Deciding whether to progress a new workwear fabric

The question

A workwear brand had made up garments in a new fabric, and had to decide whether to go ahead with it.

The brand’s lab tests could say how the fabric performed. They couldn’t say whether someone working in a warehouse or on a factory floor would feel the difference over a long working day, or whether the garments would fit, move, wash and look right in real use.

Our approach

We took the test out of the lab and into the job, as a digital ethnography in two cities.

Our testers spent their days in physically active work across five sectors, from warehousing and manufacturing to building services, so every garment met real conditions.

Each wore the test garments through their working days, with a short video report and survey each day, so we heard about the garments while the shift was still fresh.

We kept the evidence clear about what it was: testers’ own accounts from a qualitative sample, set beside the brand’s lab and wash tests, with no technical claims of its own.

What the team came away with

Product and merchandising leadership had testers’ accounts, from real working days, of how the garments performed and of their comfort, fit, styling and laundering.

With them came workers’ responses to the brand’s messages, guidance on claims and a prioritization of features by use and value, all for the team to weigh alongside its own lab and wash tests.