Choosing the color of uniforms for your business can play a huge role in positioning your brand to receive the desired effect in the marketplace. Customers often notice color first when they encounter your business, and first impressions have an incredible impact on how your brand is perceived. If you are just starting out and choosing your business’s uniform colors or upgrading your market position, here are a few factors to consider.
The Importance of Color Choice in Uniforms
An interesting color palette can speak volumes about your business, helping to communicate the brand message to prospective customers even before they read a word of text. In most cases, a uniform is one bold color accented by the logo, which may bring in a few more colors, but it is possible to mix and match. For example, if you have black shirts, you might incorporate blue aprons if your logo includes both black and blue. If you opt for a neutral color — black, white, brown or beige —it might be a good idea to augment that neutral color with a pop of color for some interest. Ultimately, the colors you choose for your uniforms should communicate the same feeling you want your brand to convey.
Choosing the Message of Your Brand and Uniforms
Are you in the health and wellness industry and offering healing or restorative treatments that augment mental, emotional and physical health? Cool colors like pale blue and green may be appealing choices for your uniforms.
Do you run a fun restaurant with an exciting atmosphere? Bold colors that add to the environment and the feel of the venue make perfect sense for your uniforms.
Do you have a business that caters to children or specializes in education? Primary colors that are bright and eye-catching are a good fit.
Consider what you want a potential customer to feel while doing business with you and choose uniform colors that support those emotions.
Color Choice Is Heavily Researched
The psychological impact of different colors has been well-researched, providing business owners with a strong foundation of data from which to start.
The following are just a few of the associations found to be prominently attached to different colors:
Red is a high-energy color that draws attention and creates urgency.
Blue is associated with water and feelings of calm. Young customers consider it a more mature color, and conservative brands often use it.
Yellow is cheery and optimistic. It is an eye-catching choice that pops.
Orange may be cautionary or attention-grabbing, depending on its placement.
Green is often associated with money, nature and healthy or environmentally safe choices.
Black may symbolize power and strength, and it can be slimming in uniforms. It may also hide most stains (bonus!).
White is often equated with purity, cleanliness and freshness.
Considerations
As much as brand positioning is a key factor when choosing uniform colors, it is also important to consider a few other factors when making the final decision. In theory, brand color may sound amazing given the psychological indicators, but brand color may not actually work when it comes time to put it into practice.
Functionality
Yellow may sound like the perfect choice for your company and brand. It stands out, it has a happy feel to it, and it definitely makes a statement. But if the employees who wear the uniform will need to dig ditches or triage hurt animals, those pretty yellow uniforms won’t stay pretty (or yellow) for long. Consider what a wide range of factors—your employees will be doing while wearing the uniforms, what kinds of stains may be common, how quickly the uniforms will look dirty, and how staining will impact the brand message—before making a final choice.
Status
It may be necessary to choose different colors for different levels of employees. This color coding lets the customers know who is in charge of which department and/or where to go for upper-level support. In some cases, it may not be necessary to change the color of the entire uniform. Instead, you could change one aspect of the uniform, add a patch or categorize the uniform in some other way to indicate what positions people hold.
Employee Response
You may feel that chartreuse is the perfect color for your uniforms. However, if your employees hate the color and are miserable wearing the uniform, the ultimate effect will not be positive. It is important to choose uniform colors and styles that make your employees feel comfortable doing their job. If your employees feel good wearing the uniform every day, their energy and attention will be focused on doing their best work.
Maintenance
All uniforms, of all colors, require regular maintenance and care. Depending on the fabric, some uniforms will require stain treatment prior to washing, ironing after drying or regular repair and replacement. The best way to manage this is to choose colors that best serve your brand message and let Alsco take care of the rest.
Alsco Can Take Care of Your Uniforms
Alsco can launder and care for your uniforms, lightening the load so you can focus on growing and scaling your business. In fact, we provide numerous services that can decrease your workload and give you more time for other tasks. From topping off cleaning supplies and soaps to towels, linen laundry, and uniforms, there are many ways that Alsco can help to make your life easier. Contact us at Alsco today to learn more about how we can help you manage your uniforms and more.