Carving out a new route

In a new series of articles for Printwear & Promotion, Adrian Burton of Ask Ady will take a look at various aspects of the workwear industry. This month, he provides insight into Patagonia’s move into the workwear market.

Patagonia is making a brave bold attempt to smash into the workwear market running off the back of its already successful world-renowned brand of professional outdoor clothing.

You might well know Patagonia for arguably some of the best clothing in the world. Used by professional mountain climbers to ramblers globally, it’s trusted by the masses and is well known for its distinctive colourful logo. When you trust a brand you will continue to go back knowing you get value for money and no fuss when it comes to the fit and functionality.

Patagonia has built its brand through this platform, so when they contacted me to tell me that they were now entering the workwear market I was sceptical about how these guys would fare in such a heavily dominated market.

To make it in this industry you have to do something different and making a product similar to the status quo these days just won’t cut it. You have to offer the customer something else, something that resonates with them and that will engage them enough to try the product out and then if it’s true to its word, come back for more.

You will no doubt know that the workwear market is dominated by the heavyweight workwear titans, Dickies and Carhart across the USA and in Europe, also brands such as Snickers, Dewalt, Caterpillar and alike are making huge leaps in technical workwear apparel.

Excitement and intrigue

I was excited to see what Patagonia had to offer but at the same time intrigued by their approach to this marketplace, knowing from personal experiences how hard it is to bring a new brand to market. When I owned a retail store we were bombarded daily by new and existing brands contacting us to see if we had space in our product range to take on new lines. My issue from this perspective as a retailer is that adding a new brand to your product range can dilute the sales for other brands you stock. This increases your capital investment in new products and is taking a gamble to see if it sparks any new sales. If and when you do take on new products, you usually will have to do this at the expense of another line of products.

We do however all need new products to talk about and entice our customers to spend. It’s the progression of products that keep the wheels of industry moving. One such recent invention that caused a huge shift in workwear was around 2018 with the introduction of flexible fabrics, however, this was one of these developments in workwear that was tricky to get right. It’s finding the fabric sweet spot with durability and flexibility, the buzzword is still flexible and I would say the largest portion of our customers who were looking for workwear still requested this as the main feature in their new purchases. What was great was that when we did have customers asking for this as the main feature it gave us an opportunity to get them to try a new brand or product line.

However, with fabrics, if you make it too strong and resistant to abrasion, then it can tend to feel restrictive and not breathable. If you want more flexibility, you could make the fabric too thin and it will rip or rub through easily.

However, now that the premium brands have developed these cutting-edge fabrics, the technology is now splitting the workwear industry. The high-end development teams of the corporate giants are taking strides apart from the smaller manufacturers that are trying to keep up with the accelerated changes that are engineered and used now as standard from the premium brands.

When I look now at the workwear market from just a few years ago, there was a clear definition between it and professional sportswear, but now as so many companies own multi-brands, the crossover of material technology is now creating a new hybrid breed of clothing. I am sent daily new products to review and assess and I am increasingly stunned at the quality of the products and the materials used from when stretch was first introduced to now. Workwear is now a hybrid mixed product that takes on the engineered fabrics from top-end sportswear to materials used by the armed forces. These coupled together now make for some truly inspiring products.

Materials used

I was keen to see the materials that had been used by Patagonia since it is truly dominant in the professional clothing industry. I guess though as expected, the brand has created its own route to market, and in no way has it followed the trend of the fabrics being currently used. Instead, Patagonia has designed its own, forged from hemp material, working with natural products that were once used for 10,000+ years and are believed to have been the first true fabric ever used for clothing. Patagonia is using this, now new hemp fabric, to create an exciting new range of workwear. By spinning and mixing the hemp with a blend of polyester and cotton, recycled and organic, the combinations of which I was told, offered an increased resistance to abrasion of 25% more than conventional cotton duck canvas and needs no break-in. Would it though be comfortable enough to wear all day at work especially as we are now working with so many highly advanced materials?

The hemp is now grown in Kentucky, as old tobacco farms are now being repurposed to grow these once illegal plants, and having a product produced in the states again helps with the US economy and the creation of man-made fibres that are heavy on C02 on the environment. Patagonia is carving out its own route, pushing back on these issues and sticking with its beliefs and has taken its Iron Forge Hemp to market in a full range of workwear for men and women. The fabrics that feel soft to the touch, have an industrial and traditional look and are very comfortable to wear. The product range styling sits perfectly in the global market as products such as the Men’s Iron Forge Hemp Canvas Barn Coat, which has the styling of a duck jacket, have been attempted to be reproduced by many leading brands. This though is produced from hemp, a fabric for me sets the product range apart and gives it its own credibility. The hemp material from Patagonia is better suited to earth colour tones that offer, and are available in the iconic rattan mustard yellow, washed-out black and an olive green colour that looks great and slightly fatigued.

The US-style of workwear that is usually seen in the likes of Dickies and Carhart has become very popular in the UK and European markets, with agricultural workers, grounds staff and the building trade now seeing the trend shift. These US designs and durability usually carry a high price tag but the increased longevity makes it worth it. The styling and colours are becoming more popular than ever and make a great change to the norm.

Women’s workwear range

Something that caught my attention was the women’s workwear range which is a hugely brave step by Patagonia. Truthfully, I believe that most premium workwear brands will confess that this is an even tougher market to crack than just the workwear market alone, but I believe if you are going to do it right then you need to cover both fits of clothing. Each range complements the other with the main products such as the barn coats and cargo pants available in a male and female fit.

The Women’s All Seasons Hemp Canvas Double Knee Pants have a modern tapered cut and are designed with functional cargo leg pockets. They come in yellow rattan and a stone blue which was a real winner for us. What stood out for me, was that the workwear complements and perfectly integrates with their range of leisure/ sports products. You can easily mix and match Patagonia T shirts with the brand’s workwear and it won’t look out of place. We tried the Women’s Capilene Cool Lightweight Tank Top alongside the Women’s All Seasons Hemp Canvas Bomber Hoody Jacket and Trousers. One thing that is mentioned on Patagonia’s website and worth noting prior to order is their sizing. I am usually large in a men’s jacket yet I ordered a medium and found it fitted perfectly well, if you are not looking to layer up or are of the lean build then you might want to order a smaller size, but check the website for more information if you are unsure.

The women’s workwear was an excellent fit, my daughter and wife are both around a small (8-10 ladies) and both of the girls are quite petit, at just over 5ft tall, the jackets fitted well in a Patagonia’s size small, and the arm length of these jackets was just right. The trousers do come up a little large in the waist, but perfect with a belt.

In summary, you don’t often come across a brand that decides to take a completely different approach to produce a product and reinvent the wheel. It is hugely adventurous and commendable and it’s not just about their new product range. It’s the entire back story of how it’s creating a global difference to communities of farmers, who are now being able to use their land to do what they love and that farms it. Its hemp production is injecting money back into the US economy in areas that have been looking to reuse their land after the decline in tobacco demand. It is also aiding the reduction in global shipping and has created a new fabric that is highly sustainable.