The UK's premier corporate clothing company Incorporatewear has designed new uniforms for more than 10,000 employees of the travel company Thomas Cook UK. 

Incorporatewear will roll out the new uniform to 7,000 retail staff, 2,400 cabin crew and 630 pilots and flight deck members - as well as 1,500 overseas representatives as part of a fully managed service for three years. 

The Thomas Cook project team worked closely with Incorporatewear to develop the look and feel of the uniform, and involved employees in the process from the outset. 

The result - due to be rolled out to retail and airline teams on November 1 and to overseas colleagues next year - is a professional but fun and friendly corporate image, made from high quality performance fabrics for easy-care and comfort.  

Clare Rayment, Sales Operations Director at Thomas Cook, said: "Rolling out the new uniform across all business areas is the result of a meticulous process that has involved extensive communication between each business unit in Thomas Cook through focus groups, followed by wearer trials once the designs had been agreed."

Paula Cannon, Incorporatewear Design and Technical Manager, said: "The use of brand colours - blue and yellow - has been intensified. This creates a distinct identity in line with marketing material and store design.

"It helps the customer to identify Thomas Cook employees, giving a seamless visual journey from the moment they book their holiday through to the plane journey and throughout their stay in resort."

At Thomas Cook, there are around 20 distinct job functions with employees working in retail locations, on aircrafts and in hotels, airports, offices and kids' clubs. Although they don't require completely different uniforms, some variations are needed that take into account the functions of the roles and the environment that different teams work in. 

The result is a range that is split into two looks: the more formal for retail employees, flight deck, cabin crew and airport greet-and-welcome meetings; and the more relaxed 'on general duties' look. 

The shared formal look for female retail teams, cabin crew and Overseas 'Meet and Greet' translates into a choice of either a sleek and sophisticated tailored navy shift dress or a print top (gingham yellow and blue for retail) with a choice of tailored skirt/trousers and scarf carrying the brand colours, while the men have tailored navy trousers, a blue shirt, yellow tie and waistcoat. A navy coat has also been designed for the airline cabin crew when travelling between flights.

Meanwhile, fleeces, shorts and trainers with checked shirts for the men and a loose and light sunshine-coloured blouse with knee-length skirt for the women capture the high spirits of holiday time and offer a more casual and relaxed look for the overseas teams.

In total, there are more than 70 individual garments across the new 2011 range, which has been designed around the particular requirements of each area of the business. 

There are also bespoke accessories that co ordinate with the new range, including handbags, trolley cases, man bags, purses, belts and even personal alarms. 

Paula said: "Every item in the range has been exclusively designed in partnership with Thomas Cook and will never be replicated for any other customer. It is a truly exclusively designed range."

Around 75,000 metres of bionic tailoring fabric was used to manufacture the tailored garments in the range. This fabric has stain and crease resistance and nano-technology built in so that any liquids spilt on it will simply run off without leaving it wet or stained. That's just one example of Thomas Cook listening to wearers' comments and ensuring the practicalities of a uniform are understood. 

Paula said: "Our design and technical team worked very hard with Thomas Cook to come up with new and innovative styling and fabric bases that would make the range cutting edge and the attention to every detail was crucial. The result is a range that is professional and co-ordinated. The look is fun, happy and friendly - everything that a holiday company should be."