Image of The Year 2004

The NAUMD would like to thank its 2004 judges:

Gerald Andersen, CAE, Executive Director of the Mens Dress Furnishings Association, has over 30 years experience in association management and the mens wear business.

Joan Campbell, CAE, former Executive Director of the Home Sewing Association, has over 20 years experience in association management and has been active in sewing for over 25 years.

Ed Cortese has held senior marketing positions for GQ Magazine, Harpers Bazaar, The Nine West Group, Ralph Lauren Footwear, MAGIC International and The Worth Global Style Network, an online fashion trend service.

Robert A. Kaplan is currently Executive Director of the Clothing Manufacturers Association of the United States of the Americas (CMA), previously clothing editor of DNR, then Daily News Record.

Winner
Anheuser-Busch

Anheuser-Busch partnered with Riverside Manufacturing Company to create a new look for their delivery personnel. This job is in the full public eye and is physically demanding, states Anheuser-Busch management, so the goal of this uniform must be concurrently good-looking, comfortable and able to withstand the rigors of a demanding job.

Delivery personnel are given a choice of a button-down shirt or polo shirt. The button-down shirts are a 60/40 cotton/polyester blend in blue mini-check. These shirts feature a red collar band as a contrast feature, Budweiser embroidered on the front pocket, Bud Light embroidered on the back yoke, and a FiberLok American Flag on the sleeve. A shirt-jac completes the short sleeve ensemble. The uniform is finshed off with polyester/cotton trousers or shorts that are available in flat-front and pleated versions. An additional design feature allows the wearer to choose side pockets placed on the pant legs, and all shorts have the Budweiser embroidery on the front left thigh.

Three polo-style shirts in 60% cotton and 40% polyester pique are done in colors of red/navy, white/navy and a zip front red/navy that gives the end users a wide selection while maintaining the corporate image. Outerwear consists primarily of three pieces. The contemporary ski-style jacket features the flexibility to accommodate zip-in, zip-out liners, the vest is a three-ply supple nylon shell with a Polar Fleece lining, and a navy windshirt features the standard logo embroidery style (the Budweiser embroidered on the front and Bud Light embroidered on the back yoke).

Brand recognition is very important in this job function, and delivery personnel need to look professional in their uniforms. The color coordination with the Budweiser brand enhances the ability of the delivery personnel to look like real employees for the Anheuser Busch Company.

Winner
El Pollo Loco Restaurant

El Pollo Loco may sound crazy, but its uniform program is far from the standard food service design. The color-coordinated image complements the look and feel of the stores. Crest, a Division of Aramark, designs this new uniform program that consists of top-quality apparel with sizzling new designs as well as smoking new accessories to match an updated menu.

El Pollo selected a unique place for the location of its emblem, embroidering it on the back of the shirt below the collar. The logo stands out against the solid black polo, reminding customers of the EPL brand as crew members come and go filling orders. The colors of the program are made up of purple, black and yellow separates, each made for specific store employee functions. The easy-fitting polo shirt for both men and women crew members looks clean and professional with a three-button contrasting plaque giving it a contemporary look. The shirt is made of 50% cotton / 50% polyester with a soil-release finish for easy care. The crew polo is worn tucked into black cargo pants. The mens button-down oxford shirt for managers has a left chest pocket and back box pleat for a comfortable fit, made of 60% cotton and 40% polyester. This shirt also has the soil release finish for easy care. The manager oxford looks crisp and professional on both men and woman and is available in short and long sleeves.

In addition to the core separates, EPL offers accessories topping off the uniform with a baseball cap done in twill sporting a yellow-sandwiched brim, giving it a contemporary look. Chefs are given hot status in a flame-embroidered apron done in polyester and cotton twill. Overall, the new uniform has been a big hit with crew and customers, reaffirming the El Pollo Loco brand.

Winner
Hannon Security

The Hannon Security new uniform goal was simple: be attractive, recognizable, durable, comfortable and affordable. Uniform Unlimited created just that type of uniform. The uniform style starts with a white shirt of 65/35 polyester/cotton blend that is washable and paired with black pants that are 100% polyester made of Milliken Horizon Moisture wicked fabrics for the security officer who works at a site. Shoulder patches, epaulets, nametags and badges are added to give the uniform a customized look. The patrol security officers wear black pants and long-sleeve black turtlenecks with the red and gold logo embroidered at the neck. A zippered Ike styled jacket in black is also part of the patrolling uniform, and again, patches, badges and epaulets complete the official look.

