The 2003 Image of the Year Awards competition

Winner
Advance Auto Parts

Months of preparation and hard work by many team members, along with a detailed review of team member comments and input sessions, have culminated in the introduction of the new Advance Auto Parts Team Member Uniform Program. Advance Auto partnered with ARAMARK Uniform National Accounts to develop a program consisting of four very distinctive and stylish shirts.

Two of the Advance Auto objectives were to maintain white in the manager shirt, where it is recognized by Advance Auto customers as a universal symbol of management and maintain consistency in the Advance Auto program so that it is easily recognizable by their customers.

The different shirts identify the team members roles within the Advance Auto store operation.

Winner
The Athletes Foot

Boasting 5,000 uniformed personnel, The Athletes Foot Group, Inc. decided to change its career apparel to provide greater corporate identity. The new styles and fabrics by Cintas Uniforms are all in the active sportswear categoryappropriate for the selling of athletic shoes.

Managers wear polo shirts with short sleeves and Johnny collars. U.S.-based salespersons wear football-style jerseys, while European salespersons wear soccer-style jerseys.

Winner
Disneyland Resort
Critter Country

Disneyland Resort Critter Country is a marvelous land where real people live alongside beloved Disney characters. The garments provide comfortable, easy-care clothing for the employees, while not detracting from the themed show. For maximum labor efficiency, a single costume is used to support two attractions with very different settings: Splash Mountain and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The design creates a friendly, approachable look, that never upstages the attraction and characters.

The majority of these garments are made of either 100% or 65/35% cotton blends, which are easy-care and deliver a neat, crisp look. The fit of the garments allows maximum freedom of movement. The assortment of plaids and floral prints creates variety, while the earthy color palette and consistency of pattern blocks reinforces the identity of critter country as a themed land within Disneyland park.

Winner
Hawaiian Gardens Casino

Friar Tux Uniforms designed the attractive career apparel program for Hawaiian Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif. Using a colorful Hawaiian theme to match its name, the casinos mix and match pieces are used throughout the facility. Easy care and functionality make these pieces ideal for restaurant servers, dealers and other personnel.

Cocktail attire is the traditional sarong skirt with a bustier top or the sarong skirt with a more casual tie top. Dealers wear a comfortable banded collar shirt with the trim and buttons in matching Hawaiian fabric. An apron trimmed to match completes the look.

All other departments are in shirts of various solid colors all trimmed in the matching Hawaiian fabrics. When walking into the casino, one definitely gets the feel that they are indeed in Hawaii.

Winner
McDonald’s

Crest Uniforms has had a long-lasting relationship with McDonalds of Oakbrook, Ill., by providing great products and services for many years. Using durable, stain-resistant fabrics, these uniforms have a comfortable feel and a professional look at an affordable price for everyone from store manager to crew.

Store managers wear hounds tooth shirts in a neat button-down collar, fashioned in a blue 60/40 polyester fabric, jaquard polos of Arasoft fabric featuring horn button plackets, and wine check shirts featuring moisture wicking poly/cotton fabric with a soil release finish.

Winner
Mercy High School

Mercy High School in Omaha, Neb., is an all-girls school with 400 students.

One of three all-girls schools in the city, it wanted to set itself apart by having a unique apparel styleand something that would appeal to the students tastes. The students participated in the decision process, changing the uniform to a different plaid and fabric from previous years, thus providing more functionality and comfort.

With outfits provided by Alamar Uniforms, the girls now have many different choices of clothing, all with the school monogram on shirts and sweaters. The school administration reports that uniforms promote a feeling of pride among the students.

The custom plaid skirt of navy, yellow and gray has two pockets. Sweaters are gray and navy in cardigans and pullovers.

Winner
Millennium Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel

This hotel presents a truly unique uniform program that combines both the traditional experience of the hotel and the contemporary atmosphere of downtown Los Angeles.

The uniform program by Cintas Uniforms provides a functional approach to tailored apparel by offering smart clothing and merchandising for all job functions. Trousers for women, T-shirts instead of dress shirts, open blazers for food service management and layering options are some of the features that make this program so functional and attractive.

Art deco inspired doorman and bellman uniforms set the tone for the rest of the program in color and silhouette, utilizing dark city colors mixed with a rich burgundy and a bright white. The styling is very elegant and smart. The doormans shirt is a detachable piece that can be machine-washed. The custom 2- to 4-button double-breasted blazers are fashioned in 100% wool charcoal crepe.

For women, the look is tailored close to the body and scalloped in the front for a feminine look, worn with wide-leg trousers and a sleeveless burgundy crepe cowl blouse. For men, similar yet masculine tailoring is worn with a dress burgundy T-shirt.

Winner
New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA)

The NYCTA uniform program provides uniforms to approximately 23,000 employees including those who work for the Department of Buses, Department of Security, Department of Subways and Metro Card Operations. The uniform program consists of dress trousers (year round and winter weights), work trousers, skirts, shorts, dress jackets, work jackets, sweaters, rainwear, winter coats, maternity wear, caps and accessories.

VF Solutions fully serves the NYCTA uniform program by offering printed catalogs, order forms and instructions, an interactive voice response system and a fully-functional e-commerce Web site. Employees also have the benefit of ordering through a dedicated 800 number.

In addition to compliance with New York City purchasing regulations, VF has been an integral part in founding the Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production (WRAP) Certification Program to promote and certify lawful, humane and ethical manufacturing. Each of VF Solutions and VF Corp.s manufacturing facilities and external vendors participate in the WRAP Certification process and are committed to socially responsible business practices.

