Images magazine Digital Edition April 2018

AskAdy... Adrian Burton of South East Workwear runs the popular AskAdy site, which hosts independent reviews of workwear garments. This month, he’s discussing lightweight jackets and gilets This month I want to touch on some of the new lighter weight jackets and gilets that will be ideal for clothing decorators to supply as uniform options for their customers. I have been looking around at lots of different makes on the market and last month I mentioned the waterproof Extreme Climate Stopper Fleece (R109A) from Result, which is a perfect example of what we have available to us this spring. One brand that has made a number of new advances with its workwear this year is Castle Clothing. I have a box here of its new styles, first of which is the Elite Ribbed Bodywarmer. I am a massive fan of this product; it has a ripstop outer shell, two handwarmer zipped pockets and Castle’s Thermofort insulated lining, which not only makes it super comfortable and warm, but also keeps it lightweight and easy to stow into a work bag. As the padding isn’t too thick, we found that it could be framed up onto our embroidery machinery – the resulting embroidery design was excellent on the smooth outer shell. The next item that leapt out of the box at me was the Snape Jacket. I know this is going to be a winner as I have seen a few ‘premium brand’ jackets that have a similar styling to this, but with a higher price tag. The Snape jacket is essentially the same design as the Elite Bodywarmer, but with arms made from a softshell fabric. If your customers want to go fully softshell then I recommend the Hertford Hooded Softshell jacket – it is fantastic to look at and will keep your customers happy, not only with the quality but also with the price. Also, under the Fortress Brand, Castle produces a softshell jacket called the Sedgemoor, which has a lovely, soft, lightweight feel and a marl-type green finish, which you would normally see in a garden centre complete with a high price tag. Again, this Fortress jacket won’t break the bank and it will give you that edge when offering something different to your customers. www.askady.com The Snape Jacket is similar to the Elite Bodywarmer, and a top pick from Ady for the warmer months INDUSTRY NEWS www.images-magazine.com 12 images APRIL 2018 Exhibition: T-shirts, culture and politics The Fashion and Textile Museum in London is running an exhibition that focuses on the relationships between the T-shirt, popular culture and politics. Called T-shirt: Cult – Culture – Subversion, and held in partnership with The Civic, Barnsley, it has more than 100 examples of T-shirts from private collections and the archives of artists and designers, and proves that the T-shirt is “anything but basic”. Included are originals by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, as well as work by Katharine Hamnett, Guerilla Girls and Experimental Jetset. “The humble white T-shirt has come a long way since the days of Brando, Dean and Wayne,” said David Sinclair, exhibition curator, The Civic. “It has been controversial, sexy, political, ironic and just plain cool. Who knows where it’s going to go next?” T-Shirt: Cult – Culture – Subversion is at The Fashion and Textile Museum, London, until 6 May 2018, and will open at The Civic, Barnsley, in summer 2018. www.ftmlondon.org WORKWEAR REVIEW To see AskAdy’s video review, visit www.images-magazine.com . Report: Global corporatewear market worth $12,100 million Just-Style research reveals that the global corporatewear market size in 2017 was 862 million garments, worth $12,100 million at wholesale prices. Corporatewear accounted for around 7% of the wholesale value of the clothing retail industry. The Global market review of corporatewear report says growth in the corporatewear sector is expected to be 3% by 2022: “Globally, growth is slowing in North America, while in Europe, growth is only edging up slightly. Despite this, almost all the growth has come from North America and Asia, and will continue to do so.” www.just-style.com T-shirt: Cult – Culture – Subversion is on until 6 May at The Fashion and Textile Museum in London