Join the conversation to explore unified solutions for a more inclusive workforce.
Round Table 3 on Draft White Paper Presentation:
28th August 2025, 2:00PM - 3:15PM
Help to provide solutions for those with specific needs.
PARTICIPATING COMPANIES
People are the backbone of every business. Designing professional clothing to cater for specific needs can help to boost productivity and employee retention.
Employees in all walks of life go to work every day and may be silently suffering from various conditions or impairments, or due to natural biological processes such as the menopause. The quality of life of these employees can improved by a thought-out uniform design.
2024 INTERACTIVE SUSTAINABLE SUMMARY
0
%
women (aged 40-60) negatively affected at work by menopause symptoms
0
%
global population are neurodivergent with differences in brain functions
0
%
world’s population experience significant disability
Designing Inclusive Professional Clothing
The PCIAW® Round Table Series on ‘Designing Inclusive Professional Clothing’ will bring in specialists on various medical conditions to consult with buyers and suppliers of uniforms to share best practice solutions on different functional needs that will cater to a diverse workforce.
Professional clothing is designed to give a team identity to employees, to help give functionality to do the job, or to protect them in hazardous environments. PCIAW® is seeking to understand the symptoms and root causes of discomfort in relation to clothing to help the supply chain create adaptive uniform solutions.
Professional clothing is designed to give a team identity to employees, to help give functionality to do the job, or to protect them in hazardous environments. PCIAW® is seeking to understand the symptoms and root causes of discomfort in relation to clothing to help the supply chain create adaptive uniform solutions.
ROUND TABLE TOPICS 2025
Round Table # 3
Presenting a Draft White Paper for Designing Inclusive Professional Clothing
- A Competitive Business Edge with Inclusive Professional Clothing: Overviewing the critical importance and benefits of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) in professional clothing programs.
- Legal Framework and Employer Responsibilities: Outlining existing legislation that mandates DEI consideration, highlighting the need to link uniforms with equality and employment legislation.
- Diversity Needs in Workwear: Reviewing challenges to access fit-for-form workwear for diverse body shapes, also considering maternity, menopause, disability, neurodiversity and cultural inclusion.
- The Role of Wearer Trails: Understanding the beneficial impact that a wearer trial engagement process has with employee representatives to test professional clothing designs for DEI considerations.
- Digital Sizing Technologies: Showcasing solutions that can quickly capture anthropometric data to align professional clothing design with the diverse needs and body shapes of the workforces.
- Design Strategies for DEI Workwear: Examining textile and garment innovations offering versatile functionality catering to multiple DEI needs for commercially viability which improves comfort for all.
- Economic and Social Impact: Evaluating the commercial and social value benefits for businesses investing in DEI workwear to improve productivity, safety, comfort and wellbeing of workforces.
- Recommendations: Presenting recommendations for policy, industry and employers to include mandate DEI into professional clothing programs with a uniformed aesthetic for discrete consideration.
ROUND TABLE TOPICS 2024
Round Table # 1
What PCIAW® wants to know
- Uniform program scope – discuss number of garment types procured and employees fitted.
- Inclusion consideration – identify common needs relating to medical conditions, disabilities, size and fit and examine proportion of workforce requiring accommodation.
- Internal knowledge – review business expertise on inclusive needs and the departments (HR, Health & Safety) they are located in.
- Employee feedback – share input from employees wearing non-inclusive uniforms and from employees who have switched to inclusive options.
- Lead times and market solutions – explore impact on lead time for size-inclusive garments and consider efficiency of inclusive solutions for all, or for people that need it.
Round Table # 2
What PCIAW® wants to know
- Increasing demand - discuss growing requests for inclusive needs in tenders and the motivations for consideration.
- Enabling chemistries - identify technologies like thermoregulation and anti-microbial treatments that can help.
- Inclusive materials - share fabric innovations for comfort and mobility like stretch, breathability, compression, softness.
- Adaptable design - review approaches like seamless clothing, strategic ventilation for inclusion.
- Economies of Scale - consider if scaling inclusive features for full workforce is more cost effective.
