Email
Most of us – myself included – have done jobs where wearing clothes we would otherwise not wish to be seen dead in (usually a deeply unflattering design in 100% polyester) is part of the deal.
Unveiling the new-look uniform for McDonald's, which will eventually be worn by all its 86,000 UK workers, Jez Langhorn one of the senior bosses, admitted that he had not particularly enjoyed wearing its "brown and clingy nylon" outfit when he started his career as a crewman with the fast food giant 28 years ago. "If you look good and feel good you will be happier at work and do your job better" said the vice-president of McDonald's UK, who doesn't have to wear a uniform any more.
Last year, McDonald's appointed Wayne Hemingway, founder of Red or Dead, to replace the dull black and mocha combo created in 2008 by the then royal dress designer Bruce Oldfield, giving him "carte blanche" to design a new look.
Whether the new uniform – which will be first worn at the chain's four new restaurants on the Olympic site – is an improvement is debateable. The mustard and "gherkin" green colours which dominate are certainly brighter than muddy chocolate, replicating the "fresher" colours and image of the newly redesigned restaurants.
Hemingway has ditched the traditional American-style baseball cap in favour of tighter fitting "jockey caps" with smaller peaks. His inspiration for the look – which features skinny ties for male managers, pencil skirts for the female managers, and Fred Perry style polo shirts – was the US television programme Mad Men, set in the 1960s.
In a major consultation exercise, McDonald's asked staff what they wanted to wear: 300 took part in the trials which led to the new outfit. All staff will get the uniform free of charge, and it will be introduced in all 87,500 UK restaurant staff in the autumn.
The company claims to be the first in the UK to commit to introducing a "closed loop" recycled uniform, made from as few products, either biodegradeable or recycled, as possible. In a move spearheaded by Hemingway's upcycling company Worn Again, this will apply initially to the new-look, longer aprons, but it hopes that eventually all the uniforms will be completely recyclable, with no textiles at all going to landfill.
What do you think? If you work for McDonald's are you happy with your new kit? Do you workplace have a better uniform, or are you forever stuggling to persuade your employers to give you something new to wear?
Comments
20 June 2012 3:14PM
what an athletic pair of McMuppets.
20 June 2012 3:27PM
The male uniform is utterly demeaning. Castration by clothing.
20 June 2012 3:27PM
How very generous of them
20 June 2012 3:29PM
i think one of the models should have been touching his cuff link
whlist the other should be pointing to something in the distance
that no one can actually see ha ha
im such a funny chap...
20 June 2012 3:31PM
i can't think of anything witty to say about the picture, the colours, the models or the clothes. so i'll just try and say some generic comment about mcdonalds being capitalist and how rubbish the food is.
is this acceptable for everyone?
20 June 2012 3:33PM
The zipper cardigan looks like ideal leisure wear for golf-playing old farts. And are long sleeves such a great idea in a workplace where there's so much deep frying?
20 June 2012 3:34PM
Those uniforms wouldn't look out of place on Blake's 7
20 June 2012 3:34PM
That was terribly ageist of me. Ideal leisure wear for golf players.
There, fixed it.
20 June 2012 3:35PM
Deep fried chips covered in salt - just what all sports dieticians advise the athletes to eat.
20 June 2012 3:37PM
Urgh. That's all I've got to say.
20 June 2012 3:37PM
Give it time, all it takes is for some sleb to be (bribed &) snapped wearing some of this and then featured in Heat magazine and people will be racing to buy these uniforms from high street stores.
Far stranger things have happened
20 June 2012 3:37PM
What a spiteful, mean spirited thing to say.
20 June 2012 3:38PM
You mean it doesn't include footwear with shackles?
20 June 2012 3:38PM
When buying McD's I always try to avoid eye contact. I assume it's a person serving me but I can't be sure.
20 June 2012 3:38PM
If you eat enough chicken nugets, you too could be the world's fastest man.
20 June 2012 3:39PM
Who cares?
20 June 2012 3:39PM
Muddy colours even worse shoddy food - wouldn't feed it to the dog...
20 June 2012 3:39PM
A new uniform won't alter the fact that the food they sell is vile plop that really ought to be illegal.
Is that a writ I see before me . . . ?
20 June 2012 3:41PM
Eleven years now without setting foot in Macdonalds or consuming anything of theirs. This has occasionally caused minor irritation to some of my friends but it has been easier than I expected. I only missed it for the first few months.
20 June 2012 3:42PM
Do the uniforms look completely different in real life, when compared to picture? You know, like the food.
20 June 2012 3:42PM
I remember my Sainsbury uniform. Brown trousers and a brown shop coat. It's good that uniforms are more comfortable/practical. More importantly they are on their feet all day - what sort of shoes do they wear? Do McDonalds pay for these also?
