British Airways unveils its new uniform

We know that all our people are individuals, and we encourage them to bring their personality to work. As Chairman and CEO of British Airways , I’m so proud that this helps to define the original, British service they provide to our customers every single day as we support them to travel around the world for the things that are important to them; whether that’s for work, to reunite with friends and family, to take a well-earned break or to expand their horizons.?We know that for our customers, every journey is special and the warm and friendly service they receive (whether that’s a shared joke or a chat about the weather) is what sets us apart and makes our customers feel at home, even when they’re away.?

People are at the heart of our business, and that’s why, five years ago, as part of a project to invest in our people, we began the process of creating an iconic new uniform that they would feel proud to wear and that would signal a new chapter for our business. Sadly, like a lot of things, the process was interrupted by the global pandemic and we’re grateful to our colleagues for patiently waiting for the new uniform to arrive.

Because this would be our first new uniform in more than 20 years, from the outset we were clear that our people had to be involved in every step of this process. As a brand that is proud to represent Britain on the global stage, we knew we needed to work with a British original fashion icon. We turned to award winning Savile Row tailoring expert Ozwald Boateng OBE to create a collection of modern, stylish garments, able to withstand the test of every job our more than 30,000 people do – rain or shine, in the heat or the cold. Carrying out secret trials in industrial freezers, under powerful deluge showers and working on our cargo flights, our colleagues’ input has been vital. Ozwald’s design includes an airwave pattern that features across the entire uniform collection including jackets, t-shirts, buttons and ties, and was inspired by the movement of air over an aircraft wing. The jacquard fabric across all of the tailored garments features a variation of the iconic speedmarque.

The new uniform was designed in conjunction with our people across all areas of the business, helping us to create a uniform they’ve had a real, tangible impact on – a uniform that has ultimately been designed by and for our colleagues. We’ve changed lots of the design based on feedback from more than 1,500 of them. Our engineers, for example, needed bigger pockets to fit their tools. Our cabin crew asked for changes to the aprons they wear to serve food. Our ground handlers needed to keep their hands warm while using devices, so we brought in gloves fitted with touch-screen technology fabric. We’ll continue to listen to them as we evolve our uniform over the coming years.

As with everything we do, sustainability is front of mind, and the new collection is being produced using more than 16 million plastic bottles. We’ve made sure that all our uniform suppliers are members of the ‘Better Cotton’ Initiative, the world’s leading sustainability initiative for cotton whose mission is to help cotton communities survive and thrive, while protecting and restoring the environment. We’ll recycle our existing uniforms and ensure none are sent to landfill.

We’re sad to say goodbye to our current uniform, designed by Julien Macdonald OBE, which has been a huge part of our brand identity for almost two decades, but now is the right time to create something new and iconic to take us into our next century of flying and represent the very best of modern Britain. We will keep some of Julien’s uniform in our museum, our Speedbird Heritage centre at our British Airways headquarters, so we’re able to remember it for years to come.

Our colleagues will now begin to be fitted for their new uniform, and we aim for everyone to be wearing it by the summer.?Our uniform is a very visual representation of our brand, and we hope that of modern Britain. It will carry us into our future, and I can’t wait to see our people wearing it across our extensive global network, at our airports, on our aircraft and in our hangars.

To find out more about our new uniform launch, watch our video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HJo9bTXBhoY

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