Meet the Editor, Jay Gordon

Walking the rope

When I asked my colleague Nicole Rollender to help me model some of the uniforms worn by Chick-fil-A managers, she readily agreed. But on the day of the shoot, when she actually put the clothes on, she was less enthusiastic. “These pants are very high waisted, compared to the lower-rise pant I usually wear,” she said about the flat-front khakis. (Nicole, it’s safe to say, would have been one of those employees changing into her uniform in the rest room (see Second Mile Style, p. 30).

Nicole, who says she’s a non-conformist when it comes to fashion naturally shies away from uniforms. However, when she saw the photos of herself after the shoot, was actually pleasantly surprised. “Wow,” she said. “I look professional and well-put-together. And, I actually see that the pants don’t look high-waisted at all. I can see why Chick-fil-A decided on this type of uniform, since it does fit close to the body, providing a nice silhouette, but also provides room to move. Plus I think the blue shirt looks good with my coloring.”

But Nicole’s initial response to the Chick-fil-A uniforms also underscores the constant tension in the uniforms world between fashion and function. The Atlanta-based restaurant chain probably feels that tension as acutely as anyone.

“When we formed our apparel team to come up with a vision for the new uniform program, one of the principles we articulated was that as society was going more casual, many businesses had backed away from standards of professionalism, and we determined that is not our company’s culture,” says Woody Faulk, Chick-fil-A’s vice president of brand development. “We still believe that when you dress a certain way, you act a certain way. We want the people who represent Chick-fil-A to have a professional image.”

“Modern, but modest,” was the mandate given to designers at OOBE, the company that supplies Chick-fil-A’s new uniforms.

So OOBE had to design uniforms that stand up to the rigors of a fairly demanding work environment – lots of bending and stretching – while simultaneously balancing the fashion needs of a predominantly young workforce and the company’s desire for a crisp, professional look. That is not an easy rope to walk.

But the bottom line is, team members are no longer changing in the rest rooms, and Faulk says the uniforms are now a recruiting tool for the chain. That tells me the new designs are balancing on that rope pretty well.

Jay Gordon
jgordon@asicentral.com