20 June 2012 3:42PM
"All staff will get the uniform free of charge" - I feel it's my civic duty to remind everyone that there's a tax break for employees who are responsible for washing their own uniforms. And you might be able to claim back for previous years, too: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/uniform-tax-rebate
20 June 2012 3:43PM
oops, and here's that link as a link:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/uniform-tax-rebate
20 June 2012 3:46PM
ive been reading anti-mcdonalds comments for years now and you know what, mcdonalds has expanded enormously and is still the worlds most favourite restaurant. im no fan, never have been, and never will be, but anti-mac comments shouldn't really be taken too seriously/. what happened. why are they still standing? the uniform is dystopian and i feel sorry for anyone who has to put one on but less so for those they'll serve....
20 June 2012 3:58PM
i like the way that fat people serve the food in there , well when i say food , you know , why would you let that crap sponsor the Olympics anyway ? its daft as a brush !
20 June 2012 4:03PM
'All staff will get the uniform free of charge.'
What stunning generosity. Whatever next: staff being able to use the toilets free of charge too? I do wish journalists wouldn't slavishly copy press releases.
On a separate but related point, I'm still trying to stop guffawing over the fact that the producers of fat-soaked, carb-laden burgers and chips have been appointed official Olympic sponsor (along with the producers of sugar-filled carbonated drinks). Truly satire is dead.
20 June 2012 4:04PM
It's a costume, not a uniform.
20 June 2012 4:12PM
It's when I read articles like this I realise that perhaps my job isn't
so shite after all........
20 June 2012 4:12PM
Who cares, they're still serving shite.
20 June 2012 4:13PM
"What stunning generosity. Whatever next: staff being able to use the toilets free of charge too?"
Many - in fact most - people have to buy their work clothes. It's actually not a bad benefit.
20 June 2012 4:15PM
Christ I fancy a burger.........
20 June 2012 4:18PM
This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs.
20 June 2012 4:20PM
I am not immediately drawn to the uniform but props for getting the staff involved.
I suspect it would grow on me if I were a regular McCustomer.
Also great pair of models (especially the female -- lovely).
20 June 2012 4:24PM
zips are a bad move.. when they introduce iPad mobile ordering amongst the queues then the zips will scratch the iPad screens.
20 June 2012 4:26PM
sick
20 June 2012 4:26PM
The uniforms are probably more nutritious than the food...
20 June 2012 4:27PM
Sickening snobbery as expected from Guardian readers.
20 June 2012 4:27PM
I love how in between the segments on ITV, the sponsorship message is "McDonalds: Proud providers of official escorts to the England team"
Now somebody really didn't think that wording through did they?
20 June 2012 4:27PM
Sickening snobbery as expected from Guardian readers.
20 June 2012 4:28PM
I've worn mustard and gherkin at Mcdonald's before.
20 June 2012 4:28PM
...and I bet the staff love serving you too. Regardless of your thoughts about McD's as a company (of which you are a customer) surely the staff deserve treating with respect and politeness? What have they as induviduals done to insult you?
20 June 2012 4:29PM
In order to not irritate your friends, I reckon you can go into a McDonalds, but just not buy or eat anything. You'll be able to sleep soundly at night.
I go to mcDonalds just twice a year. Once on Nigel Mansell's birthday (August 8th) and the other is invariably December 31st. It can in theory be earlier in the year than December 31st but only if I roll six consecutive sixes with a die on that day (I roll the die at 7am sharp, daily).
Twice a year is plenty, I find.
20 June 2012 4:30PM
Thanks for that
20 June 2012 4:33PM
Utterly hideous. Dear god, this awful bloody company ought to be driven out of existence. Why on Earth does anybody go there? It's like having a cancer unit sponsored by a cigarette company, child minders sponsored by the Moors murderers.
20 June 2012 4:34PM
fast food as sponsors for olympic games...only on this planet of course
20 June 2012 4:37PM
Does anyone give a shit? Really? Even the people wearing the uniform know it's not the worst part of the job. Serving the sneering masses who tell their friends they'd never be seen dead in a fast food place is the worst part.
20 June 2012 4:37PM
Looking at this photo from the perspective of 500 years in the future...it looks really disturbing. Like a painting of peasants in tabards..or happy slaves on the plantation. Vulgar and deeply immoral.
20 June 2012 4:38PM
@egbutnobacon
"It's like having a cancer unit sponsored by a cigarette company, child minders sponsored by the Moors murderers."
No. It really, really isn't.
20 June 2012 4:38PM
Almost makes you forget the shit job and wage, doesn't it?
20 June 2012 4:40PM
A McAdvert for McDonalds posing as McNews..
Haven't eaten anything in a McDonalds for 16 years..