How to Choose the Right Uniforms for Care Home Staff

August 13, 2026

How to Choose the Right Uniforms for Care Home Staff

Choosing uniforms for a care home is about much more than creating a consistent appearance.

Care teams spend long shifts supporting residents, moving between different tasks and working in busy environments. Their uniform needs to be comfortable, practical and durable while still presenting the professional and reassuring image you want residents, families and visitors to see.

From tunics and polo shirts to colours, sizing and branding, there are several things worth considering before deciding on your care home uniform.

Here's how to choose a uniform that works for both your team and your organisation.

1. What makes a good care home uniform?

A good care uniform needs to balance several requirements.

It should be:

Comfortable throughout a long shift
Easy to move in
Practical for the employee's role
Suitable for regular laundering
Durable enough for frequent use
Professional and presentable
Available in appropriate sizes and fits
Consistent with your care home's identity

The best uniform isn't necessarily the smartest-looking garment or the cheapest option.

It's the one that continues working well when your team is actually wearing it day after day.

2. Comfort matters throughout the working day

Care can be physically demanding.

Employees may spend much of their shift on their feet, supporting residents and carrying out a wide variety of tasks.

That makes comfort particularly important.

When comparing garments, consider:

Fit
Employees need enough room to move comfortably without the uniform looking oversized or untidy.

Fabric
Consider how the material feels, particularly when worn for extended periods.

Breathability
Teams working in warm indoor environments may benefit from lighter, breathable garments.

Movement
The design shouldn't unnecessarily restrict employees when bending, reaching or carrying out everyday duties.

Comfort and professionalism don't have to compete. Choosing the right garment can provide both.

3. Should care staff wear tunics or polo shirts?

There isn't one uniform that's right for every care provider.

Two popular options are tunics and polo shirts, and each can create a different look.

Tunics

Tunics provide a recognisable care-sector appearance and can offer a smart, structured uniform.

They're particularly useful where you want staff uniforms to clearly reflect a care or healthcare environment.

Depending on the garment, they may also offer practical features such as pockets and contrasting trims.

Polo shirts

Polo shirts can provide a slightly more relaxed appearance while still looking professional when properly fitted and branded.

They can work particularly well for organisations looking for a modern, approachable uniform.

They're also easy to coordinate with fleeces, softshells and other layers.

Can you use both?

Absolutely.

Different roles don't necessarily need identical garments.

You could use tunics for some members of the care team while providing polos, fleeces or softshells for other roles.

The important thing is maintaining enough consistency that everyone still looks part of the same organisation.

4. Don't forget the trousers

It's easy to spend most of your time choosing the top because that's where your logo will usually appear.

But trousers can have just as much impact on how comfortable employees feel.

Consider:

Freedom of movement
Fabric
Fit
Durability
Pockets
Ease of care
Colour

A consistent trouser colour can also help bring together different styles of tops.

For example, employees could wear different coloured tunics according to their role while everyone wears the same navy or black trousers.

5. Should different care home roles wear different colours?

Colour coding can be useful in care environments.

Different colours or trims can help residents, visitors and colleagues distinguish between roles or teams.

For example, you might use different colours for:

Care staff
Senior carers
Nursing staff
Housekeeping
Kitchen staff
Activities teams
Management

However, avoid creating an unnecessarily complicated colour system.

If you use too many unrelated colours and garment styles, the team can quickly lose its consistent appearance.

One solution is to establish a core brand colour and introduce subtle differences between roles.

This could mean using different tunic colours while maintaining the same embroidered logo and trouser colour across the organisation.

6. Choose colours with practicality in mind

Your brand will naturally influence your uniform colours, but appearance isn't the only consideration.

Think about how the garment will perform in a working care environment.

Very light colours can create a clean appearance but may show marks more readily.

Darker shades such as:

Navy
Black
Charcoal
Royal blue

can provide practical foundations for a uniform.

You can then introduce your brand colours through the garment itself, contrasting details or embroidery.

Your uniform doesn't necessarily need to match every colour in your logo exactly.

A complementary combination can often look more professional.

7. Get the sizing and fit right

Your team isn't one shape or size, and your uniform shouldn't assume that they are.

Providing appropriate sizing and fit options can make a significant difference to employee comfort and confidence.

Don't rely purely on the size employees normally buy from high-street retailers. Workwear sizing can vary between manufacturers and garment styles.

Check the measurements for the particular garment you're ordering.

Where you're ordering for a larger team, collect everyone's requirements before placing the order and keep a clear record of:

Employee
Garment
Size
Quantity

Our Size Guide can also help when you're choosing sizes for your team.

