The PGL Staff Uniform
PGL has joined forces with New Zealand-based outdoor clothing manufacturers Pursuit Clothing who have created an exclusive, smart, durable and practical uniform to our specifications and design.
You will be issued with a selection of different items and quantities of uniform depending on your job role, centre location and length of contract.
You uniform will include a selection from the following:
• T-Shirts
• Polo shirt
• High-specification zip-up fleece
• Hoodie
• Board shorts
• Rash vest
• Quick-drying trousers
• Beanie hat
• Bucket hat
Specialist Items
All staff whose role requires them to regularly work outside in colder and wetter weather will be supplied with a waterproof jacket and trousers free of charge.
If you are employed purely in a watersports role in Southern France or Spain, you will receive a rash vest free of charge.
If you are employed in a catering or maintenance role, you will receive specialist separate uniform items that adhere to health and safety standards and are appropriate for your duties.
If you join PGL in a specialist instructing role such as Surfing or Field Studies, you will receive more information on specific clothing with your contract offer.
Looking after your Uniform
We expect you to wear both the top and bottom half of your uniform while working, under normal circumstances, and ask that you don’t customise any item of your uniform.
You will be required to pay for any replacements of lost or damaged articles, however, where possible we will endeavour to replace items that need replacing as a result of fair wear and tear as part of your job role.
If you work in the UK before or after transferring to/from a centre overseas, you will not receive a second uniform.
We provide laundry facilities at our centres so our staff team can wash and dry their kit.
Creating the PGL Uniform
When you become a member of PGL's staff team, we want to make sure you're wearing kit that is practical, does its job well, is warm, comfortable and that you're proud to wear your 'blues'.
Our staff uniform is the biggest soft equipment spend the company makes, and the three year contract we have with Pursuit Clothing is worth in the region of £300,000, so we wanted to tell you a bit about the process involved in creating a uniform that we believe will do the job and looks great too.
The process of creating a new staff uniform begins almost two years in advance of the actual delivery date as PGL's uniform is custom-made for us. This gives us the opportunity to customise sizes, designs and ensures that we will always be able to get the same items the following year.
After holding focus groups with centre-based staff team members to find out what they wanted, a brief was put out to tender to four companies: to create a package that offered a smart, durable, uniform made of quality fabrics that would be suitable for staff working in all weathers, 12 months of the year. This also needed to meet our financial guidelines and could be made and delivered within our timescale.
We wanted a quality guarantee and a clause in the contract that meant we could modify items for the following year if any issues were identified. PGL’s Uniform Project Group received sample items in a range of styles and fabric quality to make a choice from: you wouldn’t believe how many different shades of royal blue you can get, or how many different designs the simple polo shirt comes in!
Careful attention was paid to the sizing of garments, and all uniform items are made in XX Small through to XXXX Large to hopefully ensure all staff are catered for. Most items were sent backwards and forwards several times with modifications until the group were confident they were the best they could be.
Once the material and garments were selected, it was down to PGL’s Graphic Designer to come up with the designs.
The brief was to come up with a ‘uniform’ uniform; when a layer is peeled off, the logo and garment colours are the same throughout, creating a strong, consistent look.
The uniform working party paid great attention to even the smallest things like the quality of stitching, positioning of the ‘staff’ lettering on the sleeves, the length of t-shirts and polo shirts and even the way logos were embroidered to ensure they wouldn't let water seep through when they got wet. At each stage, a variety of staff tried on items to check sizing, fit, practicality and comfort.
Pursuit Clothing were also keen to meet PGL's wish that garments were produced in ethical factories in China, where no child labour is employed.
In addition to the core items of uniform, including t-shirts, polos, shorts and trousers, you will be provided with a range of garments that reflect the nature of your role and your centre location.
Staff in the UK and Northern France working outdoors for the majority of their role will be provided with a waterproof jacket and over-trousers and a fleece beanie hat for those cold winter months … or bad hair days!
If you’re working in these locations, you’ll be provided with shorts and trousers, rather than zip-off shorts as in the last few years, as well as a high specification fleece which has a high street retail value of almost £100 on its own.
Staff based at our Southern French and Spanish centres will receive a hooded sweatshirt, shorts and t-shirts and watersports staff at these centres will also be given a rash vest.
We’ve moved away from baseball caps and have opted for a more health-aware bucket hat, which offers increased protection to your neck and ears from the sun.
You’ll have the chance to feedback your thoughts on the uniform to your line managers throughout the season and we want to know what you think, good or bad so we can see if there are any common trends we can action.