Does My Company Uniform Need a Logo?

Your company is getting ready to obtain new uniforms for employees. You haven’t decided whether you want to rent or buy, but that question is secondary to actual uniform design. The big question on your mind now is whether or not the uniform should include your company logo? Before you assume it should, step back and think about what you are trying to accomplish.

Almost all company uniforms are branded with logos and/or custom embroidery. But that’s not always the case. There are very legitimate reasons for leaving the logo out of the equation. Including the company logo is generally a branding issue. And really, this is the best way to determine whether or not your uniform should include a logo.

Logos and Professional Branding

At Alsco, a Salt Lake City company that provides uniform rental throughout North America and Europe, adding logos to employ uniforms is standard fare. They say logos and professional branding go hand-in-hand. Indeed, it is exceedingly difficult to solidify a brand in the minds of consumers without some sort of visual signal. That’s where logos become so important.

Consider a local heating and cooling company with a crew of ten service technicians. Placing the company logo on their uniforms goes a long way toward professional branding. Assuming that your technicians always give 110%, the logo on their uniforms will have a positive impact on your brand.

Are there ever circumstances for which such branding would not be appropriate? Absolutely. There is a reason that workers in hospitals and other healthcare settings rarely wear branded scrubs: neither the ER nor the exam room are appropriate venues for branding.

Logos and Employee Identification

Above and beyond branding, there are other reasons for putting a company logo on uniforms. Employee identification is one of them. This is important in industries that have direct contact with customers in their homes. Logos on employee uniforms instantly identify a person standing at a customer’s door.

Logos can still be helpful in a commercial setting as well. For example, a company logo might be the only way to distinguish between an employee and customer at a large, retail home improvement center. You do not want your customers asking advice of other customers they have mistaken for employees.

The uniqueness of uniforms in medical settings mitigates the need for logos to identify workers. Blue scrubs and a white lab coat make it pretty clear you are dealing with the doctor. Nurses and techs generally where unique scrubs while allied and support workers wear something else. Uniforms properly identify healthcare workers even without logos.

Logos and Company Pride

There are times when employers want company uniforms to inspire pride in their employees. Of course, employees have to be proud of the companies they work for and the services they provide. Otherwise, a company logo will be meaningless. But assuming the pride is already there, well-designed uniforms with logos only promote that pride.

Workers seeing one another in their branded uniforms reminds them that they are part of something bigger than themselves. It reminds them of the daily opportunity they have to provide products and services they know customers genuinely appreciate. Branded uniforms might even give employees the opportunity to promote the company outside of the workplace.

The vast majority of company uniforms are branded to one degree or another. Such branding often includes a company’s logo. Whether or not to invest in adding the logo is a matter of individual choice. If the need justifies it, including your logo could ultimately end up being that which makes those new uniforms successful as a branding tool.