Adoption of Digital tools in work wear

The corporate wear sector is in full evolution. Vaneylen Bedrijfskleding was the first company to start working with the Shavatar sizing & fit technology. A perfect opportunity to talk to Steven Lehaen, who heads Vaneylen, about the challenges and opportunities in his sector.

Vaneylen has undergone a true transformation over the years.  What has been the driving force behind this?

 Vaneylen was founded 30 years ago by my father-in-law André, and was initially called “Zeefdrukkerij Vaneylen”. We did just about everything that could be screen-printed: stickers, yard signs, T-shirts, etc. Through the years, we also added lettering and clothing. It has always been hard work where we could offer just about anything, but in net terms, there was hardly any result left. We realised that we had to come up with a different strategy. About six years ago, we decided that we were no longer going to print and embroider for others, and that we were going to focus fully on workwear.

In doing so, we focused on full-service and relieving our customers of all their worries. We often see that the orders for workwear and the entire process behind it is serious work, and often falls on the shoulders of one person. We can manage this process completely, from taking measurements, easy workflow through our Clothing Management System to even packing outfits per employee and stock management. In short, we take care of the entire logistics process. We see that this is very valuable for companies with 20 employees or more. 

How do you experience the corporate clothing sector?

Over the years, companies have started to think very differently about workwear. In the past, the quality and look of workwear was much less important than it is today. Nowadays, quality is winning out over price. Employees have to feel good in their company outfit. If it is of high quality and attractive, this will be greatly appreciated by employees. Wearing comfort is very important.

How do you respond to this?

We are fully committed to quality clothing. Some brands today are investing heavily in research into new techniques and materials that add value to work clothing. Think of trousers that dry quickly, or jackets that don't make you sweat. With such an offer, you make the difference for your business customer, and you can respond very specifically to the end user's specific wishes. I sometimes see us as the AS Adventure of corporate clothing: sustainable quality for a wide range of different applications!

Digitalisation seems to be important in your sector as well. How do you deal with it?

I believe very strongly in the importance and usefulness of digitisation for our customers, but also for our internal work processes. That is why we are fully committed to digital size & fit advice and our clothing management system: it saves our customers a lot of time and headaches. In addition, we are constantly optimising our internal processes: we are working on getting all our tools and software packages to talk to each other. Orders to suppliers are sent from our system instead of one employee having to enter them manually. In this way, we prevent our employees from losing a lot of time with boring, repetitive work. This is good for their motivation and also ensures that we can deploy them optimally for tasks that make our company grow.

What is your experience with digital sizing in the meantime?

I believe very strongly in it, but we have noticed a certain reluctance among our customers. With Shavatar, we're introducing something completely new, and we see that it takes time with many customers. In addition, we still have some way to go with our workwear manufacturers: they are generally very protective of the technical data of their collections, which serve as the basis for accurate sizing advice. But we are working hard!

What do you dream of in your sector when it comes to innovation?

The impact of our sector on the environment remains enormous, because of the large amount of waste. We really want to do our bit to make a difference. For example, we strongly believe in brands that do EcoDesign: right from the start of the design process of a new collection they already take into account the ecological footprint of their new collection: from the design process, production, wearing time and recycling of the clothes. It would be great if the majority of brands in our sector adopted this approach!

Thanks for your contribution Steven!