That was then and this is now.
We have been selling scrubs in one form or another since the 90's. So much has changed over the years, including the name. We are now supposed to call them "Health Care Apparel". I was doing some organizing and ran across an old catalog from when we first started in the uniform business. Lots of changes for the better have come down from the manufacturers.
Pockets on the tops are the first thing that I noticed big improvements on.
The basic Landau 8219 ladies V-Neck Tunic went from two simple pockets to a whopping four pockets with pencil and instrument divisions in the pockets. http://www.uniformsandscrubs.com/classic-v-neck-4-pocket-tunic.html. They did the same with the 8232 top http://www.uniformsandscrubs.com/snap-front-top.html and most of the other brands have followed suit to make the tops both fashionable and functional.
Have you been in the health care field long enough to remember the "Weskit Top", with the W shaped hem? And what about the "Knit Cuff Pants"? Some of us have been around long enough to remember when nurses would wear only white and a nursing cap!
Tops also seem to have gotten shorter in the body. Back in the 90's the 8232 snap front tunic was 29" long. Today's version is 27.75" long. The sleeves on the new top styles are also shorter. On most of the only styles the sleeve would come almost to the elbow on most folks, but now they are much shorter. I think that is mostly a fashion change. Most folks like the new length in the body and the sleeve, but we still get the occasional request for something longer in a top for modesty purposes, especially since many of the pants now have a lower rise. They want a longer top to keep from flashing skin when bending over.
Speaking of pants; back in the 90's all the pants had the high waist well above the belly button. Now those are few and far between but you can still get it in a few styles. Many styles in today's market now have what they are calling a "natural waist" at the belly button, or a modern or low rise, below the belly button. Remember when you go from a regular length pant to a petite length, you not only loose length in the leg, but you also loose height in the rise. (Rise is the distance from the crotch to the waist.) The same is true when you go to a tall pant. This gives you extra length in the leg and in the rise.
Another big difference in the pants is the legs. In the 90's the tapered leg was the fashion along with the knit cuff ankle pant. Today, the hot trends are boot cut and straight leg. The boot cut with our without the "vent" (the little slit on the outside) are both very popular in today's styles.
The scrub jackets haven't changed a lot other than the addition of the divided pockets and of course the addition of cell phone pockets. Many of the jackets and lab coats now come with pockets specially designed for our tech toys, phones, tablets, and wireless digital charting tools.
Colors and prints are another area that continued to change year after year. We have seen the market go from all white, to the core colors of White, Ceil Blue, Navy Blue and Teal, to the explosion of color you see now. Do you remember the Denim fad? For a while every manufacturer was getting in on the denim scrubs. They fell off one by one because of the problems with denim. It is the nature of denim to be in a multitude of shades of blue due to the dying process and the fade over time. It was just too difficult to have a top and pant in the same shade so they finally gave up on denim.
The popularity of prints comes and goes. When they first started to be the in thing, it was all florals, then geometric patterns. Next came the cartoon characters and job specific prints such as animals for vets, toothbrushes and smiling teeth for the dental profession, and so on. Right now it seems that prints are not as popular as they once were, maybe due to offices, clinics and hospitals standardizing the staff uniforms.
One of the biggest changes over the years has been the fabrics. We have gone from a simple poly-cotton blend to almost anything you could wish for. Fabrics come in Soft and Silky, Moisture Wicking, Antimicrobial, Stretchy, light weight or warm and fuzzy. You can find several blog posts here we did on the new fabrics in today's market.
http://www.uniformsandscrubs.com/blog/the-new-fabric-on-the-scene.html
http://www.uniformsandscrubs.com/blog/bend-and-stretch-reach-for-the-stars.html
http://www.uniformsandscrubs.com/blog/fabrics-that-do-more-than-look-good.html
We strive to put detailed information about each garment along with multiple images when available of each garment. When you are browsing out site, scroll down below the image for a multi tab information box with an overview of the garment description, additional information along with fabric content and care instructions. If you still need some help, our staff at UniformsAndScrub.com will be happy to help you wade through the many choices out there for the health care professional. You can reach us M-F 8:30am-4:30pm CST on the phone at 855-391-9200 or live chat on our site. During off hours you may reach out to us by email customerservice@uniformsandscrubs.com or by leaving a phone message or chat message. Our staff will reply on the next business day.
