Techie Clothing
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Spikesgirl
Active Member
I'm chiming in a bit late here, but we go to our local uniform supply house and get a mess of tech blacks for next to nothing. The pants are Dockers and of good quality - at $10 a pop, how can you go wrong, plus they have the larger sizes which all our techs seem to come in these days...
Tops were equally priced (or lower if you happen to hit a sale) and again come in a wide range of sizes.
We don't insist that our techs wear these unless we have someone show up totally inappropriately cothed for backstage/booth work. for some reason, most prefer the Dockers or have gone off to buy their own from the same store.
Not saying it will suit everyone, but it has worked well for us.
Charlie (the other one)
Tops were equally priced (or lower if you happen to hit a sale) and again come in a wide range of sizes.
We don't insist that our techs wear these unless we have someone show up totally inappropriately cothed for backstage/booth work. for some reason, most prefer the Dockers or have gone off to buy their own from the same store.
Not saying it will suit everyone, but it has worked well for us.
Charlie (the other one)
howlingwolf487
Active Member
When I'm on running crew, I wear black BDU's or BDU knock-off's...whichever is available in my area. A longsleeve black t-shirt and a pair of Brahma steel-toe shoes from WalMart completes the ensmble. Black jeans if it's a FOH/Mon/Video type event. (As mentioned in another post) dress blacks consist of black dress khakis, a black button-down dress shirt, and a pair of black dress shoes.
Accessories include black 2AA LED Mag, Leatherman Supertool 200. and an SOG Flash II; occasionally I keep my cell phone with me in a belt pouch from an Army Surplus place.
Accessories include black 2AA LED Mag, Leatherman Supertool 200. and an SOG Flash II; occasionally I keep my cell phone with me in a belt pouch from an Army Surplus place.
they really don't like maglites over there do they
i think he means the leatherman
Big flashlights, 10 inches or longer weighing more than 12 ounces, were banned by the LAPD more than two years ago after one was used in the beating of a car-theft suspect. "That was one of our considerations," Bratton said at the conference. Source sites Maglites used as weapons.
Be careful with your flashlights, everyone!
But on the clothing topic, my black Dickies pants (I don't know the exact make, they're the cheap ones with pockets... I can look if people actually care) are great for long work days. They get a beating, but they vent well in the heat, and are just right for outdoor night gigs.
I've found that a good set of black pants (with deep pockets!) can easily be dressed up for a FOH position, or down for running amuck.
Amuck! Amuck! Amuck!
I seem to be everywhere during our shows (lack of experienced techs + lots of new/temporary people = me running a lot), so I need to look nice for lobby/FOH, and be able to work backstage or on deck. I get along pretty well with black Soft Stag non-marking shoes, black Dockers, a long-sleeved, black Van Heusen shirt, a black Dickiesbelt, and a black tie. Oh, and black socks.
I have a Leatherman Kick (cheap, simple, but mostly cheap) and a 2 cell LED Maglite, black. Sometimes the Technical Director Mallet is carried.
I have a Leatherman Kick (cheap, simple, but mostly cheap) and a 2 cell LED Maglite, black. Sometimes the Technical Director Mallet is carried.
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Amok!!! (sorry, three in a row requires a mention...)
I too, also, find myself running amok sometimes, though running amok is something actors do quite frequently...
To get back on topic:
For me, I find myself lucky because I don't have to wear all black (which is good because blue jeans are my favorite pants) but for jeans I usually wear Faded Glory (kind of the middle-quality brand at Wal-Mart) and they last me a long time without wear. Carpenter Pants are my flavor of choice because of the cell phone pocket, durability, etc. If I have to wear nicer pants I have an older pair of dress pants from my choir uniform from High School that I wear, so it doesn't matter if they get dirty or worn...
For a Shirt I think that the Jerz-Eez brand athletic style polo shirts with our Tech crew logo on them are pretty good (though the sleeves are shorter than I would like.) I only wear it during shows and therefore doesn't take much abuse.
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I'll have to look into these. As bad as my knees are, I could certainly use a pair of pants with built in knee pads.
As for what I wear to work, it depends on what I'm doing.
My Stage Blacks are black jeans, black belt, and a black polo style, Pageant of the Masters shirt. I wear Redwing, EH rated work boots. I never know when I'm going to have to get into a panel to do some repairs. I always have my Leatherman and Mini-Mag with the LED conversion kit.
If it's just a regular workday during our production season, I typically wear anything that I don't mind ruining. Generally, old, faded jeans and ratty old t-shirts.
When I'm working with other groups renting our facilities, I usually wear nicer jeans and t-shirts, essentially presenting a relatively neat appearance, while actually being able to do some work if I need to. For some groups I wear my stage blacks. I play it by ear on this decision.
If I need to get into a live electrical panel or junction box, I wear a cotton t-shirt, jeans, my Redwings, a hardhat, safety glasses, earplugs, a lightweight, Nomex jumpsuit, and Voltage Rated gloves with leather protectors. All these provides protection for Arc Flash Hazard Risk Category 2, which is the highest Risk Category present in my facility. Most of our facility would be considered Category 1 or 0. The last time I used this equipment, it took longer to suit up than it did to perform the actual repair, but the protection it provides is worth the inconvenience.
Something I forgot to mention earlier, is that as I'm at an outdoor venue, I have to consider weather conditions when choosing my work clothes. So I generally wear light clothing in the warmer months, and layers in the cooler months so that I can easily go from outdoor work to indoor work without having to change clothes. Granted, I don't have the weather extremes that some of you have to deal with, but the general concept of layering should still work with a little tweaking.
quarterfront
Member
+1
Re. the clothes, for me it's black jeans, all-black NewBalance sneakers, black tubesocks, and a plain black teeshirt or plain black polo.
Main pet peeve for me is shirts with any paint or logos on them. If there's a logo on the shirt it needs to be stitched on and it needs to be the logo of the theatre you're at. Otherwise, plain.
I keep several cans of black spray paint in the flammables cabinet in my office.
Just in case. Hey! Spray paint's cheap. Gaff tape is expensive.
What did you have to repair?
Oddly enough, no one has ever taken me up on the offer to paint their clothes, unless you count the costume department wanting a pair of boots painted black.
Wonder why...Oddly enough, no one has ever taken me up on the offer to paint their clothes, unless you count the costume department wanting a pair of boots painted black.
But you did let someone gaff up the holes in their shoes, as opposed to spray painting their socks.
Wonder why...
But you did let someone gaff up the holes in their shoes, as opposed to spray painting their socks.
A. C.W.'s a pretty cool tech to work with (not that you don't already know that).
B. We usually only have to threaten someone with black spray paint once to get them to wear black clothing, shoes, etc.