8. Think about layers

Care staff aren't necessarily in the same environment throughout their entire working day.

Some may work predominantly indoors, while others move between buildings, accompany residents outside or perform duties requiring additional warmth.

Instead of expecting one garment to work everywhere, consider creating layers.

For example:

Base garment: Tunic or polo shirt
Mid-layer: Fleece or sweatshirt
Outer layer: Softshell or jacket

Using consistent colours and branding across those layers means employees can adapt what they're wearing while maintaining a professional appearance.

9. Add your care home's branding

Personalising uniforms with your organisation's logo helps create a consistent and recognisable identity.

For many care uniforms, a small embroidered logo on the left chest works particularly well.

It's visible without overwhelming the garment and can provide a professional finish.

Depending on your requirements, you could also consider:

Employee names
Job titles
Department names
Additional sleeve branding

Keep the design relatively simple.

The purpose of the branding is to identify your organisation and team rather than fill every available area of the garment.

If you're unsure about the format or quality of your logo, our Artwork & Logo Guide explains what to provide when ordering personalised workwear.

10. Embroidery or print for care uniforms?

Embroidery is a popular choice for care home uniforms because it provides a smart, professional finish on garments such as tunics, polos, fleeces and softshells.

However, printing may be more suitable for certain garments or larger designs.

The right method depends on your:

Garment
Logo
Branding position
Design
Required finish

We've covered the differences in more detail in our guide to Embroidery vs Printing for Workwear.

11. Consider frequent washing

Care uniforms may be washed regularly, so laundering requirements should form part of the buying decision.

Before selecting a garment, check its care instructions and consider whether they're practical for your organisation and employees.

The garment needs to maintain an appropriate appearance after repeated use and washing.

This is also where choosing purely on initial price can sometimes prove expensive.

A slightly more expensive garment that maintains its fit, appearance and finish for longer may provide better value than something that needs replacing more frequently.

Always follow the specific garment manufacturer's washing and care instructions.

12. How many uniforms should care staff have?

There's no universal number because working patterns and uniform requirements vary between organisations.

However, employees need enough everyday garments to allow for regular washing and rotation.

Someone working several shifts each week will usually need multiple tunics, polo shirts or other everyday tops rather than relying on one or two garments.

Outer layers such as fleeces and softshells generally don't need to be provided in the same quantities.

We've created a separate guide explaining How Many Workwear Garments Each Employee Needs, including example allocations for different garment types.

13. Create different uniform packs for different roles

If you employ a larger team, creating standard uniform allocations can make ordering significantly easier.

For example:

Care Team Member

4 × Branded tunics or polo shirts
2 × Trousers
1 × Branded fleece

Senior Team Member

4 × Branded tunics
2 × Trousers
1 × Branded softshell

Maintenance Team Member

3 × Branded polo shirts
2 × Sweatshirts
2 × Work trousers
1 × Branded softshell

These are simply examples — your actual allocation should reflect your team's working patterns and requirements.

Once you've established your own standard, ordering uniforms for new starters becomes much easier.

14. Plan for new starters and replacements

Care teams change over time.

New employees join, existing employees change roles and garments eventually need replacing.

Having a defined uniform range means you don't have to start from scratch every time somebody needs new workwear.

Keep a record of your standard:

Garments
Colours
Branding
Branding positions
Sizes
Allocations by role

For larger organisations or care groups, you may also want to standardise uniforms across multiple locations.

This can make future ordering much more straightforward while helping maintain a consistent identity across the organisation.

15. Involve your team

Your employees are the people wearing the uniform every day.

Their feedback can therefore be extremely useful.

If you're introducing a completely new uniform, consider asking a small number of employees to provide feedback on potential garments.

Questions could include:

Is it comfortable?
Can you move easily?
Is the fit appropriate?
Are the pockets useful?
Does it feel suitable for a full shift?

A garment can look excellent in a catalogue but still not be the best choice for the people actually wearing it.

Creating a care home uniform that works

The best care home uniforms combine comfort, practicality and professionalism.

Start with what your employees need to do their jobs comfortably. Then consider garments, sizing, colours and branding to create a uniform that represents your organisation.

You don't necessarily need every employee wearing exactly the same garment, either.

A carefully coordinated range can give different teams clothing appropriate for their roles while maintaining one consistent identity throughout your care home.

At Monkey Business Workwear, we can help you select suitable garments, coordinate colours and add professional branding to create a workwear range that's right for your team.