Switching suppliers – let alone your uniform provider – can come with a lot of anxiety. Whatever your reason to switch – which may mean some needs are not being met with the incumbent. These might include budget, service, uniform range, capability or reliability of supply.
With change brings chance...
If your company operates under a uniform contract, you will likely go to tender to test the market or award a new supplier. If your business is smaller, you may go through a less formal process. Either way, asking the right questions to give you all the information you need to make an informed decision is key!
We've prepared a list of questions to ask when changing uniform suppliers.
Let's go...
- Technology – How do you use technology in your business and how will that have a direct benefit to our business if we were to partner with you on our corporate uniforms? What specific technology and tools do you use in their business to manage the logistics, mitigate risk and streamline processes?
- Embellishment – Do you offer any in-house embellishment services? How extensive is that offer? Do you outsource any parts of the embellishment process (adding your logo to the garments) to another company?
- Continuity of Supply – Will these same styles, in the same fabrics and colours be available for at least 3 years? If styles are discontinued, what is your process to match the garment so there is no visible or budgetary impact to our uniform program?
- Warehousing Stock – Do you have a warehousing option to hold stock? What are your guaranteed delivery times?
- Online Ordering – Do you have an online ordering portal for our staff to order their uniform? What are the key features of that and what would be the rollout plan?
- Styling Services – What image would you recommend we project with our new corporate apparel? Can you provide professional styling services to assist with our new look?
- Garment Quality – Will the garments you’ve chosen hold up against daily wear? Are they made of long-lasting fabrics and are the garments manufactured in a way that they retain their quality with daily wear? How many domestic washes are the uniform items estimated to last for?
- Consistent Colour & Quality – If an employee damages a garment, or you hire a new employee, will they receive exactly the same style and colour? What is the process for reordering one-offs?
- Supply Chain – How and where do you source your products? What does your supply chain look like, and what guarantees can you give me you can deliver? What kind of relationships do you have with your suppliers and manufacturers?
- Established Business – How long have they been in business? Do you have any plans for growth or expansions that would impact our contract with you?
- Showrooms – Do they have a shop-front or showroom you can visit, or are they only online?
- Industry-specific Specialisation – Do you specialise in the industry-specific garments we need? What other clients have you worked with that have similar challenges to us?
- Account Management – How accessible are your account managers? When we need a question answered or need to place an order, will we get a quick response? Will you have a dedicated Account Manager so we have one point of contact?
- Experience – Do you have experience implementing a program similar to ours? What type of clients do you cater to? Are those clients a similar size, industry or have comparable requirements to us? Do you have case studies and testimonials to give us some insight into what it’s like to work with them?
- Uniform Fit – What options do you have around uniform fit so our staff are confident in the uniform items they are choosing?
- Returns – How do you handle returns should one of our staff members need to return an item?
- Broad Offering – Are you able to offer extensive choices (and value) across uniforms, workwear, merchandise, corporate gifts and display signage?
- Design Capability – Do you have in-house designers who can create the uniform designs we need? What does the design process look like? Can you provide you a visual of what the uniform design and embellishment will look like?
- Uniform Rollout – How would they handle a nation-wide rebrand program? How can you add value to our business through this process?
- Uniform Recycling – Do you have an established uniform recycling program that we can access?
These questions may be asked as part of your tender or uniform brief. If you are currently doing your initial research, gathering insights from your team and developing your uniform design brief – check out our Uniform Design Brief Workbook and make your life even easier!
