Workwear evokes emotions – and is an important part of the profession

When I once threw myself from the world of fashion to design workwear, one thing immediately became clear: Workwear also evokes emotions. Always. And a lot.

One customer meeting in particular has stuck with me. My colleague, Anu Kivelä, owner of Medanta, and I had taken an extensive collection with us and we enthusiastically presented it to a group of women in the healthcare industry.

At first, there were quite a few expressions of apprehension. But when the women got to try on the outfits themselves, things started to fall apart. They got so excited that they rushed to show off the designs around the house to other colleagues. We heard quite a few “this suits me” exclamations and delighted “oohs”.

Those exclamations created a great feeling. That's exactly what we work for at Medanta. That's what success is for us.

The flurry of clothing preferences is no wonder. We all have our own personal preferences. One likes pants, another likes skirts. A third likes blue, a fourth likes white.

It's not always easy to find a common design and color that everyone likes, especially in a large work community. But there's always a solution.

As a clothing designer, I want people to feel comfortable in their work clothes in every way. I'm sure each of us has experienced that annoying feeling when our clothes feel wrong. That feeling hinders everything we do.

So it doesn't matter what kind of clothes a person wears during their long working day. Fortunately, many employers now understand that workwear is more than just clothing. It also builds a person's professional identity and the company's brand. I design collections in collaboration with the client, starting from brand colors and design language, because the visual appearance of companies is also very important these days. Workwear also needs to look street-worthy.

At Medanta, the aesthetics and functionality of our clothing complement each other. The most important thing is that the garment meets the needs set for it: it must breathe and stretch, and last for many years.

In our self-developed fabrics, we use technical features familiar from sportswear, which bring both comfortable flexibility and fit to workwear. Material is of enormous importance, and we at Medanta know this aspect like the back of our hands – after all, we manage the clothing production chain ourselves, starting from the fiber.

And last but certainly not least, all Medanta fabrics are antimicrobial. So truly safe.

Helena Manninen

Designer