Individualized clothing or enforcing a dress code for your salon employees is one tough subject to tackle. They are two sides of a coin of which neither is objectively correct. Which choice you go with is yours to make. You do own the salon. But we are in the t-shirt business, so we’ll suggest a combination of the two.
Your Salon Brand and a Custom Tee:
You want to brand your salon, no doubt. You want the name and logo of your place to be prominently visible. That’s understood. Hard to do if your employees are wearing their own clothes. A custom cotton t-shirt can be part of the uniform. Cotton is comfortable, light, and breathable. All good traits for workers who are on their feet all day. Custom t-shirts are a solid move to maintain your brand, while at the same time understanding and empathizing with staff members who stretch, reach, contort, and twist while performing their job.
If all your stylists are wearing identical shirts, customers can readily spot them, especially if it’s really busy. With personalized, differentiated outfits, that becomes much more difficult for your clients.
Add to that, if you don’t mandate some sort of dress code, staff could come to work with tattered clothing, risqué tops, or obscene language written on a blouse. A custom t-shirt could have a funny message, more appropriate, and not offensive. Something like, “I’m a beautician, not a magician,” could easily give customers a laugh. In that little moment of joy, an instant rapport is built between stylist and client.
Personality & Individuality:
So, we flip the coin now to the other side, which is about personality and individuality. In the industry, this type of work is thought of as art. Artists, by nature, are creative and expressive. In that vein, your stylists think of themselves as artists…creative and expressive. Allowing your stylists to have a little latitude regarding dress is important. A sense of individuality (not too much) is integral to the success and lifeblood of your business. It can keep the atmosphere fresh and interesting for your customers. One of the main purposes of a salon is to embrace fashion and individuality, as well as to have people leave feeling better than when they walked in.
Steve Rowbottom is the director at a lucrative salon called Westrow Hair. He says, “To stifle that (creativity) would be to stifle their individuality. Giving our staff the freedom to express themselves through their appearance is so important, as when they are comfortable with the way that they look, they will thrive in the workplace.”
Dress codes often allow for employees’ own personal style to shine, while also maintaining your brand. With custom t-shirts, you can still add elements of your brand without going to too much effort.
T-Shirts & Independent Contractors:
Some, or several people who work in your salon are independent contractors. They are booth-renting stylists that you are basically not allowed to enforce a dress code on. That’s a bummer to be sure. One quick idea was proposed by the Houston Chronicle newspaper. It would be to evaluate independent contractors (and employees as well) based on how they present themselves at job interviews. It just might give you good insight as to how well their attire and appearance will fit with your salon’s style.
Owning and running a salon comes with numerous challenges. One of them is in what manner your staff should be attired. The fine line between uniforms and creative selfhood is a difficult one to walk. You want to show your clients that you are professional, and that the stylists take their job seriously. You want to promote your brand with messaging customers will retain after they walk out the door. You also want to embrace the quirkiness of artists, their flair for eccentricity. When your employees are able to project who they truly are, they typically shine. A happy medium can be a barometer of success. Your t-shirt design, logo, and message, coupled with the freedom artists want to convey, could skyrocket your salon to new heights. Clientele numbers and levels of success might soar the way many others in your orbit only dream.
