Plus Not just Workwear

Plus Denim “Not Just Workwear” 100% EU produced sustainable workwear : well-designed, well-made and built-to-last.

100% European high-quality workwear manufacturing is extremely rare nowadays, yet we’ve been persistently doing it for the last 25 years.

Discover our 3-generation family workwear development & production in Slovenia and Croatia. Families Stayer and Grahovac have been in workwear and PPE business for over three decades, operating primarily in Slovenia and Croatia. Production of high quality workwear started in 1997 in Zagreb, Croatia. All these years we’ve been designing, testing and producing premium workwear for end users on our domestic markets and several distributors across Europe.

Besides second to none style and quality, we guarantee quick deliveries and easy returns all over Europe and possibility of personalization of pants, jackets and shirts.

We started developing and testing Plus Denim in 2016 in Slovenia and Croatia with the ambition to make sustainable denim workwear that would be altogether beautiful, useful, comfortable and durable.  “Not Just Workwear” means Plus denim is much more than merely workwear. It is designed for our customers to enjoy wearing it on and off their work. It can be hard wearing workwear or cool leisure wear.

“We were dreaming of durable Denim Workwear that would have several lives alongside its owners. Of affordable pieces telling stories because they were designed with care for the smallest details and uncompromising quality. Plus Denim, workwear is a versatile, creative, responsible and optimistic reflection of modernity.”

Our commitment to making durable products with flawless quality is rooted in a family history spanning three generations of entrepreneurs, known for their obsession with premium quality.

In 1990 Zinka Grahovac in Zagreb, Croatia and Niko Stayer in Škofja Loka, Slovenia started two small companies specializing in distribution of safety gloves and workwear.

Shortly after being founded, companies started close and consistent cooperation. Soon the need for own production of workwear occurred. We started with four seamstresses and an expert fabric cutter. Today we have 15 highly skilled seamstresses and two cutters. We only produce workwear designed and developed by us. Tomislav Grahovac and Primož Stayer are second generation, whilst Primož’s son Maksimilian is the third. They are the authors of PLUS workwear line, completely developed and manufactured in own production in Zagreb, using exclusively premium quality European raw materials.

What is the issue with the workwear industry?

In the past few decades, the “fast-workwear” trend has become overwhelmingly mainstream: workwear has become very cheap but also practically disposable commodity, made of low-quality materials and characterized by a very short lifespan.

As a result: over 90.000 tons of workwear being disposed each year in Europe, only a small proportion is either recycled or re-used. Most of these items usually end up in the landfill or are incinerated without being repaired or recycled because these essential steps had not been accounted for as part of their business model.

We developed Plus Denim to offer a long-term viable alternative to this issue while addressing the challenges of modern life.

The choice of materials is an essential step in our mission to make sustainable workwear. Choosing the right materials from the very beginning allows us to limit the environmental impact of our activity while ensuring the longevity and recyclability of our products.

We always use the very best. Making sustainable workwear also means making robust workwear that you don’t toss away.

Where is your Plus Denim made?

All our workwear and products are made in Europe, more exact in Zagreb, Croatia in partnership with highly-skilled manufacturers with unique know-how. Depending on the technique or specialization required by the making of our products, we choose to work with suppliers in regions where the know-how is particularly present, yet all of our suppliers are within 600 km circle. As of today, we work with European manufacturing partners spread across Italy, Slovenia and Croatia.

One of our main partner is is the greenest denim mill in the world – Candiani, Milano. Inner pocket fabrics come from Cervo Tessile, Milano, threads from Gütterman, Slovenia, buttons and rivets from local producer in Croatia. We cut, sew and finish all products in Zagreb. We can proudly say that Plus Denim are 100% European products.

What criteria do you take into account when choosing your materials?

The choice of materials is an essential step in our mission to make premium sustainable workwear. Choosing the right materials from the very beginning allows us to limit the environmental footprint of our activity while ensuring the longevity and recyclability of our products. We always use very robust materials that are easy to recycle. When it comes to denim, we use 12oz stretch (98% BCI* cotton / 2% elastane). Our packaging is made of at least 90% recycled paper. In the meantime, we make significant R&D efforts to develop and increase the use of organic, upcycled or recycled materials.

BCI* = Better Cotton Initiative https://bettercotton.org

Our approach to sustainability

When we founded Plus Denim in 2016, we embarked on a mission to make sustainable, high-end denim workwear that altogether would be well-designed, well-made and built-to-last. Garments that are so much more than just workwear.

We believe that the world does not need more workwear. It needs better workwear.

By “sustainable workwear”, we mean workwear that is well-designed and impeccably crafted in Europe instead of some distant low-wage Asian country and built to last a lifetime. Less stuff – more meaning.

In order to provide real long-term solutions, we are redefining the approach on how to design and manufacture workwear. The final goal is that each of our customers end-users will enjoy wearing Plus for years, every single minute. That’s the essence of sustainability.

What is sustainable workwear?

According to us, making sustainable workwear means making workwear that is well-designed, well-made and built-to-last. These three aspects imply taking sustainability into account at every step of the product’s lifecycle : from the design phase to the product’s end of life and including logistics and product longevity. In practical terms, we make workwear that is robust and long-lasting, 100% made in Europe with high-quality and sustainable materials, easy-to-repair if necessary and easy-to-recycle when the time comes. In addition, our workwear is designed to have the least impact on the environment during storage and shipping.

Last but not least, we are committed to offering beautiful and timeless workwear that you will not get tired of and that you will keep for years if not decades. Denim is the only fabric that ages fantastically, better still – improves with age. Raw denim gives the wearer an opportunity to make pants and jackets unique. Daily routines, movements, nature of work create unique creases and fades. Those details that make denim, particularly raw denim so special.

Is it truly more complicated to design sustainable workwear?

Taking sustainability into account at every step of the product’s lifecycle is actually a true challenge. In addition to the constraints mentioned in the previous section (“What is sustainable workwear?”), designing sustainable workwear requires large investments (in-house designers and work with designer advisory firms) combined with longer and sometimes uncertain product development periods. Premium workwear design is anything but just style or good-looking. Ergonomics are of huge importance in order to come out with the garment which

offers highest possible comfort. In addition, it is not always easy to include recycled or upcycled materials in traditional manufacturing processes.

Therefore, despite our small size, we have to work with industry players to make things happen and implement new processes while striving to find new partners who develop sustainable and innovative materials. Fortunately, our main supplier Candiani has sustainability in its DNA.