I have been involved in product development at Dimex for 17 years. The leap from 2001 to 2018 has been huge. In 2001, our catalog had only 40 different products, this year it has 135. Dimex has always been a pioneer in workwear design. We have made clothes for Finnish men and now we have expanded to include women's and children's models. Good-looking workwear is now also widely used in leisure time.

The saying that everything was better before is not always true. Clothes were previously mainly made of “enstex” fabric, which is a blend of polyester and cotton. Of course, the same fabric composition still works well; it is washable and durable.

Workwear is no longer just a simple blue cotton overall. Every detail is carefully considered and there are many material options. Professionalism is needed to design a functional, good-looking and selling product.

Today, materials have evolved and the selection is wide. Workwear is required to be almost as comfortable as running tights. Design must take into account different user groups and their special needs. Previously, we focused more on drivers, but today Dimex clothing is used on all kinds of work sites, from construction to clearing and shipping, from factory halls to forests and ports. Users provide the best tips and ideas on what should be changed and what would work better.

Designing workwear is versatile, not just drawing clothes. The designer searches for new materials, thinks about the structures of details and calculates the minutes needed for production; from idea to actual product. Pattern masters and pattern makers quickly bring the designer back to earth if he starts to float too high in the plans and to unfeasible solutions. The designer must be creative, but at the same time he must keep production costs in mind. He must find a golden mean where the product looks good, is comfortable to wear and easy to manufacture.

The standards that apply to visible clothing, for example, also present their own challenges to design work. The challenge of design is to get a product that meets the regulations, but still looks like your own company.
No two days are the same in design, you get to challenge yourself every day. You're never done either. That's the beauty of product design, the sky's the limit. Sometimes you can float.

Jaana Voutilainen
Team Manager, Product Development