UNI&FORMA was founded in 1997 with the vision to make high performance garment systems for demanding professionals.
Under the brand name UF PRO®, the garments are today worn by various military and law enforcement special forces, where they are appreciated for its excellent wear comfort, quality and reliability.
In order to provide a completely satisfying experience with our UF PRO® garments at all times, the uncompromising product quality, a fair price, as well as sustainability and social fairness have the utmost priority for us. In order to achieve this, we count on strategic partnerships with technology leaders like W.L. Gore, Carinthia, Schoeller and others. But most importantly we develop our own UF PRO® garment technologies, which provide innovative solutions for the requirements of demanding professionals.
Our philosophy is that all UF PRO® products provide unique performance qualities to the wearer. Given that technologies and requirements are always in flux, we accept and embrace the challenges this presents.
In order to permanently improve our products we have adopted four key product development principles:
Garments are the interface between the wearer and the environment in which they are worn. Cut, materials, workmanship and even colours can make a huge difference. They decide whether a garment supports and protects, or hinder and harm the individual, who is wearing them. Naturally, the requirements vary as much as the specific work environment and the wearer's tasks vary.
We strongly believe that only if we thoroughly understand the environment in which our products are worn, and the job our customers have to fulfil, only then can we create excellent products.
A key component of our product development is therefore the dialogue with expert end users that help us to understand their professional environment and define their expectations regarding:
• Work specific functional requirements like pockets, hooks, loops and other functional features
• Required protection against weather, objects, flame/heat and other for the professional environmental typical threats
• Thermo-physiological impact of the specific work environment, e.g. extreme high/low temperatures, humidity
• Typical sensory requirements like tactility, hearing, and maybe even smell
• Ergonomic requirements
Whenever a new generation of products is developed, it has to pass an intensive test phase, in which expert end users check the field performance of the product. Either this testing is done by our test team or specifically assigned end user teams.
Textiles are commonly considered to be low tech. There is a tendency of people to overestimate their textile expertise only because they have been buying their own clothes for the last decades. But the information we might receive from sales personnel in boutiques is usually extremely flat or even completely wrong. Stereotypes like, "cotton is natural" and "synthetic fibres contain a lot of chemistry" may prove to be to be irrelevant in today's high tech textile world. Only in-depth knowledge of materials, technologies, and processes can lead to good judgement and the right manufacturing decision.
AT UNI&FORMA we apply the state of the art technologies in order to make the best products. Therefore we have established partnerships with experts in the industry that provide us with the in-depth knowledge and the information that we require in order to make the right decision when it comes to choose the best technologies for our products.
One of the phenomenons we encounter in our industry is that a lot of products are either functional or great looking. We believe that not only functionality, protection and thermo-physiological comfort are important for great professional wear, but that the look and design are key elements which define the quality of a product.
The most visible and high impact impression a corporation can make is through its employees. Their behaviour and their appearance represent the organization they are working for. Therefore our products are designed to be in tune with the image of the individual customer's organization.
We invest a lot of time and energy into the design and look of our garments, because when clothes look and feel good they also make you feel better. As we all spend approximately one third of our time working, we want people to look and feel good while they do their job.
We at UNI&FORMA take our obligation to our environment, our children and the global community seriously. Even though we are a relatively small company with a small environmental footprint, we are dedicated to a sustainable and social behaviour.
Our raw materials and processes are constantly monitored and optimized to leave the smallest possible ecological footprint. We avoid long transport by selecting raw materials and finished goods mainly from European manufacturing sources. We manufacture our own products in Europe and do not allow child labour at any of our manufacturing partners locations.