Category Archives: Made in Britain

Aprons as Uniform

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We have noticed that aprons have become uniform for so much more than just hospitality businesses.

Lots of customers who order aprons from us are from other industries such as homeware shops, flour mills, museums, nurseries, and potters.

Aprons have become an easy way to give staff a uniform and brand identity because it’s one item of clothing and one size fits all.  An apron can be made completely bespoke to match a Pantone colour as well as to fit a brand design. 

Examples of customers

Homesense are a well known high street chain, part of the TK Maxx brand. We have supplied them with bespoke aprons for their staff for many years HOMESENSE

Shipton Mill supplies flour and so much more, anything you need to baking including aprons and couche cloths supplied by us  SHIPTON MILL

Organic cotton apron with Shipton Mill embroidered on the front
Organic cotton apron

The Waterside Inn is a 3 star Michelin Restaurant opened by Michele Roux.  It gained it first star in 1974 and is the only restaurant in the work outside France to have retained 3 stars since 1985.  Michel’s son Alain has been running the restaurant since 2002, we have been supplying their bespoke aprons and cookery school bags for many years  WATERSIDE INN

The Voung V&A came to us after seeing some aprons we had made for Pasta Evangelists for their restaurant in Harrods, they loved what they saw and wanted the same. YOUNG V&A

Valvona and Crolla are an incredible delicatessen, restaurant, bar, wine merchant and outside caterers in Edinburgh established in 1934.  We supply them with bespoke aprons made here in the UK  VALVONA AND CROLLA

A few years ago we worked with the fabulous coffee bean shop to develop and make aprons, tote bags and Christmas stockings.  You can see them and even buy them here. COFFEE BEAN SHOP

Customised Printed Apron.

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An excellent way for you to stand out from the crowd and promote your brand is with our customised printed apron. You can create a strong, unique and vibrant look with an all-over print. Our team can help you to produce the perfect apron that will develop a sense of unity amongst your employees.

Stunning vibrancy of print.

A customised printed apron is the perfect solution for creating an apron with a large, detailed image. Your apron literally becomes a customised piece of artwork. There is no limit to the size or the number of colours in your logo or image. The results are stunning and far beyond anything that we can achieve with a traditional screen print.

Embed your logo as part of the image.

The beauty of this process is the flexibility to add your logo into the image, rather than having to add it afterwards at an extra cost.

It all starts with a high-resolution image.

Your artwork is reproduced using a library of hundreds of colours into a high-quality photographic image with excellent colour consistency. We achieve this by using reactive inks that have an excellent wash and rub fastness for durability.

Fabric

We carefully source all our fabric and use high-quality durable 300 gsm half Panama cotton. Ideal for aprons, this fabric quality comes in both regular and 100% organic cotton, for a more sustainable product.

Fast turnaround

Once the artwork has been agreed and you are happy with the print proof, the printing process is fast and very efficient. A pre-production sample is produced for you to review the completed design.

Low minimums.

The minimum for a customised printed apron is 32. The technology allows us to produce short print runs. We print out each apron as an entire pattern piece and cut it out by hand.

Flexibility

Adjustments are easy. We review the all aspects of the design, adjust them accordingly and re-print the apron.

Carry the design through to other customised products.

Once you are happy with your customised printed apron, we are able to reproduce the same design on to tea towels, oven gloves, tote bags, cushions and even washbags. All these products will make perfect customised gifts.

If you would like to discuss a future order with one of our team please click the link.

Design Your Brand’s Signature With Aprons Made to Order

Bespoke Aprons, Made in Britain

Are you in search of the perfect apron design that aligns seamlessly with your brand’s identity? Then look no further – at Impact Trading, we specialise in crafting bespoke aprons made to order which are tailored to your unique specifications and brand requirements. Our customisation options extend across various design elements, allowing you to create aprons that truly stand out.

Fabric Choices

From organically constructed cotton twill and Fairtrade cotton to denim, polyester/cotton twill, and even coated fabric, we offer a diverse range of high-quality materials to suit your preferences.

Pocket Configuration

Choose not only the number of pockets but also their strategic placement, ensuring functionality and convenience for your specific work environment.

Size Customisation

Tailor the apron’s dimensions to your liking, adjusting both length and width for the perfect fit.

Fastening Options

Personalise your aprons further with a choice of fastenings, including metal or plastic options, buckles, d-rings or Velcro closures.

Tie Details

Select the tie length, colour, fabric and even leather to add the finishing touch to your branded aprons.