Winner
New York, New York
Hotel & Casino

Luck be a lady tonightespecially if you gamble At New York, New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. This exciting hotel wanted to capture the look and feel of New York circa 1930. The goal of the program was to provide the beverage serving staff with a comfortable, sexy, versatile uniform. A three-piece outfit by Creative Specialty Apparel provides the greatest flexibility in fitting a variety of body types. Added features such as satin/Lycra side-stretch panels help provide comfort and fit, while maintaining control with rigid fabrics as well.

The program is composed of several pieces: a bustier/vest bodice utilizing an art deco inspired brocade highlighted with heat-transfer jet rhinestones; a fitted, stand-up collar bolero jacket, with finishing touches of gold, black epoxy and rhinestone buttons, with oversized cuffs; and a full-coverage skirt or a short skirt, both in lamour satin.

The program can be worn with or without the bolero jacket, providing comfort during changing temperatures within a hotel/casino environment.

Winner
Valley Services

Valley Services is a national food service management company based in Jackson, Miss. The uniforms were designed by Landau Identity Apparel.

The company is one of the largest meal providers in the country. Valley serves nearly 200,000 meals per day across the United States. They employ more than 2,000 production employees, 50 registered dieticians and150 managers.

Valley has more than 200 client accounts including hospitals, colleges and universities, industrial cafeterias, commercial and office building cafeterias, senior nutrition services, meals on wheels programs, correctional facilities, daycare facilities and country clubs.

Winner
Walt Disney Worlds Caribbean Beach Resort

Walt Disney Worlds Caribbean Beach Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., attained its uniform design goal by creating a tropical Caribbean theme while maintaining a professional image.

Easy-care garments of 100% cotton prints with a wrinkle-resistant finish were introduced. Front desk and bell service designs bring a tropical theme using bold flowers in bright kiwi green with the richness of midnight blue. Made from 100% cotton, a classic camp-style shirt and pleated khaki twills in polyester blends create a cool and casual appearance for a destination resort often referred to as paradise.

Winner
Walt Disney Worlds
Once Upon A Toy

One of the most exciting vacation spots in the United States is Walt Disney World in Florida, where they are dedicated to making dreams come true. The unique uniform program at the Disney store Once Upon A Toy was designed with interactive play as a major focus.

The unisex shirt of a bright blue, cotton/polyester blend has a lay-down collar and vented-back for airflow and added comfort. The logo embroidery art is derived from the signage marquee on the store entrance. The multicolor apron incorporates icons from both Walt Disney World and store partner Hasbro. The apron provides employees a place to put small toy pieces for return to the interactive play area throughout the work day. The trousers are sandstone in color.

Outstanding Achievement
Berkeley Hall Security

The goal of the Berkeley Hall Club was to have its security force be recognized immediately upon a members arrival. Its sole purpose is to ensure the membership be treated to an outstanding experience every time they enter.

The uniform, designed by Cintas Uniforms, is unisex all year round with users having a choice of short-sleeve or long-sleeve shirts.

Other components include double-pleated khaki trousers, white button-down oxford shirt, a classic fir green blazer with custom buttons and a embroidered gold coat of arms on the breast.

The uniform is of the Berkeley Hall Clubs own design with the embroidered crest on the jacket, tie and buttons. The uniform provides comfort for both daily procedures and patrols.

Outstanding Achievement
The Cunard Line Limited, Queen Mary II

This program is unique for its uncommon use of dark rich fabric, buttons and silhouettes that are not normally seen on the uniform landscape. The apparel user has an elegant, up-scale and very retail looking uniform that combines versatile practicality with sophistication. Mahogany, wine and black dominate with crisp accents of white. The colors add formality and richness to an ingeniously clever program of addition and subtraction.

The female bar staff for the morning shift wear a short tailored over blouse paired with flattering wide-legged pants, while the female bar staff for the evening shift have only to add a formal jacket in a mahogany herringbone fabric to complete the look. The male morning shift are in a vest of the same exclusive fabric, while the male evening shift adds a unique round neck jacket to round off the formal look. Uniforms designed by Cintas Uniforms.

Outstanding Achievement
Taco Bell

Taco Bell was in the process of transitioning to a new tagline and identity with the introduction of its Think Outside the Bun advertising campaign. They wanted a uniform program to support and reinforce the tagline, communicate the bold essence of the brand and appear noticeably different from their competitors.

The crewmember uniform includes two shirt designs for men, two shirt designs for women and one unisex design. The pant selection for men offers the choice between a cargo pant and classic pleated trouser. Women can choose a flat-front low-rise pant or the classic pleated style.

The managers uniform includes three choices of shifts for men and women. The designs, by Barco Uniforms, were created to complement the crew collection while differentiating a store manager. The manager can choose a pleated or flat-front pant in black or khaki.

The uniform program shirt color selection is available in black, purple or white.

Outstanding Achievement
Wendy’s International

The new styles and colors for Wendys International add a great value to the uniform program.

One crew wears a box plaid, forrest green 60/40 cotton polyester polo. Another crew wears a needle-out unisex 60/40 cotton polyester polo with soil release in hunter and burgundy. Mangers wear a nail-head polo in a 60/40 rayon polyester in both olive and dusty blue. The image is understated. The logos are very subtle. The garments could be worn anywhere, and coordinate extremely well together and with the store decor.

Crest Uniform has also partnered with Wendys and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. For every hat or visor sold featuring a colorful Wendys service logo on the front and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption logo on the side, Crest donates a portion of the proceeds to the foundation.