The
Challenge
Annie was a painter and decorator working on busy sites every day, and she was completely fed up with work trousers that were clearly never designed with real women in mind.
Nothing fit properly. Nothing moved properly. And absolutely nothing stopped that dreaded #NoMoreCheekySmile moment when you crouch down on the job.
She came to us wanting to build a new kind of women’s workwear brand: practical, durable, genuinely comfortable trousers created for women with physically demanding, hands-on careers.
Not pink-it-and-shrink-it.
Not an afterthought.
Real workwear engineered for real women.
Our job was to turn Annie’s lived experience into a proper technical product. One that could handle job sites, movement, bending, stretching, tools, long days and actual female bodies.
Minor detail. Apparently quite important.
The
Solution
This project may date back to 2017, but it is still one of our all-time favourites.
Annie was introduced to us through our long-time collaborator, pattern cutter Liz, who developed the initial patterns and early concepts before we took the project forward into full development and production.
With the final RRP needing to stay realistic for the workwear market, we recommended manufacturing in Portugal. This gave the project a strong balance between quality, technical capability and commercial viability.
From there, we worked closely with Annie, her husband, Liz, and our internal design and technical teams for almost a year, taking the product from early concept through to a fully refined pair of women’s workwear trousers.
Sourcing a technical, hardwearing fabric in small minimum quantities was not easy, because obviously fabric suppliers do enjoy making life interesting. But we got there.
Once the fabric was secured, we developed a series of prototypes to refine the silhouette, fit, function and construction.
The trousers went through intensive wearer trials on real job sites, with feedback used to adjust the fit and improve the product before sign-off.
The aim was simple: trousers that were durable enough for demanding trade environments, comfortable enough for all-day wear, and shaped properly for women’s bodies.
No gaping.
No slipping.
No builders’ bum.
By the time we reached sign-off, the product was exactly what Annie had envisioned: functional, flattering, durable and genuinely comfortable.
Production ran smoothly once development was complete, and Annie launched Hoydens in November 2017 with a product that gave women in the trades something they had been missing for far too long: workwear that actually worked for them.
Although the first collection was warmly received, Annie later faced personal circumstances that meant she was unable to continue developing the brand beyond its initial launch.
The trousers still earned a reputation for fit, comfort and reliability, proving that purpose-built design can make a genuine difference to women working in physically demanding roles.
Thank g*d for Fazane Fox
Because women’s workwear should not be men’s trousers with a smaller waist and a patronising colourway.
This project needed real technical development: fabric sourcing, pattern refinement, wearer trials, production planning and a proper understanding of how women move and work on site.
We helped Hoydens turn founder frustration into a practical, durable and production-ready workwear product that solved a real problem for women in the trades.
Functional? Yes.
Flattering? Also yes.
Pink? Absolutely not.
"Feedback on the quality has been really good, I can’t tell you how happy I am! Although I am sad not to be able to continue I really had fun last year with you and Liz!"
ANNIE / FOUNDER / HOYDENS
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