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            Rightsized: Belleville cataloger unveils new line of women's workwear 
            By Lynn Welch 
            BELLEVILLE - Baggy pants and boxy gloves are part of Polly Stout's work wardrobe.

            The McFarland woman who works in construction wears long johns or tights under her flannel pants to make them fit her size-eight frame.

            "The only thing I can find is work boots in women's sizes," Stout said. "I know a lot of women who are in the trades. They should make things for smaller people. Even the gloves are too big, and I do have big hands."

            Stout's troubles could be over.

                  Duluth Trading Co. has turned the tables, introducing a line of sturdy women's work wear marketed with the same splashy, bold voice that made it famous. 
            Direct from the company that came up with a solution to "Plumber's Butt": sturdy work clothes made for women.

            Duluth Trading Company has launched a new line of women's work wear and gear, and plans to introduce a new catalog, for tradeswomen and Do-It-Herselfers this fall.

            "There's a larger market of women who own their own home, their own livestock on a farm or are master gardeners," said Duluth Trading President and owner Steve Schecht.

            This line follows in the footsteps of the company's men's work wear, also aimed at hard-working men and weekend warriors. The Belleville company launched its women's line nine months ago, which by this fall will feature 52 different products.

            Duluth Trading is marketing the new women's things on its Web site, www.duluthtrading.com, in catalog inserts and this month is on a media tour pitching their women's wear story to national media including Real Simple magazine, Popular Mechanics, and MSNBC.com, among others.

            Schecht believes the new women's products made sense. Customers have been requesting women's wear for some time, plus it fills a market niche that appears to be wide open.

            About five years ago, work wear giant Carhartt Inc. introduced a line of its sturdy working clothes sized for women. But it discontinued those products after a short period on the market.

            The Carhartt women's wear simply did not sell well enough, said Mike Hollenstein, Duluth Trading vice president of product management and development. Calls to Carhartt in Dearborn, Mich., were not returned.

            But Schecht said he's confident that women's work wear is his company's next big thing.

            "A lot of marketing is gut feel," he said. "With this, we're taking a risk, saying this is a product niche that hasn't been filled."

            Female DIYers last year spent $50 billion on goods for their projects, noted company Public Relations Manager Mike Klawitter. One of five homes sold last year were purchased by single women, more than double the number bought by single men. Some two-thirds of women consider themselves handy, and three-quarters are comfortable using power tools, Klawitter said.

            These women want durable, functional clothes they can wear to work outdoors on the job or at home doing projects.

            They also want things that build confidence and empowerment by giving a sense that they'll help "get your project done safely and better," explained Duluth Trading Co. Product Manager Christen DeHate.

            These are the innovations the company had in mind when developing this line. DeHate is among the all-woman team that designed, developed and helped test the line.

            Most tradeswomen want things like gloves and long-sleeve shirts that provide fit and function to do their job safely. And, they don't want them in fancy colors, the company found.

            "It's hard to find durable work clothing for women," said construction worker Jean Lattimer of Fitchburg. "In some cases if shirt sleeves are too long and the body is also too long that becomes a safety hazard. You don't want sleeves to get caught in tools. It's the same with gloves. It's hard to pick up a nail or screw when there's two inches of glove hanging."

            Included in the women's line: work gloves with LiquiCell padding to reduce blisters priced at $19, in sizes small to extra large.

            There are also stylish women's "cheater" safety glasses with built-in magnification, a customizable tool belt sized for a woman and tough-wearing work pants made of the company's trademark Fire Hose cotton canvas fabric with removable knee pad inserts.

            The company used a panel of women to develop the line, including Madison landscaper Polly Overland who testedpants, shorts, jackets, bags, vehicle organizers, gloves, watches and socks.

            "Since my everyday job consists of dirt, thorns, water, climbing and crawling around, my clothes can get really, really dirty. It is nice to have products that hold up, clean easily and do not wrinkle," said Overland. "A nice thing about the garments is that they are cut for a woman's body type and style. I found it hard to believe some of the shirts and pants could really hold up against my testing but they did great."

            The number of women who work trade jobs has been stagnant, hovering at about 2 percent to 3 percent of the workforce for the last several years said Nancy Nakkoul, who runs the MATC program Tools for Tomorrow: Women in Trades and Technology.

            But in certain areas, like Madison, there's a growing acceptance of women in trade fields and a desire to work these lucrative jobs, despite the historic low representation in these fields, Nakkoul explained.

            Like its men's work wear, Duluth Trading Co. expects that about half of the customers for its women's line will be weekend DIYers, while half will be workers.

            For women, whose hands can swim in work gloves and others, the line is welcome.

            "It's nice to know of at least one place you can get durable work clothes for women and I sincerely hope they can do whatever it takes to market their products well enough that they're profitable and they continue their women's line," Lattimer said. "Duluth Trading has some very good quality and it's exactly what a small percentage of women are looking for."

            Email: lwelch at madison.com

            Published: June 22, 2006 

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