Resources · Uniform Management
The uniform range is chosen once. Ordering continues for as long as the program runs. This guide explains how to decide who orders, who approves and what needs to be settled before the first order is placed.
1,000+
Healthcare organisations
60,000+
Garments supplied
40+
Years experience
95%+
Client reorder rate
Why this matters
Choosing the range gets a meeting, a shortlist and a decision. Everything after it gets whoever happens to be free. A uniform program works when the decisions that should be made once are separated from the actions that will happen repeatedly.
Settled once
Which garments make up the range
The colours each role wears
Where the logo sits and how it is applied
What the starting allocation looks like
Happens every time
Who is allowed to raise an order
Who approves it, and when approval is needed
What a new starter gets on day one
How a worn-out garment gets replaced
The more of the first column you settle properly, the less judgement the second column requires.
How ordering gets set up
Most staff-ordering models fall broadly into one of these three arrangements. None is the right answer in the abstract — they trade control against effort in different places, and which one fits depends on how many sites you run and where the cost sits.
Arrangement A
Arrangement B
Arrangement C
Who raises it
Open
Any staff member, within whatever the range allows.
Approval
Any staff member, but the order waits.
Centralised
One nominated person, for everybody.
Who approves
Open
Nobody — the range itself is the control.
Approval
A named manager, per order or per site.
Centralised
Approval is built into who places it.
What it controls well
Open
Speed. Nobody waits on anybody.
Approval
Spend, without stopping people ordering.
Centralised
Consistency across sites and roles.
Where it strains
Open
Quantities, if the range is broad.
Approval
Approvals stall when the manager is on leave.
Centralised
One person becomes the bottleneck.
Often suits
Open
A single site with a tight range.
Approval
Several sites with their own budgets.
Centralised
A group standardising across locations.
Two questions usually settle it. Does anyone need to see an order before it is committed, and does the budget sit centrally or with each site? If nobody needs to see it first, you are describing open ordering. If someone does, the only question left is whether they approve the order or place it themselves.
The five things
An incomplete order does not fail. It comes back as a question, and the question is the delay.
Who is it for?
The wearer’s name and role, so the right garments and the right sizes go together.
What, exactly?
The specific styles from your range, not a general description of them.
Which sizes?
Per person and per garment. A size that fits a scrub top may not be the tunic size.
Is it decorated?
Whether the garments are decorated, and to your already-approved setup.
Where does it go?
The delivery site and who receives it, particularly across multiple locations.
J. Patel, registered nurse. D. Okafor, reception.
Women’s scrub top and unisex polo, both navy.
Scrub top size 12. Polo size M.
Decorated to our approved logo setup.
Deliver to the Richmond clinic, attention the practice manager.
In practice
The range is usually chosen by a manager or a director. The ordering lands with a practice manager, an office coordinator or whoever holds the account — often someone who was not in the room when the standard was set.
Closing that gap is the most useful thing you can do. Whoever places the orders needs to know which styles are in, which colours belong to which roles and what a new starter receives. Written down once, it stops depending on anybody remembering it.
A good ordering system should survive the person who set it up.
Learned the hard way
None of these are dramatic. They are the reasons a program that started well is not quite the same program two years later.
Where we come in
Tell us how your team currently orders, where approvals sit and what needs to stay consistent. We can help you define an ordering approach that fits your uniform program and is easier to hand over, repeat and maintain.
Work it backwards from approval. If nobody needs to see an order before it is committed, approvals will only slow you down. If someone does, decide whether that person approves orders or places them — approving keeps ordering distributed, placing keeps it consistent. Whichever you choose is not permanent; changing it later is an internal decision, not a change to your range.
Organisations often do, particularly where sites hold their own budgets. What matters is that the range and the standard stay the same across all of them. Different ordering arrangements are workable; different versions of the uniform are what you are trying to avoid.
The clearest protection is a documented range: which garments, colours and branding belong to each role. Whether orders are placed by staff or centrally, that standard gives the person ordering something unambiguous to work from. Approvals are worth adding for quantity and cost rather than for catching the wrong garment.
Decide once what a new starter in each role receives, and it stops being a decision each time. Without that, every new starter is handled from scratch and the answer drifts — which is how two people in the same role end up in different garments.
A role rather than a person, wherever possible. Orders sent to an individual’s inbox stop when that individual is away or leaves. A shared address and a named backup is a small change that removes a common failure.
If the arrangement is written down, very little. If it lived in their head, the program effectively restarts. This is the strongest argument for settling the arrangement rather than letting one develop — it is the difference between a handover and a rebuild.
No. Most organisations settle the range once and then order against it as people join or garments wear out. Bulk reorders happen when a whole team is being refreshed at the same time, which is a rollout rather than an ordering question.
Not necessarily. If orders arrive complete, new starters are handled the same way each time and nothing depends on one person being available, the arrangement is already working — it just has not been written down. Writing it down is what makes it survive a change of staff.
Avery is cut for a contemporary, slightly tapered fit that flatters without restricting movement. Prefer a relaxed fit or planning to layer? Size up.
| Model — Women's | 5'7", wearing size S |
| Model — Men's | 6'1", wearing size L |
| Fit | True to size, tapered body |
| Length | Hip-length, V-neckline |
| Chest (CM) | Body Length | Sleeve | |
|---|---|---|---|
| XXS | 81–86 | 58 | 30.5 |
| XS | 86–91 | 60 | 31.5 |
| S | 91–97 | 62 | 32.5 |
| M | 97–102 | 64 | 33.5 |
| L | 102–107 | 66 | 34.5 |
| XL | 107–114 | 68 | 35.5 |
| 2XL | 114–122 | 70 | 36.5 |
| 3XL | 122–132 | 72 | 37.5 |
| 4XL | 132–142 | 74 | 38.5 |