Colour Choices

We understand the importance of colour in brand representation, so we offer over 100 different stock fabric colours. Provide us with your colour preferences using references such as Pantone colours, colour samples or item examples, and we’ll precisely match them. For those seeking a truly exclusive colour match, we offer Pantone dyeing for aprons, which ensures a seamless integration with your brand’s colour palette.

Our ability to match paint colour charts, CMYK references or even paintwork colours underscore our commitment to delivering a customised branding solution. We request a minimum apron order of just 50 items so we can cater to businesses of all sizes. Take inspiration from our past projects, such as supplying aprons to the Handmade Bakery, where we precisely dyed their aprons to match their Farrow and Ball painted walls. You will receive a sample of the fabric for you to approve before we proceed with the entire order, ensuring satisfaction with the colour match.

Aprons Made in Britain

At Impact Trading, we pride ourselves on manufacturing aprons entirely in Britain and offer transparency in our supply chain. Whether you opt for our ‘Panama’ canvas or choose a polyester/cotton twill fabric option, we guarantee quality and authenticity in every apron. If you are concerned with ethical sourcing, our Fairtrade and organic cotton aprons are created with a commitment to traceability, supporting cotton farmers and upholding the highest standards of ethical certification.

Choose Impact Trading to transform your brand’s identity with aprons made to order that reflect your unique style and values. Please note that our delivery timeline is between 8-9 weeks so we can guarantee that you will receive an individually crafted product that meets and exceeds your expectations. Please contact us today to explore the multiple possibilities of creating aprons uniquely designed for your business.

Bespoke half apron with pockets.

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The classic half apron with pockets is one of our core products. It has been part of our aim to create something unique for our customers. Half aprons are an essential part of any hospitality uniform and can be both a perfect blank canvas for promoting your brand and an essential key garment for front of house catering.

We design our bespoke half apron with pockets individually to meet all our customer’s needs. Our design team carefully source and test all the materials and components.

We only work with quality fabric mills and suppliers, and take great care when choosing fabrics.

One of our tried and tested fabrics is the 100% cotton canvas half panama. The weave has a distinctive 2 weft threads to one warp, giving the fabric a unique look and adding to its durability. It really is the perfect fabric for hard wearing aprons.

We have a wide range of colours to choose from and can also Pantone dye fabric to match your company’s brand colour.

Half Apron with Pockets

The Design Process

The design process for our half aprons starts with the customer’s brief. You can choose the length and width, the size, position and number of pockets you want. You can add details such brass eyelets, studs and a variety of straps.

The ultimate detail to add quality and exclusivity to an apron is leather. This can be incorporated into the straps, which can then be removed for laundering. Brass eyelets and poppers are the perfect features for attaching the leather straps. We can reinforce the apron corners to give extra strength where the eyelets are attached.

The leather is carefully selected to look beautiful and feel soft to wear.  One of our most popular straps are a combination of leather and webbing. This way you get the beauty of leather but the practicality and ease of webbing.

On the half apron with pockets, the pockets are the key feature and are carefully considered and are determined by the wearer’s role. The pocket needs to accommodate all the items that the wearer will need to carry and have access to. The pockets need to be deep enough to safely hold items such has iPad or phones but also separated if items need to be kept in different places.

Final Details

The final stage in the design process of our half aprons is to add our customers branding. We will carefully consider how best to achieve this whilst working alongside our customers brief. This may involve a detailed embroidery, print or a bespoke woven label. All of which can either be large and very visible or subtle and understated.

All our half aprons are hand cut in our production room. The customer’s pattern and design details are carefully recorded and stored for future orders.

We will always produce an initial sample half apron for our customer to approve. This is a key stage in the design process and gives us an opportunity review and amend any details.

The sample stage is also an important point for our customer to receive and get a glimpse of their new design.

It is always great to see the finished results being worn in their new environment!

Leather Straps on Aprons

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We are often asked for artisan style aprons and one feature that is always of interest is the straps. Customers who are looking for something unique and special often love leather, as it’s a great way of adding quality.

The main stumbling block with leather is it cannot easily be cleaned.  You can’t put the leather straps in a washing machine with the aprons, so we wanted to find a way for the straps to be easily removed for laundering.

The flexibility to remove the straps means that they become interchangeable.  As well as solving the laundering issue, it means that you change the look of the apron depending on which straps are attached.

