Waitresses are Poles apart as staff uniforms slim down

Published on Friday 24 October 2008 10:17

BARS and restaurants across the Capital have been forced to order in more "size zero" uniforms after hiring hundreds of slim Polish staff.

Around half of the trousers supplied to waitresses and bar workers by NKD Clothing, in Dundas Street, are size eight or under, while more men than ever are needing smaller shirts and waistcoats.

The move has been put down to the influx of Eastern European workers, who tend to be tall and slim, compared to "chunkier" Scots.

NKD, which supplies uniforms to bars, hotels and restaurants across the city, has had to "dramatically alter" the range of sizes on offer.

The most common sizes it now supplies are six and eight with "size zero" – the equivalent of a UK size four – now a standard part of the range.

Men in the industry are also getting in on the slimming act as the average chest size of shirts has shrunk to a lean 34 inches.

The average Scottish woman is currently a size 16, and the average chest size of a man is 40 inches.

Nicole Daly, assistant manager at the Utopia bar on Easter Road, said she had noticed the trend.

"There are a lot of Eastern Europeans working in bars and restaurants and they are definitely much skinnier than the average Scottish person," she said.

Utopia's owner James Hughes added: "I do genuinely think personality is more important than skinny model types, though that probably does help.

"When guys and girls go into a bar, they like to see someone attractive behind the bar."

Gill Eastgate, managing director of NKD Clothing, said there has been a "massive slim down" of staff in the hospitality sector.

"The country as a whole is getting considerably bigger, but we are seeing the complete opposite in the uniforms we supply – particularly for front of house and bar staff who tend to be the thinnest," she said. "The shrinking shape of the sector means we've had to dramatically alter the range of sizes we offer to companies opening hotels, bars and restaurants.

"Now the smallest sizes, such as size four and six, are being offered as standard and, in most order runs, we are supplying many more size sixes than we are size 12s.

"There are a large number of Eastern European people working in the sector. Many of these men and women tend to be tall and thin, different from the traditional British body shape.

"There has been a marked change in providing not only small uniforms, but ones with longer legs and bodies to cater for this."