 

Taxable profits saw the benefit of a pounds 1.7m interest charge, against pounds 2.6m in 1991. Alexandra’s debt now stands 37 per cent lower at pounds 10.1m. The gearing ratio is 46 per cent compared with 73 per cent.

 

Pre-tax profits for 1991 were also burdened by a pounds 1.5m exceptional cost of redundancies and plant re-organisation. There were no one-offs in last year’s figures.

 

Gerald Dennis, the chairman, fuelled positive sentiment, saying: ‘Although activity remains fairly flat there are certain signs of increasing interest in additional workwear.’

Davis results scrub up well

Davis Service managed to turn out decent half-year results, despite worries that demand for its hotel and workwear would come under pressure throughout the recession.  Sales and profits held steady, and improved free cash flow helped the group reduce net debt by £64.5m.

Workwear performed well in the the UK and on the Continent even in the face of rising unemployment, although Davis admitted that the pace of growth in Europe had slowed as the economy deteriorated further. Demand from healthcare customers remained strong in both textiles and clinical solutions. The UK business reported 100 per cent retention rates, and was successful in cross-selling decontamination services. Meanwhile, the restructuring of the German healthcare division is on the way to delivering its targeted 4 per cent operating margin.

NKD Clothing Boss Shortlisted for Business Top Award

NKD Clothing director Gill Eastgate is set to follow in bra boss Michelle Mone’s footsteps after reaching the Scottish final of the JCI Creative Young Entrepreneur Award (JCI CYEA).

NKD Clothing founder Gill – who successfully spearheaded a management buyout of the corporate clothing firm in 2005, since doubling the company’s profits to £1.3 million – beat off 16 high-profile applicants to become one of the six finalists.

 

The JCI CYEA was launched in 2005 and was designed specifically to recognise outstanding entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 40.

 

Applicants are required to have started a new business using creativity in product development, service development, and in their approach to the market.

Existing business owners must have taken an active business and incorporated creativity to solve a problem, change a process or to create positive change in their business operations.

Leading companies to join Workwear & Corporate Clothing Show

Russell Europe, Pret Apparel, INVISTA Cordura, Buffera Ltd, APT Fabrics and William Sugden & Sons Ltd are to exhibit at the Workwear and Corporate Clothing Show 2010 for the third year running!

The companies were so impressed by the first two shows that they have wasted no time in securing their space at next year’s event on 13th and 14th April.

INVISTA Cordura(R) has also confirmed that it will be the main sponsor of the prestigious Business Manager Awards, for the second year in a row. This time, the exhibition complete with spectacular fashion show, industry conference and award ceremony will take place at the popular and easily reached Ricoh Arena in Coventry. Second-time around exhibitors for 2010 will include footwear manufacturer Crocs Europe, Engel Workwear, Kingfisher Leisurewear Ltd and Shandar Sporting Goods (MFG) Co. The Sutton Group will also be showcasing their range of innovative corporate footwear for the first time.

Workwear & Corporate Clothing Show

UK union says let workers dress down in heatwave

LONDON (Reuters Life!) – British workers should be allowed to swap ties and jackets for shorts and T-shirts during Britain’s heatwave, a union group said on Wednesday.

The Met Office this week issued a heatwave warning, the first for three years, saying temperatures would soar to about 33 degrees Centigrade (91 F) in London on Thursday.

Men at work

 A group of loggers stand outside in Oregon, clothed in the heavy boots, pants and jackets that have been adopted by the fashion world. 

Workwear has been an incipient trend for some seasons and, with inconspicuous consumption the name of the game this season, there’s never been a better time to try it out, says Jocelyn Glei

The Business Manager Awards

Bob Taylor, National Uniform Manager for Royal Mail, was declared the winner in the Workwear Section of The Business Manager Awards presented as part of the Workwear and Corporate Clothing Show in Birmingham (1st April).

Welcome!

    Welcome to the Corporate Connection blog!