$200k Loss Prevented

in collaboration with:

Graphic Designer,
President,
Vice President,
E-commerce Manager,
Production Manager, and
Models

My role: multifaceted designer covering UX, apparel, packaging, email, and graphics
Business: L.A. Triumph is a uniform company that owns several medical and culinary workwear brands.
Project duration: March 2019 - December 2019

The company's medical scrubs had become antiquated.

New scrub brands were solving healthcare workers' decades-long problem of wearing itchy, stiff, and boxy uniforms that impeded their workplace performance and enjoyment.

This small business struggled to compete because it still offered what customers no longer wanted.

I was hired as a fashion designer to bring fresh styles to this brand, but since I was also studying UX, I expanded my role and launched a new website.

We needed to hear from today's healthcare workers...

I recruited seven healthcare workers to learn about their schedules, tasks, goals, pain points, and what matters to them when choosing and shopping for scrubs:

• Performance: Scrubs must move with the wearer for situations such as running, squatting, and reaching. They need fabrics that will not tear or break under stress. They wear scrubs for 12+ hour shifts and need them to be comfortable.
  
• Style: Frequently on-the-go, they want products that transition well between work and leisure.
  
• User experience: They don't want untrustworthy products, and shopping online for work clothes shouldn't feel like a downgrade from everyday clothes.
  

Turns out, this brand had epitomized their complaints.

...and make uniforms that worked for them, not against them.

Previously, this company had produced designs that violated hospital regulations or conflicted with customers' goals: for example, hooded shirts (violates regulations), leggings (unprofessional), and shirts with lace (not functional and potentially dangerous).
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Based on the interviews, I designed special features such as secret snack pockets, shorter inseams, tapered waists, and jogger-style hems to address problems like starving on the job, bagginess, and itchiness.

We also connected with competitors' sources to obtain soft, stretchy, and durable fabrics.

But the solution to the business problem required more than new clothes.

I updated every brand asset and customer touchpoint--e-mail marketing, packaging, logo, and social media--so that the new brand experience would be consistent across all digital and physical interactions between the brand and the customer.

The brand also needed a website.

I wireframed sample home pages and product pages to discuss with the VP of the company. Even though we eventually used a Shopify template, it was helpful to think about what we wanted, such as a full-width hero on the home page and one-click size selection on the product details page.

Direct-to-consumer offered advantages:

• Ownership over the brand and customer experience.
  
• Higher profit margins.
  
• Easier to reach our target audience.
  

We aspired to elevate product quality by testing...

Models were hired to try on new sample garments to check on fit, measurements, and performance. Through an iterative process, we ensured that designs met our standards.

For ads, product photography, and social media assets, I used an off-white backdrop with props to make the scenes look more realistic, warm, and engaging.

...and create an experience that customers could trust.

According to the interview participants, product pages were the most important part of a store website, because healthcare workers needed to know what they were purchasing and how it might affect their job performance.

• Assorted views of the product worn on a human model would provide a comprehensive, visual understanding.
  
• Naming the products could give customers a personal connection.
  
• To eliminate the stigma of typical uniforms, each product hung relaxed on a wooden hanger under natural light to convey luxury and comfort.
  
• Fonts and colors were selected to convey professionalism and quality and to highlight the products.
  

The complete rebrand became official with our Shopify launch.

While I did not remain with the company long enough to see the immediate impact of my work, as of January 2024, my designs are still in circulation and being released in new colors and fabrics. The company has since expanded.

With UX principles in practice, we averted waste and money lost.

The company had a history of seeing entire purchase orders turn to waste because garments were unwearable and unsalable. These orders typically cost at least $20,000 each.

This changed after I insisted on contracting models to fit the garments, so that each style was tested before signing off on production. Models were costing over $150/hour, but this was a small fee compared to the $20k per production line of untested garments that would fail inspection and quality control.

Testing garments on models allowed us to identify errors and make improvements. Across ten purchase orders, over $200,000 in potential loss was saved by investing in product testing.