image: Ryanair
Economy airline Ryanair has finally unveiled new cabin crew uniforms. In a long-term bid to improve customer service, and the Ryanair experience in general, a new collection of premium uniforms have been created as part of its Always Getting Better initiative.
While it’s easy for most to mock the efforts of Ryanair, the emphasis on improving the brand through key details such as airplane interiors and uniform should be a bench mark for other budget companies. Norwegian Air, the third largest low-cost airline in Europe, offers a premium service in spite of lower fares; this is reflected in its contemporary monochrome interiors and stylish staff uniforms, proving to the industry that budget doesn’t have to mean cheap.
CEO Michael O’Leary announced earlier in the year that an Irish designer would be tasked with revamping the uniform rollout, and the challenge fell to Dublin-born, recent graduate Emma Collopy.
image: Ryanair/YouTube
‘I’m very proud to say that I am the designer for Ryanair’s new uniform,’ Emma said. ‘It’s a really tough industry to get into, so I was so lucky [that] three weeks before my graduation I was contacted by Ryanair to see if I was interested in a new design project.’
image: Ryanair/YouTube
image: Ryanair/YouTube
‘The initial briefing was quite open; there wasn’t really many limitations. They wanted to see something new and contemporary but also something classic… so we ended up merging the two styles together.’
Gone are the retina-burning bright blue uniforms with garish yellow blouses. Instead, a richer blue has been used across smart tailoring. Cleverly, yellow accessories like ties and scarves have been toned down, but the golden hue of the brand has been celebrated with new all-weather macs.
image: Ryanair
Of the actual design process, Emma said ‘I provided hundreds of designs before we came to the final three. After this, the cabin crew voted on the design they wanted to wear the most.’
We particularly like the discrete details, such as yellow PVC belts, yellow lines on the sleeves of tailored white shirts, and yellow flashes in the vents of skirts.
image: Ryanair/YouTube
image: Ryanair/YouTube
Emma is obviously thrilled to see her designs rolled out in December. ‘It’s amazing that several thousand cabin crew are going to be wearing the uniform that I designed!’ she said, ‘over a hundred million people are going to view it onboard this year alone – I don’t think many other designers can say that!
image: Ryanair
Watch Emma discuss the new collection here:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GkMA5RRfvQ&w=1280&h=720]