A French blue button-down shirt with a logo embroidered above the breast pocket and a black tie, which is paired with black pants, is available for those accounts that want a security guard on duty but want a softer image. Hannon incorporates its logo on all uniforms items that the employees wear, making their brand easy to identify, which is important in the security business. They have designed an official badge, arm patches and headgear to help present the official look for any guard.

Hannon has many customized items and is committed to having a solid-looking uniform that meets the official needs of their employees, projects a professional image to its customers and is recognized by the public.

Winner
The Mandarin
Oriental Hotel

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, in the heart of New York City , captures the streamlined, edgy styles associated with the city. The Mandarin Oriental portrays the Asian flare with Asian fabrics, colors and designs, while allowing the Mandarin to present a consistent elegant design throughout the brand image.

New York City traditionally gravitates to black, so the majority of the garments are done in black using specialized fabrics to delineate each job function. Subtle additions of color are used, most notably the Mandarin red on the doormans vest worn under a Mandarin collar frock coat and the matte jersey shell under the female Mandarin collar front desk jackets. Cintas keeps the rest of the front-of-the-house fabrics in high-end looking wools and wool-blend suiting exclusive to the Mandarin. The lobby lounge server keeps the front of the house looking rich in an exclusive brocade of Queen Annes lace design that faintly resembles a fan, much like the Mandarins Oriental logo. The blouse has a distinct oblique slit at the neck with a traditional Chinese besom winged collar. The long skirt has a slit trimmed in the same brocade with the addition of three decorative Chinese frogs for closure. Even the housekeeping uniforms are custom, in an asymmetrical Asian mock wrap tunic design that uses a poly/cotton poplin fabric for comfort and washabilitiy. The tunic is done in rich caramel and trimmed in black, carrying the Asian brand throughout the hotel. Other accent colors to offset the black are antique gold, blush, celadon and oxblood. The spa designs are Asian, but in New York black using a wickable knit fabric for comfort and performance. All the styles are very streamlined for the New York market tempered with Asian influences throughout.

A majority of the garments were designed and custom made for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel by Cintas Corporation.

Winner
McDonald’s

McDonalds new uniform program ignited enthusiasm for the crew and management and has become a positive symbol of the changes that start towards reinventing the brand everyone knows as Micky Ds. Employees embraced the new program and felt proud to wear the new uniforms on their way to and from work, a challenge for any foodservice uniform. McDonalds has evolved its menu to include fresh items that signaled a healthier menu, and the new uniform design points to that new direction. Barco Uniform Mfg., worked to create a polyester/rayon poplin fabric that was comfortable to wear, soft to the touch, flattering to all figure types and performed in the challenging foodservice kitchen environment. The fabric combines the durability of polyester and the softness of rayon to create a luxurious product that enhances and upgrades the image of the McDonalds crew.

The crew color palette is blue, red, white and taupe paired with black pants. The crew program also offers three different pant choices and three different shirt styles for both male and female. All silhouettes were created to be gender specific and maximize the most figure-flattering details. The shirts are designed to be tucked in or worn out with changeable accessories. The crew hats also offer a unique feature that allows the baseball brim to be zipped off and become a visor in this two-in-one hat. A female-specific baseball hat was designed in soft knit fabric with the placement of an elastic opening at the top of the hat for the ponytail.

The managers palettes compliment the crew program with taupe, white and blue shirts paired with black and navy pants. Both programs offer tie options; and the female manager tie includes an engraved logo necklace.

The overall program borrows design from the best of modern contemporary retail styling while building practical operational elements into each garment.

Winner
Montego Bay Casino

The Montego Bay Casino uniform was developed and implemented to capture the neon colors used extensively throughout the casino property. These bright floral colors of fuchsia, yellow, blue, purple, poppy and teal are accented with black, giving the whole casino the tropical feel of Montego Bay .

Throughout the casino floor, several of the job functions wear the uniform of black slacks, a crisp white tuxedo shirt accented with a classic, deep cut three-button vest and matching bow ties. Creative Specialty Apparel captured the casinos neon-color design with brightly colored satin fabrics to designate each individual job function within the casino. Female dealers wear rich red satin with a matching satin bow tie. Optional rhinestone button covers are available accessories to add sparkle and a dash of flair. The male counterpart wears rich black sparkle satin with a red bow tie that integrates with the whole program. Female bartenders wear the same styled three-button vest in bright purple, and the male bartenders wear the same black sparkle satin vest with a purple bow tie to coordinate. The buttons are actually heavy-duty snaps for durability. The tailored vests are fitted for a very clean look. All the neon colors are represented within different areas in the casino and are reflected in the satin vest and bow ties. The simplicity of this program speaks volumes. And the Montego Bay customers can feel the island atmosphere with these bright, shinny, and colorful uniforms.

