Developing Work Uniforms for Women: The Role of Ethnographic Research

Abstract

This article is makes use of fieldwork to discuss and analyse a Norwegian product development project aimed at developing workwear for women in male dominated manual occupations. Making use of ethnographic methods and analysis can be valuable in showing how users’ experiences and practices can be studied also where there are poorly developed concepts and language for formulating and discussing products, such as workwear in use. The article aims at answering how ethnographic studies may contribute to the development of products and services. Understanding people and things in their everyday relations and achieving action-oriented results may be a challenge in innovation and development processes. This article explores such challenges in studying the use of clothes in specific work contexts, as well as capturing and mediating this experience with workwear in use.