Peter Dumigan, Managing Director of the Hultafors Group UK, looks into the latest summer workwear advancements and has some top tips for staying cool on-site.
Professional tradesmen and women know that working on-site can be a hazardous business. Minor injuries are commonplace and more serious, long term injuries can often happen.
There’s a host of training, PPE products and information services available to keep us safety-aware and protected. But it isn’t just physical hazards in the working environment you should be conscious of, you also need to be aware of how the summer weather can affect your performance and wellbeing on-site – so that means dressing right.
We’re all looking forward to sunny weather this year, but warmer working conditions can also compound the health and safety issues by creating an extra UV hazard for personal wellbeing.
Dressing right for the working environment you’re in is therefore very important – not only for working efficiency, but also for personal comfort and safety. Hard work in hot and humid conditions can not only be uncomfortable, but dangerous too. So when temperatures rise, it’s important that we take the necessary precautions to stay cool, dry, and well-covered. That’s where Snickers Workwear’s LiteWork moisture-wicking, and UV-protective workwear can play an important role.
When choosing the right working clothes for a hard day’s work in the sun, there are three important factors that we all need to think about:
• Garment fabric technology
Lightweight fabrics deliver better ventilation and dry faster once they’re wet from perspiration. Even though cotton is thought to be a lightweight fabric, its high absorbency makes it dry very slowly. LiteWork workwear is sustainably designed for working in warmer weather, using specially selected durable, lightweight fabrics for your comfort and safety.
• Your body temperature
In warm, sunny working conditions, you need clothes with exceptional breathability and ventilation. LiteWork workwear uses stretchable fabrics with 37.5 Fabric Technology. Patented particles in the fabric help your body maintain an ideal core temperature – thermoregulate – by removing perspiration vapours before they can turn into liquid sweat. That means you can stay both cool and dry no matter how hot it gets. Sweat is the cooling mechanism of the body. The vapour needs to be released and ventilated away from your body or you will end up soaking wet – something you’re likely to have experienced if you’ve worked in non-breathable materials during hot days.
• UV-protection
In sunny conditions, protection from the sun’s harmful UV rays is vital. A number of garments in the LiteWork collection use lightweight, densely woven fabrics that provide an excellent Ultraviolet Protection Factor rating of 40+.
Choosing the right types of clothing
For summer working, choose workwear that is designed to create a kind of climate control system for your body. Designed to help you stay cool, they should also have added UPV40+ protection to make getting the job done as comfortable and safe as possible.
Your legs
Shorts are fine in really warm weather and some working environments, but they won’t provide protection for your knees and lower legs. Work trousers made from heavy fabrics will get really uncomfortable and impractical, so think about getting yourself a pair of LiteWork trousers or shorts made with 37.5 Fabric Technology or stretchable fabrics that combine comfort with durability.
Your upper body
The last thing you need is for your clothes to get really wet through sweat, leaving you feeling uncomfortable and cold when the temperature drops. Staying comfortable and dry will keep you working efficiently. Get yourself some LiteWork topwear with its bio-based, anti-odour finish that works for you by pulling sweat away from your skin to keep you dry, your body temperature regulated and protected from the sun’s rays.
One eye on the environment
Just as the effects of plastic waste on the environment has been brought to the centre of consumer consciousness in recent years, so the problems caused by the disposal of clothing are also coming to the fore.
Snickers Workwear’s design and development has always been driven by continual research into user needs and experiences in a variety of working environments and weather conditions, but nowadays carbon footprint impact is a key part of that evaluation. It’s not just the physical demands on the body when working hard on-site or in sports and leisure activities which are drivers in Snickers Workwear’s research and development, it’s the physical demands that product manufacturing and disposal place on the environment that matter too.
So, if you’re thinking about what’s most practical and beneficial to wear this summer – for work or leisure – some of Snickers Workwear’s LiteWork clothing is dual-purpose and works hard in reducing our collective carbon footprints.
If its performance you need, check out the upgraded lightweight and breathable 37.5 fabric in Snicker’s Workwear’s shirts and base-layer clothes. With superb cooling technology, they’re great for demanding tasks on-site as well as high intensity gym work, circuit training, jogging, hill walking and mountain-biking.
Verifiable Sustainability
But if you want to be more than just cool and comfortable at work this summer – and do your for bit for saving the planet – the ‘Verifiable Sustainability’ in Snickers Workwear’s new T- and polo-shirts will suit you down to the ground. The brand aims to be at the forefront of sustainability in workwear which is why the new lightweight polo and T-shirts are made of 100% recycled polyester with a bio-based, anti-odour finish plus a smooth texture and efficient moisture transport for great working comfort.
While style, comfort and functionality have been key drivers in Snickers Workwear clothing development over the years, fabric performance and sustainability is now central to the technical design of the garments, just as it is in performance sports and leisurewear.
The result is environmentally-friendly, ergonomically designed dual-purpose working clothes that are not only designed to meet the physical demands that tradesmen and women face at work but are also ideal for some sports and leisure activities. They’ll also reduce your carbon footprint too!
Browse the latest Snickers Workwear online catalogue here
