If you’re a mechanic, however long you’ve been wrenching, you’ve probably never put much thought into your work wear, especially if you’re a good mechanic. Who has time for that?
There are never enough hours in the day for a decent mechanic. If “decent” describes you, there’s a parking lot full of hoods side-eying you right now. Their owners are hopeful you won’t call with bad news.
You share this hope.
Anyway, the mechanic who has time to consider his wardrobe is probably more worried about paying rent than worry about what he’s wearing. Most mechanics take their uniform clues from the mechanics who trained them or from whatever’s cheapest.
Then you get to work barely stopping long enough to launder your soiled uniforms let alone reconsider what you’re wearing. It’s a mistake.
Your comfort will not only affect your performance and satisfaction at work, it will impact your safety and speed of your work. If you’re motivated by money or production, that’s as much as you need to know.
The good news for mechanics is that there is one perfect solution which covers everything, literally. For those mechanics who can’t wear a coverall for one reason or another, there are a number of pitfalls to avoid for all the reasons already covered.
Let’s start with the most sweeping solution of all.
Why Mechanic Coveralls Rule Everything
What some prefer to call a mechanic jumpsuit, the work coverall makes the ideal mechanic outfit above and beyond a sturdy pair of mechanic pants. We’ll come back to pants in a second.
Jumpsuit implies they’ll be jumping from something, which is not likely. Coverall is a better word. Also, let’s not confuse coveralls with overalls. Lest you missed it, we covered the differences in this blog.
Here’s why coveralls rule: they do exactly what they promise. They cover all. If one were so inclined, he could wear coveralls with boots and nothing else without offending any indecency laws.
While the zipper area might get a bit drafty, technically his body would be covered, and many cases protected from the worst elements of a garage. The only downside with this outfit (besides any unexpected un-zipping) is that not all mechanics work in chill garages. They would overheat.
In warm summer months and balmy locations, coveralls aren’t practical. To slay this beast you have to decide what matters most to you, comfort or protection?
If you can’t wear a pair of coveralls without risking heat exhaustion, don’t do it. There are many other options which you can assemble to make a complete mechanic uniform which will serve well.
But, if you can sport a pair of coveralls — please, for everyone’s sake, wear some undergarments under it — and consider something like Dickies’s blended coveralls.
With 65 percent polyester — unlike 100 percent cotton coveralls, which absorb everything, I mean EVERYthing — blends provide better protection from fluid stains.
Not Your Dads’ Mechanic Pants
If you can’t don coveralls, you’ll have no choice but to wear pants. Shorts are generally not a wise option in any garage and are forbidden in most corporate ones.
Given the choice, most mechanics will opt for a cotton pant, considering the comfort of cotton over synthetics. While it may have been once true that synthetics didn’t breathe or feel like wearing a plastic bag, they’ve come a long way.
Polyester today isn’t the polyester worn by your parents. In fact, you may find it surprising to learn that many of your most inmate products are polyester due to the creation of microfibers.
Textile manufacturers have figured out how to make fibers that are more microscopically thin so that they feel more like natural fibers against the skin.
The great thing about this technology is that you retain all the benefits of synthetics, like no stretching or shrinking in the wash and low-chance of stains setting in. A pair of polyester mechanic pants today wear much softer than you might expect.
Of course, because they have to be tough they won’t likely beat the comfort of cotton, but you have to ask yourself: how often am I willing to buy new pants?
If you’re working with an endless stream of cash and natural fiber comfort rules your purchasing compass, you might not mind how often cotton mechanic pants stain. You might not mind having to constantly replace them.
There’s a very good reason we only carry three pairs of such cotton pants. The rest of our pants for mechanics are blends.
The performance shop pant from Red Kap is a perfect example of functional design married with comfortable modern textiles.
They’re polyester, cotton, and spandex woven into a canvass that will tolerate endless abuse from their double-layered knees to their reinforced stitching. But, they are darn comfortable, loosely cut, and fully stocked with pockets like a pair of weekend cargo pants.
Mechanic Shirts
Even for the coverall-wearing mechanic, a shirt of some sort is usually in order. That said, if you’re stuffing a long-sleeved, buttoned shirt under your coveralls, you might be overdressed not-to-mention uncomfortable.
Most mechanics will do well to wear at least a t-shirt under their coveralls if not a collared short-sleeve shirt. If you work someplace that’s really chilly, Alaska or northern Minnesota, you might prefer to go long sleeve.
In those cases, you’re probably also wearing a jacket. We’ll come back to the jacket options in a second.
We covered mechanic shirts in a blog titled Auto Mechanic Shirts That Don’t Fit Like a Potato Sack, so I’ll not belabor the matter here, but that blog covered mostly long-sleeved options.
For coverall-wearing mechanics, a short-sleeved shirt is what you want to have in case you do get too warm, and need to pull off a layer. There’s nothing wrong with unzipping your coveralls to your waist and tying the arms around you as a temporary solution.
Wearing zero shirt underneath leaves you with no options when the garage heats up.
The short-sleeved motorsports shirt from Red Kap does a great job of giving you that extra layer of protection without crushing you in layers of heat. It IS a blend but does a fantastic job of wicking away heat to keep you comfortable.
Best of all, it won’t fade in the wash, and you’ll have a hard time staining it.
Mechanic Jacket
While the coveralls do most of the heavy lifting in a mechanic outfit, the defining piece of one’s fashion is the jacket. Some people never look below our faces, but they always notice a sharp jacket. This also means they notice a sloppy one too.
A mechanic jacket has to not only look nice for dealing with customers and such, but it also has to keep you warm, and resist stains. That’s a lot to ask of one garment.
Not mention, jackets tend to be one of the higher priced articles on a mechanic’s uniform.
For this reason, it’s best to consider something like the Red Kap slash pocket jacket over the rest. It’s one of our best sellers for a reason.
Stylish, lined, and insulated, this blended fabric design from Red Kap goes in the laundry with your other wash and comes out the other side looking as fresh as day one.
This is true provided you don’t do more than soil it. (I didn’t say it was indestructible.)
In this category, you’ll find exactly ZERO cotton jackets for all the obvious reasons. They simply won’t stand up to the rigors of a mechanic’s work.
Red Kap Coveralls
There’s a good reason Red Kap dominates our mechanic clothes category with over 60 items, compared to Dickies’ 30-something. It’s the same reason I keep directing you at Red Kap products.
It’s not because All Seasons Uniforms receives a special kick-back from Red Kap. We love all our manufacturers equally. It’s simple. Mechanics love Red Kap.
For wrenchers, the decision comes down to one simple consideration. Red Kap is slightly more affordable and last just as long if not longer than their competitors.
For mechanics, the simplest solutions make the most sense. There aren’t enough hours in the day to waist deliberation on more complicated [read: costly] solutions.
Red Kap fits neatly into this way of thinking.
To finish your ideal uniform you’ll need a pair of boots, and maybe a hat, but you’ve got the basic parts here. Get yourself into a pair of comfy coveralls and call it a day. Well, maybe a pair of boxer shorts too, but you’ve got the idea.
Shop for coveralls now
About the Author
Nick Warrick
Nick Warrick is the Sales Manager at All Seasons Uniforms. With over 15 years of experience in the work uniform business, he has worked with hundreds of clients across 20 different industries. Holding bachelor’s degrees in both Business Administration and Information Technology, Nick revamped the company’s online presence, offering its customers a new uniform shopping experience.