It has all the makings of a pop-up clothing store. Racks laden with garments are arranged on the first floor of Atlas. Trousers, sweaters, jackets, blouses, lab coats and more. A cross-section of the clothes WUR staff uses during their indoor and outdoor work. The show is part of the new company clothing tender.
This is the first time there is a WUR-wide tender for clothing, according to project manager Berber Smit of the HWRK consultancy firm. She has been working on the tender for eighteen months now. It is a complicated operation as WUR is a large organisation with a wide variety of company clothing. Moreover, the scope of the order requires a European tendering process.
WUR does not want uniforms. Each department must be able to buy what they want.
Berber Smit, project manager of the consultancy firm HWRK
That diversity will remain intact, Smit stresses. ‘WUR does not want uniforms. Each department must be able to buy what they want.’ Thus, the racks contain a total of 244 items of clothing from the three parties bidding for the tender. However, there is no kaleidoscope of colour. Navy blue, black and white are the dominant colours.
No fitting
This day was organised with the staff members who are to wear the garments in mind. They must assess the clothing. Smit expects some seventy people from all over the organisation. They can look and touch but may not fit the clothing. ‘That is impossible to organise with the number of garments and different sizes that would require.’
The assessment by the staff members is not for publication. Smit: ‘The look & Feel session makes up a maximum of 20 per cent in the overall quality score. That is a lot. We really want to give the people a say in the matter.’ Which one of the bidders will eventually win the tender will be made public in the fall of this year.
