Custom Workwear and Branded Uniforms: A Buyer's Guide

Branded workwear is one of the easiest ways to look professional, build trust with customers and bring a team together. Whether you run a small studio, a busy cafe, a trades business a start up or a fast growing company custom workwear and branded uniforms keep your brand visible to your customers at all times.

This guide walks you through everything you need to know before you order, from choosing the right garments and decoration methods to sizing a whole team, keeping costs sensible and adding the finishing touches that make a uniform feel like a proper brand. If you would prefer to talk it through with a person, you can get in touch with our team at any point and we'll be happy to help.

What counts as custom workwear?

Custom workwear is essentially any clothing your team wears that carries your branding rather than a specific type of garment. This can be a printed or embroidered logo, your business name, a tagline or simply your brand colours used consistently across a range of garments.

Branded uniforms cover a wide range of garments. A barista might wear a printed t-shirt and an apron. An office team might choose embroidered polo shirts and sweatshirts. A site team might need outerwear and headwear that holds up outdoors. The right mix depends on your work, the environments you work in and the impression you want to leave.

The good news is that you do not need to decide everything at once. Most teams start with one or two core pieces and build from there as the brand grows.

Choosing the right garments for your team

Comfort matters more than people expect. If a uniform that feels good then people will actually wear it, so it's worth thinking about how the garment will be used day to day and choosing the best fabrics for the job. If you want to get into the detail of fabric, weight and fit before you decide, our guide on how to choose the best t-shirt for printing is a useful starting point.

Here are the most popular workwear garments and where each one tends to fit best.

• Polo shirts are the classic uniform choice. They look smart, suit almost every sector and take embroidered logos well which makes them a strong pick for customer facing teams.
• T-shirts are versatile, comfortable and cost effective making them ideal for hospitality, events, warehouse teams and casual brands.
• Polo shirts and t-shirts in women's fits help every member of the team feel comfortable, which is worth offering rather than relying on unisex sizing alone.
• Sweatshirts and hoodies add warmth and a relaxed modern feel that works well for studios, creative teams and increasingly more corporate and start up teams too.
• Outerwear is essential for anyone working outdoors. A branded jacket or gilet keeps a team warm and dry while keeping your logo visible in all conditions.
• Headwear such as caps and beanies finishes a look and offers extra branding space. They also make for great branded giveaways alongside t-shirts.
• Activewear suits fitness, coaching and outdoor instruction where breathability and movement come first.

A good rule of thumb is to choose one core garment for everyday wear, then add a warmer layer and an outdoor option if your team needs them. That way your uniform works across the seasons without becoming complicated.

Print or embroidery: which decoration method is right?

The two main ways to brand workwear are printing and embroidery. Each has its place, and many teams use a combination across different garments. If you would like a closer look at the two side by side, we cover this in our guide on screen printing vs embroidery.

Embroidery stitches your design directly into the fabric. It looks premium, lasts the life of the garment and gives a professional hard wearing finish. It is the natural choice for polo shirts, sweatshirts, outerwear and headwear, especially for garments that are worn day in, day out and washed a lot.

Printing is better suited to larger or more colourful designs. Eco friendly screen printing is ideal for bigger runs of the same design giving a crisp, durable finish at a competitive price per garment. DTG printing prints full colour detail directly onto cotton, which works well for detailed artwork and smaller quantities. If you would like to understand how these methods differ, our posts on what DTG printing is and DTF vs screen printing explain each one in plain terms.

As a simple guide, choose embroidery for compact logos on smart garments, screen printing for larger designs across bigger orders and DTG / DTF for detailed, colourful artwork in lower numbers. If you are unsure, send us your logo and we will recommend the best approach for your garments and your budget.

How to size and order for a whole team

Sizing a team is where many first time buyers feel stuck so a little planning goes a long way.

Start by collecting sizes from everyone before you order rather than guessing. Offer both standard and women's fits so the uniform feels right for the whole team. It is also worth ordering a few spare garments in common sizes to cover new starters and replacements which saves placing a small follow up orders later on and can also be used as marketing giveaways.

Think about placement too. A left chest logo is the standard for a smart understated look while a larger back print works well when you want your branding to be seen across a room or on site. You can mix placements across your range, for example a chest logo on polo shirts and a bolder print on outerwear.

When you are ready, the easiest way to get accurate numbers for your team and the best price per unit is to request a quote. Tell us the garments, quantities and decoration you have in mind and we will put together clear pricing for you. It is also worth reading our list of 10 things to ask any custom clothing printer before you order so you know exactly what to check.

Keeping costs sensible without cutting corners

Custom workwear pricing comes down to a few simple factors: the garment you choose, the decoration method, the number of colours in your design and the quantity you order.

Quantity is the biggest factor here when it comes to print as screen printing has minimum order quantities and gets cheaper at scale, on the other hand embroidery has no minimum order quantity. Ordering more of the same garment and design brings the cost per piece down, which is why it often makes sense to plan ahead and order for the months to come rather than in small batches. Keeping your design to a sensible number of colours also helps with screen printing costs.

That said, the cheapest garment is rarely the best value and at Live Ink we don't offer any low quality budget garments that aren't made to last. A slightly heavier, better made polo or t-shirt looks sharper, washes better and lasts longer which really matters when a team wears it constantly and it's carrying your branding. We focus on retail quality garments so your uniform still looks good after months of wear rather than fading after a few washes. A little care helps too, and our guide on how to wash screen printed or embroidered clothes shows how to keep a uniform looking its best.

The eco friendly choice for branded uniforms

A uniform is something your team wears every day and your customers see constantly so it is worth making a choice you can feel good about.

We specialise in sustainable and organic garments and eco conscious decoration, which means you can brand your team without the environmental cost that usually comes with it. Our eco friendly approach runs from the organic cotton ranges we stock, including Stanley/Stella, through to the inks and threads we print with and is perfect for GOTS or B-Corp certified companies.

Choosing organic and sustainable workwear sends a clear message to your customers about your values and it is increasingly something people place priority on. For many of the teams we work with  it has become a genuine point of pride and something that their customers or audince really value too. If you want the wider context, we explore the rise of organic garments in UK retail and merchandise and trace organic cotton from field to t-shirt in two of our other guides.

Ready to kit out your team?

Branded workwear is one of the most cost effective ways to look professional, build customer trust and bring your team together. With the right garments, the right decoration and a few thoughtful finishing touches, your uniform becomes a part of your brand that works for you every day.

Tell us what you have in mind and we will help you get it right. Get in touch for a quote or create a free account to get started.