Roger Bisby expands his mind as well as his Snickers workwear.
If Snickers has a problem, it is that it packs so many features into its workwear that a lot of it goes over the heads of the potential market. The thousands of hours of research and observation that go into a Snickers garment mean that it is not so much a piece of clothing as a piece of engineering. In some ways, it is more akin to a tool. If you think that sounds a little over-blown, the new 4 way stretch all round work trouser is a perfect example. The cut is modern with a more tapered leg, which appeals to the younger trades – but there is a lot more going on than just a slimmer fit.
If you have a pair of trousers tailor made, the tailor will take your waist and inside leg measurement but he/she will also run the tape around your bum and your thighs and even your calf. Tailors were doing this long before the phrase body mapping was ever thought of.
Now it is obvious that buying a pair of work trousers off the peg is not going to give you the same tailored fit. You will probably be looking at the waist and inside leg measurement and that is about it in terms of fit. Snickers actually has more size variations than any other workwear manufacturer but if you are buying a given waist size and happen to have a big bum or bulky thighs, you might still find that when you bend and stretch the trousers will be under extra strain in those areas. When people buy a pair of work trousers and say they fell apart after six months, it may simply be that they just weren’t good enough quality but it may also be because they were a bad fit.
Using a stretch fabric in work trousers might seem to be a no-brainer but making a pair of trousers out of elastane fabric alone gives you a pair of trousers that cling too much and are likely to be clammy and uncomfortable to work in. Snickers’ solution to this problem is to use different types of fabric in different areas so they maintain breathability. The result is that the trousers move with you and accommodate those variations in body shape and even, dare I say, a little bit of variation in weight. For me they are also very comfortable to drive in, which is a major consideration these days.
Taking a pair of these trousers out onto site was a bit of an eye opener for me because the younger lads definitely liked them but they all wanted to know how much they cost. I have been in the industry long enough to know that you should never dodge the price question so I gave it to them straight: “Around the £70 mark.”
For Snickers trousers, this is at the low end but obviously there are people who are never going to pay anywhere near that for a pair. I met one young lad who was wearing a pair that he had paid £26 for. The zip broke in the first two weeks so he bought another pair and the zip broke on those too, so he had a safety pin in them. £52 later and he still didn’t have a pair of trousers he felt good in, let alone looking good. His drill will also probably be the cheapest he can find. I also met a young roofer who was obviously doing OK for himself, and his main concern was the pocket for his phone. His phone happened to be the iPhone X and he couldn’t wait to bring it into the conversation. He proudly told me he had a SIM only deal and bought the phone with cash for a little under a £1,000. That made me gasp a little but as he started to show me all the features, such as retina recognition, I realised that when you explain the features and benefits of anything to an interested market, you will make a sale. My chief reason for not buying a phone like that is that I would lose it or have it stolen. On the other hand, I think there is little chance of having my trousers pinched but I must confess that losing them in public is a recurring nightmare of mine. Maybe I need to talk to somebody about that.
