There are two questions hiding inside "when should we replace this?". For a plain polo or a pair of work trousers, it is a presentation and comfort question, and you can leave it until the garment looks tired. For anything protective, hi-vis, flame-resistant, chainsaw, high-grip footwear, it is a safety question, and the honest answer is that the garment can be past its useful life while still looking perfectly wearable. This guide covers both, but it leans on the second, because that is where the cost of getting it wrong is real. Where a garment is issued as PPE, your own risk assessment and the manufacturer's guidance are what set the inspection and replacement regime; treat what follows as general pointers, not a substitute for either.

Everyday workwear: replace on appearance and comfort

For non-protective garments, the triggers are straightforward and mostly about how the business looks and how the wearer feels:

• Colour has gone patchy or grey and no longer matches newer stock
• Fabric is thinning, bobbled or see-through at stress points
• Seams, zips or fastenings have failed and a repair would not last
• The embroidered or printed logo is cracked, peeling or faded
• It no longer fits the wearer well enough to look tidy

None of these is urgent on its own. The practical approach is a rolling top-up budget rather than a mass replacement, so garments get swapped as they drop below standard. Our guide to how many uniforms each employee needs covers planning that.

Protective clothing: replace on function, not looks

This is the part that catches people out. A protective garment has a job to do, and it can lose the ability to do that job while still looking fine on the peg.

Hi-vis

Hi-vis works through fluorescent background fabric (daylight) and retroreflective tape (headlights). Both degrade:

• Faded fabric. Sun exposure and ingrained dirt dull the fluorescent colour. A washed-out hi-vis garment does not perform like a new one even if it is intact.
• Damaged tape. Cracked, lifting, abraded or heavily creased retroreflective tape is a failure point at night. Check it flat and flexed.
• Grime that will not wash out. Oil, mud and road film over the fabric reduce how much light it returns.
• Wash count. Many hi-vis garments carry a maximum number of wash cycles on the label. Past that, performance is no longer assured.

Our explainer on how hi-vis actually works goes into why each of these matters.

Flame-resistant and arc clothing

FR protection is built into the fabric. It can be compromised by contamination and wear that you cannot necessarily see:

• Oil, grease, fuel or solvent contamination, which can be flammable and is often not fully removed by domestic washing
• Holes, tears, scorch marks or thin worn areas that break the protective barrier
• Repairs made with non-FR thread or patches, which create an unprotected spot
• Washing in a way the label prohibits, such as fabric softener or bleach, which can degrade the finish on some garments

Chainsaw-protective clothing

The protective pack inside is effectively single-use where it has been hit. Withdraw and check against the manufacturer's guidance after any chain contact, a heavy snag, a cut through the outer layer, or oil and fuel contamination. Do not repair the protective area. See our guide to chainsaw protection classes.

Safety footwear

• Tread worn smooth, which removes the slip resistance
• Exposed or deformed toecap, or a midsole you can feel through
• Upper split from the sole, or water getting in
• Collapsed heel or ankle support

Repair or replace?

Making replacement routine, not reactive

The businesses that handle this well do not wait for garments to fail. They:

• Inspect protective kit on a set schedule, driven by their risk assessment
• Hold a small buffer of common sizes so a condemned garment can be swapped the same day
• Keep a rolling top-up budget per head rather than a periodic big-bang reorder
• Order from a supplier who can turn a replacement around quickly. Stock items from us dispatch next day.

Our branded workwear cost guide covers building that top-up into the budget, and the workwear care guide covers getting the maximum usable life out of each garment in the first place.

The short version

Plain workwear gets replaced when it looks past it. Protective workwear gets replaced when it stops protecting, and that can be well before it looks worn: faded or over-washed hi-vis, contaminated or holed FR, a chainsaw garment that has taken a hit, boots with smooth tread. Inspect protective kit on a schedule set by your risk assessment, follow the manufacturer's guidance, and keep replacement routine rather than reactive.