When asked to imagine a typical image of white-collar workers in Japan, salarymen in suits may come to mind. On the flip side, blue collar workers in "work wear" tend to be associated with less flattering stereotypes, dubbed the “3K”—kitsui (demanding), kitanai (dirty) and kiken (dangerous) in Japanese.
Work wear that looks exactly like a business suit, developed by a Tokyo-based plumbing firm, might be helping to improve the image of blue-collar workers. It has been proving popular recently among people in various industries, ranging from waste collection and building maintenance to agriculture.
The water-repellent, washable attire was originally produced as an in-house uniform for the Oasys Lifestyle group, based on an idea from a female employee in charge of personnel affairs. “After our engineers wore the work wear for a year, we received an increased number of young applicants as well as favorable comments from our clients and peer companies,” said the firm’s spokesman, Hayato Suhara.
Oasys Style Wear, which released the clothing in March (2018) at a price of roughly ¥30,000 for a jacket and pants, and women’s models last month, announced last week that more lightweight, quick-to-dry summer models will be added to its men’s work wear lineup in July.