Home Case Studies A smart new appearance for Selco

A smart new appearance for Selco

From a small, family owned business established in Birmingham in 1895, Selco Builders Warehouse has grown to become one of the UK’s largest trade only builders’ merchants with over 40 branches in the UK and ambitious plans to open another 10 by the end of 2016.

With over 1,800 branch staff comprising 50 different job roles - from forklift drivers to branch managers and shop floor assistants – each with different workwear needs, Selco have a large workforce with complex staff uniform requirements.

The Challenge

Selco contracted Irongate to design and manufacture a brand new staff uniform. They felt their current plain navy uniforms no longer reflected the vitality and quality of the business. They wanted to create:

A visual impact which simultaneously reinforced the Selco brand and gave their staff a greater sense of inclusivity.
Make their employees more easily identifiable
Garments that meet the strenuous demands placed on their clothing in the workplace
A coordinated look to work across their whole team – different departments, different job roles and for the garments to be suitable for both male and female staff.

The Solution

Bespoke design and manufacture Irongate’s Workwear team worked closely with Selco to identify the central requirements of the new staff uniform to enable them to design and manufacture a new bespoke work wardrobe that fitted the bill exactly. The result is a range of hard-wearing clothing combinations with a host of useful features to ensure staff stay comfortable and stylish, while tackling the precise physical demands of the job. The range spans 11 items, including polo shirts and formal shirts, jumpers, soft-shell jackets, base layers, trousers, beanies and baseball caps. And with women now making up a third of the staff, the uniforms were made available in cuts specially-designed to suit female body shapes. The breezy, multi-colour creations mixing light and dark blue with yellow are in perfect harmony with Selco’s branch-wide branding, allowing customers to pinpoint a helpful staff member instantly.

Up close, a multitude of subtle design touches underlines Irongate’s expertise in blending performance and practicality. The range also allows Selco to denote job roles - while some items are standard across the organisation, formal shirts in white, light and dark blue reflect differing positions.

1.9.14 - Isleworth. Opening of the new Selco branch in Isleworth. Photo: Professional Images/@ProfImages

Once the specific garment designs had been chosen, Irongate created digital representations to show how the new Selco uniforms could look when introducing colours from the company logo. An innovative approach was also taken to the need for high visibility. Rather than have staff throw a standard hi-vis vest over the top of their branded uniform, hi-vis areas have been built in to the design, such as on contrast panels, printed logos and piping. Uniform stock on-demand and distribution The breadth of the range could have posed difficulties with stock-holding and supply of replacement items, or when new starters join the company. Irongate’s approach was to take orders for each Selco branch location. It then created individually packed and labelled packages for each member of staff, with the exact number and size of garments required. Consignments were then despatched to individual Selco branches. Because each package was addressed to a specific staff member, distribution to the workforce was not only much easier but also saved a lot of time for Selco. To further save time and resources, Irongate fully manages uniform stocks on Selco’s behalf and currently hold approximately six months’ worth, ready for Selco to call-of at any time and be delivered on the next working day.