PPE for women - when women's protective clothing finally really fits 

Warning protection for underground cable laying

Larissa Zeichhardt is not a managing director who spends all her time at her desk. She enjoys being out and about in the construction yard and on the railway track, says the electrical engineering graduate. The medium-sized family business LAT Fernmelde-Montagen und Tiefbau GmbH, which the Berlin native manages together with her sister Arabelle Laternser, is at home on the track. Founded in 1969 by Larissa's father Heinz Laternser, LAT employs around 130 people and specialises in plant construction, underground cable laying and safety technology for all aspects of railway tracks.

When Larissa Zeichhardt is out and about on trackside construction sites, visiting her employees or carrying out inspections, it is compulsory to wear high-visibility clothing. Larissa Zeichhardt favours clothing from the Cologne-based manufacturer BP - Bierbaum-Proenen. Depending on the weather, she wears a softshell or a weather protection jacket from the BP Hi-Vis collection - in a women's fit, of course. What sounds so obvious was anything but the norm for a long time. "When I joined the company eight years ago, there were simply no jackets that fitted me as a woman," recalls the Managing Director.

Protective clothing for the female anatomy

Back then, it was standard for women to wear men's work clothes. "If I had to wear small men's clothing as a woman, not only did it not look nice, it was also impractical. I was constantly cold and it wasn't safe because I kept getting caught," remembers Larissa Zeichhardt. "That can be life-threatening when working in tunnels, for example, if a train is coming and you can't make it into the tunnel recesses in time because your jacket is stuck to the wall." 

High visibility clothing for women: Three key aspects

With this in mind, Larissa Zeichhardt set out in search of high-visibility clothing for women. She found what she was looking for at BP. At the time, the Cologne-based family business had developed and launched the first high-visibility clothing in a women's fit. For Larissa Zeichhardt, as for many other women, it was "a liberation" to finally wear protective clothing that really fits. "For me personally, there are three main things that matter," explains the entrepreneur: "Does the clothing fit well and does it really fit me? Does it keep me warm? Because it's often draughty and cold on the tracks. And: Will I get caught in the clothing, especially when I'm working in confined spaces?" She was able to answer all of these questions in the affirmative with BP's high-visibility clothing. 

"The demand is simply there, and women rightly expect us to offer them clothing solutions that fulfil their needs," says Heike Altenhofen, Product Manager for Personal Protective Equipment at BP. In the past, workwear did not do justice to the female anatomy in any way: it pinched here and pinched there, tools were always in the wrong place, women did not feel comfortable because men's clothing did not fit them. Comfortable and focussed work was therefore only possible to a very limited extent. This has an impact on performance and safety in the workplace.

Feel-good factor and identification with the employer

"For a long time, the women accepted this situation without complaint," says Heike Altenhofen. "On the one hand, because they didn't know any different and there was no women's clothing available. And secondly, because workwear had a different status in the past than it does today: you wore it because you had to." Today, workwear has long since become an emotional product that the wearer - whether male or female - no longer wears just because they have to. They wear it because they want to wear it and feel comfortable in it. Clothing therefore also contributes a great deal to identification with the profession and the employer.

High-visibility clothing - differences between men and women

Workwear and protective clothing for women differ from men's clothing in many ways. This applies to the cuts as well as the materials and functionalities. "Functions such as the fit of the pockets cannot simply be adopted from men's clothing, but are specially adapted to women's behaviour," explains Product Manager Heike Altenhofen from BP. For example, breast pockets have no function for women, but women also rarely use the classic side pockets to store their tools. BP has developed special solutions in collaboration with the wearers. "After all, the users themselves know best which solutions make sense and which don't." 

One point for more women in traditionally male professions 

For Larissa Zeichhardt, workwear that fits women is also a building block for making the - still male-dominated - transport industry more attractive to women. According to the "Women in Mobility" network, around 22 per cent of employees in the entire transport sector are currently female across Europe. "At our company, we now have two female fitters working in the field. There are significantly more women in administration and management positions, where we now have just as many women as men."“

The advancement of women and, more generally, diversity in companies are matters close to Larissa Zeichhardt's heart. Among other things, she co-founded the "Women in Mobility" network in Berlin and is also involved in many other initiatives with her sister. It is often supposedly small adjustments that need to be made in order to make professions in the transport or construction sector more attractive for women. This could be two toilets on the construction site, for example - or workwear that fits women. "Properly fitting clothing conveys respect for female employees and their performance," emphasises the LAT Managing Director. "After all, they do an extremely important job. Without their work, the transport transition cannot work."

Photo left: Matthias Oertel & Lukas Papierak for private banking kongress 2024