At the world-famous Montego Bay Buffet, the hostess and servers wear a sexy sweetheart bodice with tulip sleeves paired with a floppy matching skirt, printed in a floral jacquard. The male servers and bus staff wear a camp shirt fashioned in the same print jacquard. When expecting, these employees have a special uniform that is very fun and colorful while looking stylish until delivery.

Winner
New York, New York’s Nine Fine Irishmen Pub

New York – New York Casino is home to an American classic Irish pub, the Nine Fine Irishmen. The pubs theme is imported directly from Ireland , featuring the best of Irish drinks, food, music and entertainment. The uniform program goal was to symbolize the heritage and culture of Ireland while providing a modern flare with authentic fabrications.

The waiter and waitress uniforms incorporate the Celtic plaid for both outfits in a traditional way, keeping in mind the entertaining environment that the employee works within. The waiter is vested in a 100% Irish wool plaid, a crisp white collarless shirt and forest green wool trousers. The waitress uniform brings a modern flare to a short pleated skirt done in 100% Irish wool. This low-rise skirt is paired with a velvet vest top that is embroidered with Celtic knot-work around a low scooped neckline and silver knot-worked buttons. The design is appropriate for an energetic atmosphere of Irish socializing. The bartenders keep the tradition alive with service in paisley vests, paired with solid-colored wool trousers for the men and a short wool pleated skirt for the female bartender.

Greeting guests at the door is the host in a green wool jacket set over a crisp white collarless shirt. The hostess looks ready to start a step dance or reel in a velvet waist jacket that is embroidered along the collarless neckline in gold knot-work and placed over a white lace linen blouse. Matching velvet pants complete this authentic Irish uniform.

The uniforms jump out against the authentic backdrop of the Irish imported brick-and-motor interior design of the Nine Fine Irishmen. The program designers from Cintas felt the uniqueness in the Nine Fine Irishman Pub displays the work force in a uniform that is revealing yet professional, while symbolizing the culture of Ireland with a touch of sex appeal for a progressive and entertaining environment.

Winner
Showboat Casino Hotels

When you walk into the Showboat Casino Hotels you will be swept away from Atlantic City to another place, celebrating Mardi Gras in style. You will be greeted by a brightly dressed doorman in a Nehru jacket of bright teal and black. The real eye-catching design on the Showboat doorman Nehru jacket is the color blocking done with a sweeping curve design that cuts from just above the right hip to over the left shoulder. The jacket also sports black shoulder epaulets piped in primary green. The sleeve sports the simple but eye-catching piping in green above the three-inch teal sleeve cuff. The teal color is continued in the doormans black pants trimmed with a side stripe of teal and accented with the primary green piping. Red the Uniform Tailor worked with the doormans position to understand what extra features would be helpful to have as part of the uniform, so a luggage ticket pocket was placed on both sides of the pant leg, with placement just above the knee. The doormans jacket is finished off to accommodate all the movement demands, with aerated pleats on the back of the jacket starting at the shoulder outside seam and stopping at the mid-back band. The doorman uniform is finished off with a teal and black Pershing hat.

The bellmans uniform borrows the block design, placing it on a five button vest and adding a crisp white collarless shirt with the Showboat logo embroidered on the collar stand.

No matter where a guest looks, they will see the color combinations of Mardi Gras and know they are staying at the Showboat Casino Hotel.

Winner
Treasure Island Casino

The Treasure Island Casino in Las Vegas wanted to create a new upbeat service program that flattered the wearer, was comfortable, provided a bit of coverage and yet was sexy. Treasure Islands new corporate colors of red, lime, green and blue were used by Creative Specialty Apparel (CSA) as they designed the new uniform program, placing these colors in the uniform designs to delineate the various areas within the casino. The casino cocktail server uniform is a fully constructed bustier bodice with featherweight boning, corset-type construction and inset brocade using the new corporate colors and paired with black micro fiber accents at the side bodice panel and sleeves. Alteration points are engineered into this garment to allow for adjustments to the wide range of body sizes and types. The bodice has a princess-style cut that has a widely cut sweetheart front neckline, keyhole back opening at the back neck and capped sleeves with a petite rhinestone button closure. The bodice is finished off with black cording accents on all seams, and rhinestone buttons accent the center front bodice. The bodice is paired with a classic straight black miniskirt, with left leg slit, and again, the rhinestone button accent completes the design.

