With the construction industry traditionally male-dominated, women have previously struggled to find suitable workwear. Esther Pelletier, product manager at P&F Workwear, describes the dedicated women’s workwear line.
The importance of workwear has never been greater in the construction and industrial fields. However, the demographic of these sectors is changing, with more women choosing to work in fields previously dominated by men.
Now, Canadian company Paragone inc has developed a line of specialist workwear just for women, P&F Workwear. According to a recent market report published by Technavio, the global protective workwear market is expected to grow to a value of US$10.71bn by 2021, growing at a compound annual growth rate of almost 5% between 2017 and 2021.
Industry pioneers
While much of this growth can be attributed to rising demand in the Asia Pacific region, some companies, such as Paragone inc., are targeting a different market. Describing the line’s focus at the recent Expoprotection exhibition in Paris, Esther Pelletier, product manager, P&F Workwear, says: “This product has been on the market for 10 years in Canada, mostly in Quebec Province. This is a line for ladies exclusively. It's workwear, so we have safety shoes and boots with safety toes and plates that you can wear on any kind of work site.”
She continues: “This was a market that nobody tried before. We are pioneers in that sense, because we are the first ones in Canada who really decided to go with a complete line of ladies' workwear. There are more and more women working on any kind of work sites and non-traditional work environments, and there was nothing for them. They had to buy men's shoes in smaller sizes, men's shirts, men's gloves, everything. This kind of line, which is new, is something that met a real need on the Canadian market.”
However, the demand for women’s only workwear is not restricted only to Canada, with women around the world often unable to find the right product. Pelletier adds: “As we saw that there was such a big success about it, we said if it's good for us in Canada, it's good for everybody on the planet, because there are women everywhere. We started to make shows in Europe and in the United States, so that people can learn about what we do. We would like to have more exposure in France or in the UK, for example, and that's why we are here. The Netherlands is currently our biggest European market.”
The company’s workwear is designed to meet the strict regulations of all industries where protective gear is a requirement. In particular, P&F Workwear is targeting the construction segment, where in Canada, Pelletier states that just around 3% of workers are women.
However, in other regions of the world, that figure is even lower, meaning that while Canada and the US are big growth markets at present, regions such as the Middle East could provide opportunities in the future.
Pelletier says: “Asia and the Middle East are great potential markets, because there are so many more people over there. But I think that the presence of ladies in non-traditional fields is stronger in Canada and the US than it is in Asia or in the Middle East, for now.
“We are far ahead, because we are the firsts that really had the idea, the means and the power to do it,” she adds. “We brought these kinds of products on the market. For that, we are ahead of everybody else. We have competitors trying to do the same, but as we were the firsts, it's like nobody grows as strong as we did in the first place, because it was like a revolution to see this range of products on the market. Women can now get safety dressed from head to toe, with safety boots, shirts, pants, gloves, hats… All this in designs made specifically for ladies.”
In developing its product line, the company incorporates a range of specialist technologies to achieve the level of protection required. Pelletier states: “We work with new technologies such as EVA for lightness and comfort. We have four kinds of outsoles in different materials, for different applications.”
Societal challenges
Rather than facing challenges with, for example, product development, one of the key hurdles that P&F Workwear has faced has been reaching its target demographic. Pelletier explains: “The key challenge would be to reach ladies in such an unusual way, because when you think about ladies around the world you think about makeup and you think about jewellery, but we want to bring to ladies something so particular as workwear.”
She adds: “It's a challenge because, even if ladies will be open to it, you first have to get in the stores. It is still a men’s field, and we often need to force it. Our big challenge is to change the way society thinks about it and say to the lady 'you can be whoever you are in whatever you do, by simply being a lady. You don't have to put on the disguise to go to work. You can have your own things, and you can be proud to be a lady.’ There is also a message in the whole thing, a social message.”
“Something very great about the line is that we are all ladies working together to make the design,” she continues.” For example, I'm the girl who will buy the products, follow the productions and make sure that we have the stock available. We have a complete creation team including designers, pattern maker, graphic conceptor and a photograph. We also have our social media expert who makes sure to spread news and info. She also is a great support for customers. Our bosses are men, but they give us a lot of latitude. They would say: ‘Just do it. Do whatever you think it is, because you are the ones knowing what the line needs, you are girls, after all', so it's a very girly process,” Pelletier concludes.
