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Why Cheap Workwear Costs Essex Businesses More, And What to Order Instead
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Time to read 7 min
Introduction
Every week someone contacts Brand It Essex having already made the mistake.
They ordered cheap workwear!
The garments arrived, looked fine for a month or two, and then started to tell a different story. The embroidery puckered and the fabric thinned. The colour faded to something that no longer matched the logo on the van and now they are back at square one, ordering again, spending money they already spent once.
Why Essex businesses trust us:
- We have supplied premium branded workwear to businesses across Essex for over 6 years
- All embroidery and printing is produced in-house so we control quality at every stage
- We stock exclusive premium brands including Stormtech, Tee jays, Nimbus, Cutter and Buck, and Bisley
Want to see the quality in person? Visit our showroom
Table of Content
Budget vs Premium Workwear Coats: What’s REALLY Worth Your Money? The Maths Most People Do Not Do What Cheap Workwear Actually Costs Your Brand The Three Things That Actually Determine Workwear Quality What Essex Businesses Should Order Instead Our Honest Advice Frequently Asked Questions Related Readings
Budget vs Premium Workwear Coats: What’s REALLY Worth Your Money?
The Real Cost of Cheap Workwear. Maths Most People Never Do
When a business buys cheap workwear, they are usually looking at the price per garment and thinking it looks reasonable.
What they are not looking at is the price per wear, the actual cost of the garment divided by how long it lasts.
Lets say a cheap branded polo is priced at £8 which fades and distorts after 20 washes.. This costs you 40p per wear.
You now compare this to a premium polo at £22 that still looks sharp after 100 washes.. This costs you 22p per wear.
The premium garment is not just a better fit and better quality. It is significantly cheaper to use.
Now multiply that across a team of ten people, or twenty. Add the cost of reordering, shipping, distributing around your staff, and the time your team spent looking unprofessional in the weeks before you got around to replacing everything.
The cheap option stopped being cheap a long time ago.
"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get."
What Cheap Workwear Actually Costs Your Brand
When it comes to workwear the financial side is the part people calculate but the brand side is the part they forget about entirely.
Your team in faded, misshapen uniforms does not look like a business that takes quality seriously. It looks like a business that cuts corners, and that impression is formed in seconds by every customer, prospect, and site visitor who sees your team!
Believe it or not it is doing real damage to the reputation you have spent years building.
We see it all the time with a lot of trades businesses across Essex. Electricians, plumbers, builders, landscapers. They invest thousands in their vans, their tools, and their website. They then they order the cheapest polos they can find because workwear feels like an afterthought. Six months later those polos look exactly like what they cost and every client meeting, every job site visit, every time someone glances at the van and then looks at the team, there is a small but consistent gap between the brand they are trying to project and the reality they are presenting.
Premium workwear closes that gap. Cheap workwear widens it.
Further Readings
→ Why Embroidery Looks Better on Polos Than T-Shirts
→ Premium Workwear Brands Your Team Will Actually Want to Wear
The Three Things That Actually Determine Workwear Quality
Not all workwear is the same, and the price on the label does not always tell you what you need to know. Here is what to actually look at.
Fabric weight and construction.
A 180gsm polo and a 220gsm polo will look similar in a product photo. Wear them for three months and they are completely different garments. Heavier fabric holds its shape, resists pilling, and survives commercial washing at the temperatures your team will actually use.
Embroidery backing and stitch quality.
Cheap embroidery often uses minimal backing and has a lower stitch density. It looks acceptable when it is new but after washing, the backing breaks down, the stitching loses tension, and the logo starts to distort.
Quality embroidery is produced with proper digitising and backing that maintains the logo's integrity across hundreds of washes. Everything we produce at Brand It Essex is done in-house for exactly this reason, so we can control the quality at every stage rather than passing it to a third party.
Brand and supply chain.
Premium workwear brands like Tee jays, Nimbus, Stormtech, and Cutter and Buck are not more expensive because of the label. They are more expensive because the fabric quality, construction tolerances, and colour consistency are genuinely higher. When you order the same style a year later for a new starter, it will match what the rest of the team are wearing. With cheap workwear brands, that consistency rarely holds.
"Quality is not an act, it is a habit."
What Essex Businesses Should Order Instead
This depends on your sector and how your team uses the garments, but here is our general guidance built on years of experience.
For trades and outdoor roles where garments take a beating, invest in a heavier midlayer. A quality fleece or softshell and pair it with a durable polo or t-shirt underneath.
For outdoors trades consider polyester t-shirts to help combat against bleaching from the sun.
The outerwear is where you will require the technical performance. Waterproof / Windproof / Thermal and its often what customers see most consistently.
It is worth spending more on. Brands like Stormtech to give you that weather performance and embroidery quality that hold up on site.
For client-facing and corporate teams, the polo is your most visible garment. A Tee jays or Nimbus polo looks and feels fundamentally different to a budget alternative and that difference is visible to clients whether they say it or not.
Pair it with a branded knit or gilet for winter and you have a consistent, premium-looking team without needing a full corporate wardrobe.
For hospitality and events, where garments are worn daily in demanding environments and washed constantly, fabric durability and colour fastness are non-negotiable. Cutting costs here results in uniforms that look tired within a season. Tee jays nail this with their double pre-shrunk, double dyed, and double stitched tees.
Invest properly at the start and the cost per wear over a full year makes the premium option the obvious financial choice.
"Do not compromise on the quality and your customers will not negotiate on the price."
Our Honest Advice
We actually turn away orders occasionally. Not often, but it has happened. When a client wants to get really cheap workwear that we cannot stand behind the quality of the finished product.
We would rather lose the order than have a business in Essex wearing something under our name that does not reflect what we stand for.
If you are thinking about branded workwear for your team and price is a genuine concern, come and talk to us before you decide what to order.
We can usually find a way to get you the quality that matters and steer you towards the correct items for your team.
The showroom is there precisely for this conversation. Come and see what the difference looks like, feels like, and what it costs when you factor in how long it will last.
That conversation is free. Ordering cheap twice is not.
Conclusion
- Cheap workwear fades, distorts, and costs more to replace over 12 months
- Premium garments from brands like Tee jays Nimbus and Stormtech have a lower cost per wear
- Brand It Essex has an appointment-only showroom in Chelmsford where you can see the quality difference in person
If you want to see the difference before you order, visit our showroom
Frequently Asked Questions
Is premium workwear really worth the extra cost for a small business?
Yes and the maths usually proves it. A premium garment that lasts twice as long at 1.5 times the price has a lower cost per wear. When you factor in reordering, and the brand damage of faded uniforms, cheap workwear almost always costs more over a 12-month period.
How long should good quality branded workwear last?
Quality branded workwear worn regularly and washed correctly should easily last between 1 - 2 Years depending on the role.
Premium garments from brands like Tee jays, Nimbus, or Stormtech are designed to stand the test of time with Stormtech actually offering a 5 year guarantee with their products
What are the signs that my current workwear is too cheap?
Fading colour that no longer matches your logo, embroidery that has started to distort or pull, fabric that has thinned or pilled, and garments that look tired before the year is out are all signs that the quality is not holding up. If your team is reluctant to wear the uniform, that is usually the clearest signal.
Where can I find quality branded workwear in Essex?
Brand It Essex is based in South Woodham Ferrers, Chelmsford, and supplies premium branded workwear to businesses across Essex.
We have a showroom where you can see and feel garments before ordering, and everything is produced in-house. Visit branditessex.com or message us on WhatsApp at https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=447822032344
