Chipotle’s Pride Month campaign includes a special edition uniform option for employees, as well as a new line of merchandise that benefits The Tevor Project.
Beginning in June, Chipotle employees can get special edition “Love What Makes You Real” uniform shirts, meant to show ally ship and support for the LGBTQIA+ community.
“As a company that has long embraced diversity and inclusion, we recognize the importance of creating safe and welcoming workplace where all team members can be their authentic selves,” Chris Brandt, chief brand officer and executive sponsor of the PRIDE Employee Resource Group, said in a press release. “By introducing these limited-edition Pride uniforms, we are demonstrating our continued commitment to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community and celebrating what makes each of our employees unique.”
What stands out the most about the uniform shirts is the lack of rainbow design. We’ve written before about how some consumers are turned off by companies that adopt rainbow designs for Pride Month, but do little else to actually show support of the community. Chipotle does a great job of adopting the spirit of Pride Month without being too surface-level with its designs. It never ventures away from its own brand identity, but it integrates a special message of support.
Also, Pride Month aside, it shows that companies are doing more to give employees uniform options rather than just a single uniform. This has been going on for a while in industries like fast food, where businesses allow for different apparel pieces to be mixed and matched to create different looks, while still maintaining a cohesive brand look.
On the consumer side, Chipotle has been active with its online store, going far beyond just food to promote itself. The Chipotle Goods store just released a line called “The Pride Edit,” which does use the “Love What Makes You Real” slogan as well as rainbow designs, making it much more obviously a Pride Month piece than the uniform apparel.
There’s a T-shirt with the Chipotle logo in rainbow, a foil-wrapped burrito where the foil is the Pride flag, and a “Love What Makes You Real” T-shirt.
Chipotle Launches Pride Edit With Love What Makes You Real T-Shirt – Footwear Newshttps://t.co/VsmVYjVQ5b
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One small detail that Chipotle uses on its T-shirts is a tiny tag on the hem at the bottom of the T-shirt. It’s small, but it’s just one more place for logo placement, and has been a stylish choice for other trendy apparel companies lately like Carhartt.
So, this whole collection ticks a few boxes that distributors should pay attention to. First is providing businesses and company stores with different options to outfit employees. The second is balancing the rainbow designs with more toned-down choices during Pride Month, or any event that comes with a cliche color palette. It’s OK not to always use the designs that everyone else is using.
Finally, look at what outdoors and more workwear-influenced apparel companies are doing with subtle design choices like additional tags or heavy-duty fabrics. Bulky tees and workwear-inspired looks are all the rage right now.