Creative Specialty Apparel designed this outfit with a common thread of black micro fiber accents to bring the program together. Female servers are provided with one bodice in each color and that is paired with the slit mini skirt. The rhinestone button accents on the sleeves and skirt slit are constructed with heavy bungee cording for function and movement. At any given time, there are three different colors on the casino floor. This color theme is carried through on the new Treasure Island mega sign on the Las Vegas Strip.

Winner
Walt Disney World
Splash Mountain Frontierland

Disneys Magic Kingdom Frontierland costume program attained its design goal of creating a period 1860s Western theme. The Western-style uniform works well for either men or women, and the color changes allow for delineation of different positions within Frontierland. Three new costume designs were introduced to enhance the atmosphere of the Splash Mountain Frontierland. All the costume pieces were designed with the comfort of the cast member and ease of maintenance in mind by using wash-and-wear blended fabrics.

The Splash Mountain male cast member wears a blue and tan check shirt with a cream insert and Mandarin collar, stretch twill caramel trousers, leather belt and Western star hat that carries the theme of the Wild West. The female cast members wear rust with a cream insert Mandarin collar woven blouse, stretch twill caramel colored pants, leather belt with pewter buckle and a faux leather Western-style hat. The men wear a blue micro-check Calvary-style shirt, stretch twill caramel trouser, leather belt with pewter buckle and a faux leather Western-style hat.

The outdoor food servers wear a wine and cream checked unisex shirt, stretch twill caramel colored pant, leather beat with pewter buckle and western straw hat.

Winner
Walt Disney World
Grand Floridian Resort’s
Victoria and Albert’s Restaurant

The Grand Floridian Resort is one of Disneys grandest hotels, presenting an old world feeling of Florida s Victorian era. The resorts main lobby of sweeping staircases and high ceilings provide the perfect backdrop to Disneys Grand Floridian resort costume program. This program attained its design goal by creating a period 1910 Victorian theme. Two new costume designs were introduced that enhanced the atmosphere of the five-star award-winning restaurant, Victoria and Alberts.

Victoria and Alberts female hostess wears a lavender crepe pleated front blouse with off-white lace trimming, a light plum full-length crepe skirt and a light plum period jacket embellished with floral embroidery on the sleeves and collar. Victoria and Alberts male host wears a blue formal tail suit with woven vest in custom Victoria and Alberts logo fabric.

Custom uniform designs and fabrics created by Walt Disney World designers enhance the story of Disneys Grand Floridian icon restaurant experience.

Winner
Wyndham Hotel
and Resorts

Whether you are in Chicago or Key West , you will recognize the bellman at any Wyndham property. The success of this program from Cintas Corporation is the consistency in design, yet the diversity of uniform color. City location bellmen greet guests in navy business suits of double-pleated pants worn with a jacket at the waist cut in a vest style and trimmed in slate at the cuffs and at a mock rounded collar with a hidden zipper plaquet. The doormans uniform is completed with a Remington Hat, giving an official look sure to instill confidence as guests are greeted. The fabric for a majority of uniforms for the Wyndham Hotels city locations is a blended polyester/wool and Lycra blend in a dark navy fabric. This combination of textiles stretches and allows the wearer to deal with almost any office challenge or guest need. The fabric combination is also very complimentary to any body silhouette.

Its hard to call the tailored suit worn by the front desk staff and special services staff a uniform, since attention to detail was closely maintained and a stylish individual look was designed into the uniforms. For the female staff, this design feature provides for a conservative look that is not boring by providing the staff with a choice of either a belted long jacket or a shorter three-button jacket. The womans front desk uniform is completed with a variety of choices that can be selected: either a plain-front slack, pleated slack, or an A-lined skirt. This same wool-blended fabric is also used in the double-pleated or plain-front mens trousers, designed with the standard three-button business suit jacket, suited with a crisp white shirt and silk tie. Each hotel property selects a color de masion, and the silk ties, silk scarves and accent vest are all done in this accent color.

For the first time in its history, Wyndham Hotels has a functional apparel program that translates from the retail market, getting away from typical uniforms and moving more into an apparel collection that projects the right image to the customer.