1. SNAPSHOT
- Development Phase: 1 year
- SKUs developed: Four high performance jackets and trousers
2. THE CUSTOMER
The customer is a leading vendor of workwear & PPE across Europe and the Americas with over 60 years of experience, headquartered in Southern Europe.The customer specializes in workwear with vast ranges across general purpose, stretch, hi-visibility & winter garments spanning across all the categories of PPE.
3. THE CHALLENGES
The customer’s requirementwas to develop a range of jackets &trousers with added stretchability for better performance, comfort& mobility.These products were different fromregulartechnical workwear which do not usually incorporateany stretch. These jackets & trousers were intended to be general purpose with good overall protection.
Aesthetically, the garments also needed to be fashionably versatilewithout looking too utilitarian, as they would be sold & displayed at retailers.
Combining form & function from the above points proved to be a challenge for the designers as the detailing on these products needed highly functional & construction of the garments demanded high seam resistance.
4. MALLCOM’S ACTION PLAN
Mallcom co-developed a range of jackets & trousers,right from yarn count selection to fabric utilization& construction planning,specially designed for material handling.
Special attention was paid to make sure that the garments had a high degree of abrasion resistance from a multitude of surfaces, while also not sacrificing mobility as the wearer’s job demands a high degree of body flexibility.
5. THE SOLUTIONS
5.1 FABRIC DEVELOPMENT
Unlike a cotton-spandex blend fabric which is common for this style of workwear, Mallcom developed a polyester-cotton-spandex blend fabric.
Mallcom also developed a special fabric to replace Cordura®in the garment. After numerous iterations and discussions with the client, a 165gsm waffle-weave polyester: spandexblend was developed by Mallcom’s R&D team,which had the following saliencies:
5.2 DESIGN FEATURES
Designs played a strategic role in this project and various parameters were considered, like safety, utility, construction, assembly of different fabrics & pricing.
5.2.1 MULTIPLE POCKETS ADDING UTILITY
Mallcom has always created designs which are based on the user &his/her utility.Hence, multiple pockets were provided with various combinations of designs with flaps, coin pockets, key pockets &meter-rule pockets etc.
JACKET:
- 2 front flap pockets
- 2 front-side angled pockets
- 2 large front pockets on inside
TROUSERS:
- 2 standard pockets in the front with 1 small, zipperedpocket for belongings
- 2 back pockets with flaps
- One thigh pocket with flap & another smaller pocket for small tools
- 2 high depth pockets on right thigh for tall & narrow instruments like rulers, screwdrivers, pliers etc.
5.2.2 DETACHABLE SLEEVES
The jackets were designed with detachable sleeves, to enable workers to wear it without sleeves for comfort & mobility during summers. This also helps reduce the utilization of a garment based on a particular season. Specially shaped armholes give more space for arm movement.
5.2.3 REINFORCED BELT LOOPS &PARTIALLY ELASTICATED WAISTBAND
One of the earliest failure points of work trousers are the belt loops, especially the ones on the back. As these loops are tensioned while bending over. To counter this issue, the loops were made thrice as thick designed with twin bar tacks on both ends for extra durability.
6. GOING ABOVE & BEYOND WITH PACKAGING
The goal was to have a coordinated system of preparing the goods for transport, warehousing, logistics and visual merchandising, thus simplifying operations for the client. For the packaging modelling, we developed the new packaging as follows:
- Single piece packed in a half box made of cardboard:
This multipurpose pizzabox style packaging can alsobe converted to a hanging box.
2. One dozen assorted boxes of one colour of trousers in a display box with product imagery.
a. Serves to display multiple sizes in a cohesive manner
b. Prevents risk of falling at the point of purchase as compared to stacks of individual boxes
c. Small circular window incorporated on the side to peek at the colour
d. Specially designed to be easy to unfold & set up without specific instructions
To ensure highest quality of minute print matter without increasing the cost, Mallcomcollaboratedtirelessly with its certified vendors to get the box printed in parts on smaller printersandthe pieces were then pasted for a lower overall cost.
