The corporatewear market can still be split into five segments. These are:

• workwear;
• careerwear;
• corporate casualwear;
• uniforms;
• protective clothing.

The dividing lines between them are becoming ever more blurred. It is no longer possible to be categorical about where workwear ends and protectivewear begins. To most people a standard boilersuit made of poly/cotton is workwear. But if the fabric is impregnated with chemical dyes which make it reflect light, and it therefore becomes a high visibility boilersuit, has it transformed into protectivewear?

The industry has suffered from becoming ‘commoditised’, as a result of irrevocable and irreversible changes in the supply chain. Consequently the market has become fixated on price to its own detriment.

This latest edition of just-style's global workwear review discusses the state of the sector at the end of the last decade, analyses the market from 2004 to 2016, looks at how sellers reach buyers, analyses worldwide production and reflects on views from people in the industry.

Beginning with a 10-page Executive summary, this section wraps up the key findings from the report, then leads into Chapter 2 Introduction.

Chapter 3 Workwear at the end of the decade
Today, it is far more likely that retail sales of corporatewear will be of suits, jackets, skirts and trousers to both men and to women; in other words, careerwear. In the UK, for example, many accountants, estate agents, law firms, etc provide an allowance for employees to go and get ‘suited and booted’ from mass market retailers such as Marks & Spencer and Next.

The sale of workwear through retail is far harder to pin down. A self-employed builder might buy jeans and a fleece jacket for work. He can obtain these from almost any casualwear retail outlet, without there being any distinguishable ‘branding’ of the apparel as workwear. Or, he can buy CAT, Dr Martens, Dickies, Carhartt or another workwear ‘fashion’ brand.

Here, the reasons are given for why, at the end of the decade, the market has blurred, and why this is bad for the workwear business.

In Chapters 4-6, the value of the market is estimated for key dates, and broken down by major geographic regions. Forecasts are made for the overall consumption of workwear within corporatewear up to 2016. The forecasts are based on population, employment, and the number of workwear wearers. They are given in garment numbers and US dollar values.

Chapter 6 also contains the report's "time lines", showing year-on-year data trends from 2004 to 2016 representing regional market values and volumes.

Chapter 7 How sellers reach buyers in the workwear market, addresses the manner in which businesses reach their customers, and what drives the purchasing decision, with this having a big impact upon the choice of production source.

Chapter 8 Workwear manufacturing: regional production estimates, looks at where in the world these garments are – and will be – made, and estimates the production of workwear.

Finally, in Chapters 9-11, opinions are given by people in the industry on what will shape the specific strategies of companies in this embattled sector, and the author considers what will happen next in the apparently endless rounds of sector consolidation.

Chapter 1 Executive summary
The state of workwear at the end of the decade
Product definitions
Channels to market definitions
The market quantification methodology
The workwear market 2004
The workwear market 2008
The workwear market, 2009 and 2010
The workwear market, 2010-2016
How sellers reach buyers in the workwear market
Examples of how sellers reach buyers
Workwear manufacturing, regional production estimates
Industry views from people in the industry
Some specific strategies
The nth phase of consolidation

Chapter 2 Introduction
Clothing to wear at work
The contents of the report

Chapter 3 Workwear at the end of the decade
Product definitions
Channels to market definitions
Channel routes for sales of workwear
The market quantification methodology
Exchange rates

Chapter 4 The workwear market, 2004-2008
The workwear market 2004, world totals and developed world markets
The workwear market 2004, rest of the world totals and developing world markets
The workwear market 2008, world totals and developed world markets
The workwear market 2008, rest of the world totals and developing world markets

Chapter 5 The workwear market, 2009
The workwear market 2009, world totals and developed world markets
The workwear market 2009, rest of the world totals and developing world markets
The effect of the global downturn on 2009 estimates
The effect of the global downturn on the workwear market in 2010

Chapter 6 The workwear market, 2009-2016
The forecast scenario
The workwear market 2010, world totals and developed world markets
The workwear market 2010, rest of the world totals and developing world markets
The workwear market 2012, world totals and developed world markets
The workwear market 2012, rest of the world totals and developing world markets
The workwear market 2016, world totals and developed world markets
The workwear market 2016, rest of the world totals and developing world markets
The workwear market time lines, 2004 to 2016, world totals and developed world markets
The workwear market time lines, 2004 to 2016, rest of the world totals and developing world markets

Chapter 7 How sellers reach buyers in the workwear market
Channels of distribution to the workwear market
The image map of fabric decision flow
Direct sale to a garment maker
Sale to a wholesaler/importer
Sale to a workwear brand
Sale to a mail order catalogue
Sale to a managing agent
Sale to a garment rental company
Sale to an end user specifier
A simple conclusion to a complex decision process flow
Examples of how sellers reach buyers

Chapter 8 Workwear manufacturing: regional production estimates
Production around the world
Western Europe
North America
Eastern Europe
Indian Sub-continent
Southeast Asia
China
Russia and the Stans
Japan and Korea
Latin America
Africa and other countries
The value-added chain for a garment

Chapter 9 Views from people in the industry
The just-style interviews
Interview with Tom Roehricht, managing director, Sunlight Direct
Interview with Lotte Dobell, editor, Company Clothing magazine
Interview with David Hill, Richmond Consulting Ltd

Chapter 10 Some specific strategies
Strategies in context
Dominate the domestic market
Specialise by product
Specialise by industry sector
Build sales regionally or globally
Franchise or license the brand internationally
Concentrate entirely on a service model
Control manufacturing
Try every strategy
Stick to one strategy, but go nowhere

Chapter 11 The nth phase of consolidation

List of figures
Figure 1: Direct sale to a garment maker
Figure 2: Sale to a wholesaler/importer
Figure 3: Sale to a workwear brand
Figure 4: Sale to a mail order catalogue
Figure 5: Sale to a managing agent
Figure 6: Sale to a garment rental company
Figure 7: Sale to an end user specifier

List of tables
Table 1: Corporatewear product definitions
Table 2: Corporatewear channels to market
Table 3: Twenty five potential product/channel approaches
Table 4: Currency exchange rates, as of 30 October 2009
Table 5: The workwear market 2004, world totals and developed world markets (m people, m units, US$ and %)
Table 6: The workwear market 2004, rest of the world totals and developing world markets (m people, m units, US$ and %)
Table 7: The workwear market 2008, world totals and developed world markets (m people, m units, US$ and %)
Table 8: The workwear market 2008, rest of the world totals and developing world markets (m people, m units, US$ and %)
Table 9: The workwear market 2009, world totals and developed world markets (m people, m units, US$ and %)
Table 10: The workwear market 2009, rest of the world totals and developing world markets (m people, m units, US$ and %)
Table 11: The workwear market 2010, world totals and developed world markets (m people, m units, US$ and %)
Table 12: The workwear market 2010, rest of the world totals and developing world markets (m people, m units, US$ and %)
Table 13: The workwear market 2012, world totals and developed world markets (m people, m units, US$ and %)
Table 14: The workwear market 2012, rest of the world totals and developing world markets (m people, m units, US$ and %)
Table 15: The workwear market 2016, world totals and developed world markets (m people, m units, US$ and %)
Table 16: The workwear market 2016, rest of the world totals and developing world markets (m people, m units, US$ and %)
Table 17: The workwear market 2004-2016, world totals and developed world markets
Table 18: The workwear market 2004-2016, rest of the world totals and developing world markets
Table 19: Estimates of world workwear production by region, 2009 (m units and %)
Table 20: The value added chain, for a representative garment and in total