Why Do Painters Wear White? – Practical Workwear Guide
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When you picture anyone doing hard work, white is often the last color that comes to mind. To most of us, it comes across as impractical, but there are plenty of reasons for wearing white when you consider the color from a functional as well as a traditional perspective. To find out why painters wear white, we have provided all of the information that you would need and more!
Table of Contents
The Importance of Painters Wearing White
If you have ever wondered, “why do painters wear white?”, the answer is quite simple. Well, there are a variety of simple answers to this question. While not all painters wear white, the majority of them do and you can easily spot them from a mile away. This easily identifiable workwear is one of the most important reasons for painters wearing white.
When you know that there are painters in the vicinity, you are more likely to exercise caution when approaching walls or another surface that could be painted.
Apart from letting you know that there are workers in the area, the painter’s whites serve other practical purposes. These include keeping the wearer cool on warmer days, identifying paint splatters, making it much easier to identify colors being mixed, and so on.
A Brief History of Painters Wearing White
With everything, there is always an origin story and it is no different when it comes to painter’s whites. In the late 19th century, union painters chose to adopt the white uniform as a way to differentiate themselves from non-union painters. Eventually, this grew to become a symbol of a painter’s professionalism. As an affordable strategy, seamen in England started to wear loose-fitting pants made from leftover canvas sails of ships (which only came in white) about 400 years ago.
Local painters, finding the material to be exceptionally robust as well as lightweight, embraced canvas sail trousers in their workplace, and so the custom of painter’s whites is thought to have begun.
Functional Reasons for Wearing White
Like most things in life, there is usually a reason for everything. However, the reason for the white uniform has gone through many groups that have changed the story bit by bit, resulting in the story that we have now. However, there are plenty of plausible reasons when you consider why painters wear white. Below, we have provided some of the most popular functional reasons for painters wearing white.
Reflects Light and Heat
Most paint jobs are done indoors; however, when a new building is constructed or if the old exterior paint job has given in to time, the outside will need to be painted. This can be a very difficult job, especially when done in hot weather. There have been plenty of studies regarding reflection versus emission.
It has been proven that, while black has a similar radiation emissivity and reflects the same amount of thermal radiation, you will be much better off wearing white as it does not absorb the same amount of visible light. Sure, there are cases where wearing black will be a better option; however, you will not be traveling by camel through the Sahara anytime soon.
For many painters, it could be a placebo effect, but there is no doubt that you will have a much easier time in the heat when wearing white clothing as opposed to any other color. Additionally, it just makes more sense to wear white as there are other benefits to be discussed as well.
White Makes It Easier to See Other Paint
Allow us to explain, if you saw a painter in a clean white uniform, you would not think that they had done anything. Wearing white allows everyone to see that they did a lot of work, as paint splatter can easily be spotted on the white uniform.
Inversely, there are painters so skilled that they produce no drips or splatter at all while painting, meaning that still wearing a crisp white uniform at the end of a day’s work becomes a badge of honor.
Hides Material Splatters and Stains
This might seem to contradict the previous section; however, when painting, the painters do not only work with the paint itself. Historically, white paint was made by mixing white lead powder together with white paste which resulted in a lot of white dust. The white uniform was used to hide the dust and to this day, it is the most logical reason for painters wearing white.
Much of it is due to the fact that practically all of the preparation materials used by painters are white. Caulk, plaster, and spackle are all basic materials utilized before a painter puts on a brand-new coat of white or any other color that could be used.
These colors will undoubtedly appear on a painter’s clothing, and because those are the bulk of the chemicals they will be working with, they might as well wear garments where those small amounts of leftover product will not stand out.
Cultural and Historical Reasons for Wearing White
White is always associated with good qualities such as purity, peace, cleanliness, and so on. While there are plenty of functional reasons for the use of painter’s whites, there are also a few cultural and historical reasons for the use of wearing white. Below are more reasons if you are wondering, “why do painters wear white?”
It Traces Back to the 18th Century When White Was Popular
In the 18th century, white was a color that was associated with nobility and class. Wearing the color gave many people a sense of dignity and it was easy for them to mix and match different articles of clothing, which was important as the fashion industry was not what it is today. Many homes, especially those located in the Southern U.S. states, were painted white because of the hot weather.
Circling back to the class that is associated with wearing white, those that frequently wore white clothing were associated with success. This is because they could afford to have their clothing washed frequently. This eventually gave birth to the term, “white-collar worker” in the 1930s.
Oddly enough, being a painter is a blue-collar job, but it also makes more sense for painters to wear white as opposed to other colors.