The easiest way to achieve this flexibility is to attach the straps though metal eyelets, using heavy duty metal snap fasteners. At the point where the eyelets and straps are attached, an extra piece of fabric is sewn to reinforce the corner for extra strength. These can also be made into a feature with contrast stitching or fabric. The most popular choice of eyelet and popper is Antique Brass or Nickel.  Buckles can also easily be matched.

When cared for correctly, leather can last much longer than fabric and so this method means that one leather strap can be used for several aprons, therefore making it very economical.

A good intermediate design is to combine leather and webbing. The leather is used for the most visible part of the strap, that attaches to the apron. The webbing is attached to leather to make tying the straps easy and flexible, without the need for buckles. This option can also be less expensive.

Leather and Webbing Straps

We carefully source the best leather, that is both soft to wear against the skin, easy to adjust but very durable. Different colours can be sourced, we certainly don’t have to stick to the traditional browns and blacks.

Our customers love their bespoke aprons with leather straps and frequently return for repeat orders.

Cross Back Aprons to Fit

Bespoke Aprons, Food Industry, Hotel Industry, Made in Britain

About 6 months ago, Liz from the design team came upstairs to the office to show us a new prototype apron she had made from striped navy and white denim with red straps.  I jumped up in excitement because I immediately fell in love with it.  I’m always one for a stripe, especially one that gives a nautical feel.  This, along with a pop of colour from the red strap had me completely smitten! 

Liz, seeing my excitement, offered to let me try it on and once I was strapped into it.  I realised that although I loved the look, the actual brilliance of this apron is the cross back which makes it fit like a glove.  I never really appreciated that the cross back, as well as creating a stylish look, is a fantastic way to make a standard apron fit all sizes of people.  The cross back allows the straps to shorten and lengthen at the neck which means all heights are catered for, this also applies to the width which accommodates all body shapes and most importantly makes it really comfortable to wear, almost like a dress.

For restaurants, cafes and hotels with a number of staff, cross back aprons are definitely the way to go to suit everyone.

Have It Your Own Way

Choosing Polo Shirts, Choosing Polo Shirts Fabric Composition, Choosing Weight of Fabric - Polo Shirts, Made in Britain, Pique Knit or Jersey Knit

There’s something incredibly satisfying about seeing a product design and knowing it can be brought to life. We gets lots of enquiries here at Impact Trading for garments such as Pantone colour matched t-shirts or polo shirts with contrast collars and buttons. Our job is to take your ideas and basic sketches and make them into a reality.

Using the highest quality fabrics we offer options of customisation and embellishments that really reflect your brand. Our aim is to produce something truly unique and exclusive to you; and let’s face it, it’s all in the detail, the smallest thing can make the biggest difference. The button, the placket, the collar, the piping, even the little neck label with your company logo. These can all be produced in your company colours, or maybe even a contrast colour to make them really pop!

Our fabrics include all the usual cottons and poly-cottons but more wonderfully and very recently, organic cotton, a fabric choice we are very proud to offer!

All the fabrics available can be dyed to your choice of Pantone colour and receiving your little lab dip fabric swatch in the post is always an exciting moment. We specialise in the manufacture of pantone matched polo shirts and t shirts.

We do our best here to make things simple and as quick as possible for you without compromising on quality. We also manufacture in Europe and can deliver in as little of 6 weeks. We keep in touch throughout the process, so if you are looking to enhance your company image then bespoke manufacture might just be the route for you.

Pantone dyed polo shirt, Pantone dyed buttons, bespoke woven neck tape.

Apron Strap Style

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If you are looking for something really unique that makes your brand stand out, apron straps are a great way to make an impression. At Impact Trading and Cotton Roots we are constantly developing new styles with different fabrics and material and colours to fit with our customer’s branding and to create inspiration for new customers. 

Customers can choose stock webbing that’s plain or striped, to completely bespoke webbing that can be printed with a particular image or design. You can even have bespoke webbing that is woven in your brand colours. If webbing isn’t your cup of tea you can have self-fabric straps, which are made from the same fabric as the apron, or a completely different colour or type of fabric to add a little bit of texture or contrast.

Some more unusual options are leather straps which are often made detachable so that they can be removed when washing the apron. If you like the look of leather but need it to be more practical and washable, a faux suede can be used instead which gives you the industrial look. Extra little details include choices from a range of neck sliders, both metal and plastic and adding contrast stitching, bar tacks, studs or poppers.

As well as a choice of interesting fabrics and materials for your apron and straps, you can also choose the style of straps and apron you want.  Standard bib aprons either with or without adjustable straps are a very popular choice, but cross back straps, waist aprons or a completely bespoke design are also available for you to choose from.