Product development

Clothes

that are perfect

for the purpose

We take pride in what we do and aim to provide our customers with clothes that are both practical and durable. All product development takes place in Finland and our clothes have been tested for safety and comfort in authentic working environments by the thousands of Dimex fans across the globe. Keeping our customers happy and kitted out is our top priority.

Slow fashion

Devoted to the concept of slow fashion, our products are manufactured with both people and the planet in mind. Our goal is to reduce the number of clothes that end up in landfill, and we work hard every day to make this a reality: when looked after well, Dimex clothes will last from one generation to the next.

Life is too short for poorly fitting clothes

When clothes are well-designed, functional and made of the right materials, their lifespan is increased, thus reducing the burden on the environmental. Dimex clothes have been designed to be comfortable with high-quality materials and seams that don’t rub or chafe in the wrong places. Clothes that fit you well will not wear out easily, allowing you to enjoy your Dimex clothes for years on end. Thanks to customer feedback and user-centred design practices, Dimex clothes are perfectly suitable for their purpose and stand the test of time.

Favourite designs that fly off the shelves

Many of our customers have a favourite Dimex design or an item of clothing that they come back for year after year. Some of these favourite items have, therefore, been kept in stock for over a decade. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it, some might say. By optimising production batch sizes and focusing on quality rather than quantity we minimise waste, while a good understanding of the workwear market enables us to make sure we sell pretty much everything that we manufacture.

However, sometimes the products don’t sell the way we have planned. In 2022, we had a clear-out in our warehouse and donated more than 2000 pieces of unused premium-quality Dimexes to Hope, which is a Finnish charity supporting families in need. The majority of the donated clothes were jeans and children’s clothing.

Fast deliveries and stock rotation

Stocking large quantities of clothes that are out of season increases waste and benefits no-one, which is why we invest in well-organised stock rotation and fast deliveries. As a result, no clothes are left lying in the corner of the warehouse for ages, but instead find their way to where they are needed the most.

The product

The journey from an idea to a finished garment is a long process with multiple phases, whereby each design gets tweaked several times along the way. It is not just the people who work at the Dimex design team that come up with new product ideas, sometimes the designs are based on suggestions given by our customers or retailers. Your feedback really matters!

Dimex product development

1
Idea for a new garment (often from a retailer or one of our customers)
2
Details of the assignment (purpose of use, target group, price, colour, certificates, compatibility with other Dimex clothes)
3
Designer’s moodboard (detailed, hand-drawn images)
4
Internal evaluation of the design team
5
Material selection: suitability for the product, availability mapping & testing
6
Market evaluation and ordering of materials (delivery time approx. 4 months)
7
The garment is sized by the garment technologist before it goes to production
8
First prototype (the sewers at Leppävirta headquarters make the garment and comment on it from the production point of view)
9
Fitting (checking for fit, functionality and appearance)
10
Testing in an authentic working environment
11
Second prototype
12
Fine-tuning of the price
13
Samples sent for certification (certification is carried out by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and it takes approx. 4 months)
14
Sample garments manufactured to be used and tested in-house
15
Launching and introducing the garment in-house
16
Introducing the garment to retailers
17
Manufacture of the first batch (takes approx. 7 weeks)
18
Market launch of the finished garment

Feedback

analysis

Our Product Development Team goes through each and every single piece of customer feedback that has been received. If certain products or issues recur in the feedback, it will be looked at more thoroughly.

In addition to the people using our clothes, we also receive feedback from retailers, suppliers and occupational safety officers. Feedback is very important to us and we use it to make alterations and improvements to existing products, and to develop new ones. We will continue to improve our range of products for as long as it takes until they are deemed perfect by our customers.

When new products are being developed, they are always tested in authentic working environments by selected test groups. The test groups’ evaluations are very useful, but it is the end-users who wear the clothes day in day out that make the final decision on how functional our products are. Many of the alterations and improvements as well as new products are based on our customers’ feedback and requests, so please keep them coming!

Check out some of the feedback we have received and the actions that have been taken.

Environmentally

friendly materials

Our goal is to increase the use of recycled fabrics in our range of workwear. We despise ‘greenwashing’, and do not manufacture environmentally friendly products as a marketing gimmick. We have no intention to mislead our customers by making products that can be labelled as ‘green’ but are of no use. Therefore, all products in our eco range are designed to be better than anything else on the market, and you can rest assured knowing that Dimex quality is always going to be Dimex quality. The most important thing for us and the Dimex tribe is that also products reducing the burden on the environment are long-lasting and durable in use.

The recycling of

worn-out

workwear

Dimex clothes are typically worn for so long that they are either falling to pieces or covered in so much muck that they can practically stand unaided. As a result, you rarely see Dimex clothes being sold at a second-hand shop or upcycled as part of cute craft projects – which is great news really, because we love the concept of slow fashion and the fact that Dimex clothes are so good that they are worn to death. Nevertheless, we want to promote the circular economy and the reuse of materials, and our dream is to manufacture the longest-lasting workwear in the world by making sure that worn-out Dimex clothes are recycled and utilised in the production of new clothes.

Our goals for the future

  • We will explore other possible projects, where the well-worn Dimexes could be put to good use.

Smart packaging

means

We package our products in the smallest box possible, which saves space during transit: it’s simply daft to transport boxed air from one place to another. We re-use old boxes, although they might not look their best anymore, and inside the box the products are not packaged in plastic. More than 430,000 Dimex products are sold each year, so by leaving out the plastic we avoid creating a huge amount of unnecessary waste. Also, our products are shipped on cargo ships rather than planes.