Symbolic of Purity and Professionalism
As we have mentioned before, white represents purity and cleanliness. For example, hospitals have white sheets as it is easy to tell if the sheet is dirty. Brides wear white gowns as a symbol of purity when entering marriage, and so on. However, when it comes to painters, there is a sense of confidence in the professionalism of a team wearing all-white while painting your home.
When it comes to professionalism, it also helps people in the vicinity to identify that the paint is wet, which could prevent accidents. Overall, wearing white overalls is not only a good look, but it serves an important purpose when it comes to the reputation of the painters.
White Is Associated with the Impressionist Movement and French Artists
If you think about a classic artist, you will likely conjure the thought of a man or woman wearing a white shirt. This is something that was associated with French artists of the impressionist movement.
Early Modernist artists rejected elitist associations with the visual arts and aimed to recast art as a reflection of real life and the artist as an ordinary everyday worker.
Artists like Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque took to wearing the traditional white uniform of the French painter-decorator to signal their artistic interests in representing real subjects, as opposed to idealized ones.
Other Professions That Wear White
There are a handful of other professions that have opted for white uniforms. While they could have their reasons for wearing white, the reality is that sometimes it could be a coincidence and sometimes it could be that there is a cultural significance behind the attire. Let us take a look at some of the professions that wear white and the reason for this.
Chefs and Culinary Professionals
A classic chef’s attire consists of a torque blanche (the tall hat), a double-breasted coat made of thick, white cotton material, an apron, and pants, which are commonly black and white hounds-tooth. With the exception of the pants, all of these items are normally white.
Chef’s pants come in a variety of colors, but the industry standard is black and white checkered patterns.
The checkered, or hounds-tooth, pattern conveniently conceals spills of food or splatters. Chefs are instantly recognizable and a similar uniform is commonly worn by service industry workers such as caterers and waitrons at upmarket restaurants.
Medical Professionals
Until the late 19th century, doctors wore black for a variety of practical uses which included hiding stains. Doctors that worked in laboratories wore yellow or pink lab coats, but this changed as the attitude toward doctors changed and the white lab coats were adopted.
The main reason doctors wear white lab coats is to be visible to patients as well as other professionals.
The tradition began in the late 1800s when qualified medical professionals began wearing white coats to distinguish themselves from unscrupulous medical experts who sought to peddle magical cures and did not practice traditional, evidence-based treatment.
These days the arguments range from a mark of professionalism, ethics, and a deep commitment to aiding the ill and wounded. It starts practically immediately after a student gets their medical school degree, because almost all medical schools perform a “white coat ceremony,” which commemorates the change from scholar to doctor.
Cleanroom Workers
Not to be confused with a white room which has less stringent controls, clean rooms are designed to have more control over the retention, generation, and introduction of particles that are in a room. Clean room suits are designed to be worn over normal clothing to stop contaminants such as skin and hair cells from entering the area and compromising the spaceflight hardware.
To access a clean room, you will need to wear a smock, cap, and gloves, all of which are white. You will also need to take a shower and not wear any cosmetics, perfumes, hair sprays, or colognes. The area is extremely sensitive to all foreign particles and you could easily contaminate it with anything that is not covered by the white clean room smock.
Cleanroom uniforms resemble those worn by spray painters for very similar reasons. Even the smallest hair or speck of duct could ruin a coat of high-gloss spray paint.
Wearing White Makes Sense
It truly is that simple for many painters when it concerns wearing white. They are aware that the occupation they have chosen is steeped in tradition, and they have chosen to follow that tradition. Some painters simply want their clients to be able to recognize their painting team apart from anybody else who may visit their houses, therefore they dress in white to ensure everyone knows who those individuals are.
Now that you understand why painters wear white, you will never need to ask the question, “what do painters wear?”, ever again. We have covered plenty of potential reasons for why painters wear white in this segment. Whatever the reason may be, white has recently been the color of choice for professional painters. As a result, many painters proudly put on their white uniforms every morning as they prepare for yet another day of labor.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Do Painters Wear?
Traditionally painters wear workwear known as painter’s whites, consisting of white overalls, a white t-shirt, and a white cotton hat.
Is White More Expensive to Produce?
No, it is not. This is because white fabric does not require any dye, which cuts production costs.
Are There Any Benefits to Wearing White?
There are some benefits to wearing white. One benefit is that white is often regarded as a cool color to wear outside during hot weather as it will reflect sunlight instead of absorbing the sun’s heat. In addition, white work clothes help painters identify when they have come into contact with dripping and wet paint.
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