During the last several decades, the number of women in the workplace has risen steadily. Today, they account for approximately 50 percent of the nation's workforce, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Yet the selection of women's corporate wearables is still limited compared with the variety of options available for men. Women sometimes have to settle for styles that are unflattering and uncomfortable.
"Women don't like to wear men's clothes," says Carol Fier, sales service manager at SWC Enterprises Inc., an 18-year-old distributorship in Canton, Ohio. "I have a law firm client that has a lot of men, but the women don't want men's shirts. I used to give them a half-dozen catalogs, and they'd buy onesies and twosies out of each one."
Wearables designed for women include cardigan sweaters, scoop-neck T-shirts, Polo dresses, V-neck shirts, fitted Polo shirts, camisoles, sweater sets, tank tops, sleeveless shirts and more. Such garments often are constructed of softer and more stretchable fabrics than men's wearables, and feature slimmer silhouettes and styling details such as cap sleeves, small buttons and eyelet trims on collars.
While some wearables firms promote unisex garments, "they're really made for men," Fier says. "They're not only cut wrong for women, but the buttons are on the wrong side." Such clothing often is cut too wide in the shoulders for most women and features sleeves and shirttails that are too long.
Today, Fier strives to use wearables companies that have a wide selection of women's clothing. "They're hard to find, but it's getting easier," she says. Wearables designed for women include cardigan sweaters, scoop-neck T-shirts, Polo dresses, V-neck shirts, vests, skirts, camisoles, jackets, sweater sets, fitted Polo shirts, tank tops, jumpers, sleeveless shirts, turtlenecks, denim shirts and more. Such garments often are constructed of softer and more stretchable fabrics than men's wearables, and feature slimmer silhouettes and styling details such as cap sleeves, small buttons and eyelet trims on collars. While colors such as black and navy are as popular with women as they are with men, women also like bright colors such as coral, aqua, butter-yellow and lilac.
Fier belongs to a local business-networking group for women. During a recent meeting, she made a presentation on embroidery and screenprinting. Afterward, an account manager from a local bank approached her asking for help with a wearables order. "She said, 'We're getting ready to order some shirts, but our last experience was terrible. Do you have women's styles?'" Fier says. All of the bank's 15 employees are women, but the firm that previously offered to provide the bank's shirts only offered men's clothing. It was unwilling to provide women's wearables.
SWC Enterprises provided the bank with 15 short-sleeved, 100-percent cotton, V-neck, butter-yellow shirts. Some of the shirts were embroidered with the bank's name and logo, and others were embroidered only with the bank's logo, which includes the name of its investment firm.
The bank was thrilled with the shirts. "We don't limit ourselves," Fier says. "We're willing to go to any wearables company to find exactly what our customer wants." SWC Enterprises plans to provide the bank with winter apparel and approach its other local branches.
—Kara S. Carpenter
