We wore smartworking: the new work clothes of the new world

The world of work has changed dramatically. The arrival of the pandemic has made it necessary to create new working habits, and it is right that work clothes also undergo changes.

Our clothes are not "optimized" for smartworking, they are not designed to make us work comfortably and conveniently. We wear what we think is right, but there are no studios or clothes specifically designed for working from home.

Wei Lun Hung, product design student at the Royal College of Art, he thought of just this, and created his first collection.

We are talking about three experimental garments, which form the collection called Wearable Workforce.

Modern work clothes

The first item in Hung's workwear collection is called Commuter. 

It can be considered as a provocative model, a dress intended to show our bad habits.

When wearing the Commuter suit, the elastic cords hidden inside it push us to assume a folded position, as if we were working on the computer.

The designer's goal is to make workers aware, to make them understand which are the wrong steps that they should not take.

Il work it is mainly inspired by the life of commuters, who find themselves in one liminal space, an in-between place where we can move our mind from one state to another.

Second boss: Self-Manager

Hung's work clothes continue with the second model, which takes the name of Self-Manager. 

The dress is marked by the presence of inflatable pads positioned on the back, thighs and hamstrings. It is built to allow the person to take control of their ergonomics – unlike the Commuter. 

Thanks to the inflatable pads, any chair or support immediately becomes more comfortable.

To construct the dress, Hung welded plastic fabric to the seams, using a layer of baking paper to prevent burns.

"You need to achieve physical comfort, but don't get too comfortable because you lose that alert [feeling] of being in a professional environment“, he later explained in an interview. 

The third head: Itinerant

We then come to the last item of his workwear collection, which Hung has chosen to call Itinerante.

Simply described, Itinerante can be considered as a computer, wearable practically anywhere.

To make the third garment, Hung deconstructed a laptop and then sewed it onto clothes. In a very clear way, the designer conveys a strong and intense message: wherever we go, work does not abandon us.

The main computer is located on the back, and the torso is entirely wrapped in two monitors. A split keyboard, complete with a thumb-controllable mouse, sits on the upper legs. The headphones, on the other hand, are sewn directly into the hooded sweatshirt.