We are north Alabama’s largest promotional products company, specializing in screenprinting, custom t-shirts, embroidery, uniforms, banners, decals, promotional products, and wall art. We offer many name brands like Nike, Under Armor, Callaway Golf, Yeti, The North Face, and so many more. If you can think it, we can put your logo on it.

1. Uniforms: From the Military to Corporate Apparel
Uncategorized / By Tricia White
Uniforms: From the Military to Corporate Apparel
People are an interesting bunch. We have such an innate need to categorize and specialize when it comes to our vocation,
our personal preferences, and how we appear in daily society. But the most interesting to come from it is the idea of a
uniform. Countries, corporations, and military personnel, just to name a few, utilize clothing to establish things like status,
unity, and the detraction or enhancement of personal identity. So, where did it all start? What got people on the uniform
bandwagon, to begin with, and how did it expand to the level of corporate apparel in places like Huntsville, Alabama?
Let’s find out.
Tribalism
To even understand how uniforms work or even got its roots we need to examine and
study human behavior. In this case, I am talking about anthropology. Ever since our
ancestors have evolved enough to the point of walking upright and grabbing things, our
species has learned that our odds of general survival are better when we stick together.
If we hunt together, gather together, sleep together, and fight together, our families or
‘tribes’ will be better off. It is our basic biological drive. Of course, there are external and
internal threats to our species that puts this to the test.
For instance, there could be a hierarchical dispute inside the tribe. Or there could be a
competition with another tribe for resources. There is also the ever-present threat of the
intruder. A stranger that can take away resources that were meant for other tribe
members. At worst, they could cause serious harm to the tribe.
One of the main solutions to this conundrum is to create a distinction between tribe members and outsiders. Sometimes that
included specific behavioral rituals. Other times, it included the creation of distinct markings through things like paint, jewelry,
and clothing made of materials.
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2. When tribes stopped mainly hunting and wound up creating their farming civilizations, populations grew. Soon, there were
enough people in the civilization to delegate specialized roles. Some citizens were farmers, some were military, and others
were religious priests or leaders. Each role had a specific part to play in society. This meant that there needed to be visual
distinctions for each caste. Clothing, jewelry, and other accessories became more distinct. They were developed to match the
tasks and roles that each citizen of society would play.
This is just the beginning of organized fashion.
Military and Religious Uniform
When civilizations started growing, and roles between them started to expand further, so too did the need for distinct
classification within specific organizations. The greatest examples of this included the military and the education system.
While there were smatterings of examples of a uniformed infantry in ancient civilizations, the standardized uniform didn’t really
kick off until the Roman Empire. When segmented armor started to become a trend in the first century, it made it much more
easy to standardize. Plus, if the military were wearing the same colors, at least they could tell each other apart from their
enemy.
There were still custom variations. However, there were some standards, such as colors and rank that were put into place.
This idea would expand further until the Ottoman Empire further to specifically
assign decoration, color, and uniform design to distinguish rank.
Eventually, when the feudal system was put into place in Europe, the idea of
uniforms started to appeal more to religious orders. Monasteries were often
secluded areas that were filled with people who were often sent there or
volunteered for religious practice and purpose. In order to distinguish people
from these orders from the rest of the public, their dress would serve as a
symbol of their piety and status. The standardization of such a uniform was
also intended to add a sense of humility in practice.
This sort of uniformity carried through to the medical and educational fields
once there was more secularization past the point of the Dark Ages. The
hegemony of the Church soon ended during the Protestant Reformation, splitting religious and government authority. So,
when the vocations started to become separate practices, the dress still carried over into those fields.
Uniforms Expanding Further into Ideology

3. Uniforms also exist for the distinct purpose of shame and dehumanization. Like
a “scarlet letter” if you will. One example was the introduction of adding a
required “Star of David” for the Jewish population during Germany in WW2. A
more modern day example includes our current prison system. The idea behind
the uniform was to induce shame, avoidance, and the dehumanization of the
individual.
Later, in Eastern Europe and China, some years later, a collectivist ideology
started to spread to different forms of government. This movement sparked the
use of everyday uniforms for the entire public to show the devotion of a group of
people for the betterment of their country.
Any form of acceptable rebellion oftentimes fell into the realm of embracing an
added visual flair or redesign. This has encouraged if not spurred on fashion movements that added a sense of identity
among the collective, more or less flipping the ideology on its head.
Capitalism, Branding, and Corporate Apparel
Individual fashion was still a common practice throughout the centuries. The price of materials and product availability would
accidentally shape a different kind of standardized dress. One that came through economic status. If you could afford fashion,
you would be in the upper class, and if you couldn’t you were a serf.
However, when serfdom became disbanded and the increase of the
production of goods and services became a thing through financial
backing and entrepreneurship, there was an ability to mass produce
clothing like never before. Which meant business and company owners
could provide clothing to incentivize people to work in their factories,
shops, etc. This was an especially popular practice during England and
America’s industrial period that expanded to all kinds of vocations today.
Today’s context for the uniform has shifted in American society to a more
capitalist vein. The function of corporate uniform today exists to create a sense of career identity, provide a basic level of
safety standards, and to serve as a walking talking advertisement.
The needs of the uniform have flexed themselves from a basic way to identify a person to a classification system that almost
boggles the mind. We have yet to know how it will pan out in the near future. However, the journey from proof of a hunt to
corporate apparel is a fascinating one.

4. Do you want to learn more about Fashion, Design, and Corporate Apparel? Maybe
you are in the Huntsville, AL Area and need some designs. We can help. Go to
www.entrustedtees.com and contact us!
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We are north Alabama’s largest promotional products company, specializing in screenprinting, custom t-shirts, embroidery,
uniforms, banners, decals, promotional products, and wall art. We offer many name brands like Nike, Under Armor, Callaway
Golf, Yeti, The North Face, and so many more. If you can think it, we can put your logo on it.
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