Uniforms: Are they your pride and joy?

Your drivers are arguably the face of the business, it only seems fitting that they have a high-quality uniform to welcome passengers

Operators take great pride in their fleets before they hit the road to collect their passengers. The body is washed and polished, the alloys are sparkling, and the interior has been vacuumed and dusted – but what about the drivers and fellow team members?

We’ve all heard the sayings: Dress to impress; buy cheap, buy twice; and clothes maketh the man. And when in a customer-facing role, appearance is vital.

Customer expectations are ever evolving, and one business which strives to ensure operators’ staff are dressed in the most presentable way to greet passengers is Pride and Joy Clothing.

Come a long way

This year marks the fifth anniversary since Pride and Joy was re-branded from Leisurewear Direct.

The business says this new direction focused on its “traditional values, service and a great new clothing line for the passenger transport sector.”

And it has paid off; July was a record-breaking month for Pride and Joy, with the business at one point having to implement a three-week long 24-hour operation to meet demand.

The team of four (seven if we include the firm’s furry mascots: Bruce, Daisy-May and Rosie), rotated shifts; two during the day, two in at night.

Jane Phillips, Director, says: “The other only solution, so that we didn’t need to work 24 hours, would have been to sub contract the embroidery out – but then you risk the standard of quality.”

Why Pride and Joy?

Jane believes operators choose Pride and Joy for staff uniforms for one simple reason: Community.

“We have got a massive number of friends who are customers. None of our team are salespeople. We go to Coach & Bus UK and Euro Bus Expo, both at the NEC Birmingham, to network and build relationships – almost like a meet and greet,” she explains.

An operator just came onboard with Pride and Joy after being referred to the clothing specialists.

Jane explains that the operator said: “Everyone I’ve spoken to on the industry social media platforms about uniforms have said to come to Pride and Joy.”

“As operators know too well, don’t devalue your product. If you’re providing a quality service, customers won’t necessarily go for the cheapest, they will go for the better quality of service – cheap doesn’t always mean best.

“You’ve got to find something that customers find attractive that isn’t price, and that’s got to be quality, service and honesty,” says Jane.

“And that’s something we try not to change. We go out and interact with the market, but we do things our way and we never change from that.

“If someone came in tomorrow and said, ‘right I’m going to put a new computer system throughout and your customers can order online,’ I would say ‘no thanks,’ because it’s so important that we talk to people – whether they’re happy or they’re annoyed – communication is key.”

Choice is yours

When it comes to choosing what to wear, there one vital element: It needs to be fit for purpose. And having made in excess of 50,000 uniforms, Pride and Joy is one of the leading manufacturers of clothing to the coach and bus industry so understands this need.

“For operators looking to invest in a new uniform for their staff, I always say don’t be held by something you would want to wear yourself on a Saturday night,” Jane says.

“Quite often you get people putting their own style on it and wanting to spend unnecessary money. They need to remove that perception and look at what the employees need to wear every day to do the job.”

Jane explains that some operators will insist on it, even though it’s not going to do the job. Some operators may want a particular suit, however, it’s not a work wear suit, the trousers just won’t stand the day to day wear.

“We will always ask the operator what they want the uniform to do; it’s important to fit the products to the job,” she says. “So, if it is a school run, yes polo shirts are fine. If it’s all corporate private hire, it needs to be cranked up a little bit.”

As well as being fit for purpose it’s important that the driver is actually going to wear it.

“There’s no point in having five shirts, a jumper, a tank top, and a coat, if they’re not going to wear it. Most of it is going to be in the wardrobe and you are just wasting money off your bottom line.

“We give them the choice: Do they want a jumper or a tank top, do they want a short sleeve or long sleeve shirt? They get a form to fill in and every person gets to pick what they want from the operators wardrobe, and we are happy to work like that.

Future goals

Jane tells routeone that one of the firm’s 2020 goals has already been achieved, and now it continues to fulfil its mission: To provide good old-fashioned service with traditional values to enhance and keep your brand working.

They have a high volume of repeat business, Jane sees retention as key to growth, it is a lot easier to keep a customer happy than it is to go out and look for new business.

“It’s imperative that an operation is seen to be professional. From the vehicle, whether it’s a 16-plate or 19-plate, to the person behind the wheel. The days of people going out in scruffy polo shirts and a pair of jeans are long gone,” Jane says.