Role guide · Chef
Ask a working chef about their whites and you'll get laundry logistics before style: how many jackets survive a week, which trousers breathe at the pass, and why the shoes matter more than any of it. Here's the wardrobe as it's actually worn.
The wardrobe
Quantities assume five shifts and a home wash cycle.
| Item | How many | The working spec |
|---|---|---|
| Chef jacket | 3+ | Cotton-rich, double-breasted; lighter weave for the pass, heavier for the grill (why the design works) |
| Chef trousers | 2–3 | Loose cut — pulls away from a scald instead of pressing it in |
| Apron | 2–3 | By station: heavy bib on grill, waist at the pass |
| Kitchen shoes | 1 good pair | Closed, liquid-shedding, SR slip-rated sole — the injury-prevention item |
| Headwear | 2 | Skull cap or net per hygiene policy |
| Side towels | lots | The real workhorse — never the apron, never the cloth that touched raw |
Priorities
Starting out and buying your own? The order that pays: shoes first — a slip on a wet tile ends more kitchen careers than any burn, and a proper SR-soled kitchen shoe is the one item with no cheap substitute. Jackets second, three of them, because a chef in a stained jacket gets judged before the food does. Trousers third — two pairs get you through while you learn what cut suits the heat of your section. Everything else can be house-issued or accumulated.
On the laundering that keeps whites white and logos intact through the boil washes: the branded-kit wash guide covers it.
Heat management
Questions
Three is the working minimum for a five-shift week with home laundering — one on, one in the wash, one dry. Busy kitchens and doubles push it to four or five. Trousers follow at two to three pairs.
Closed shoes with liquid-shedding uppers and a slip-rated (SR) sole — wet, greasy floors are the kitchen's biggest injury source. Clog and trainer styles both work; the sole rating and the closed top are the non-negotiables.
Scald protection: loose fabric pulls away from the leg when hot liquid hits, while tight fabric presses it against skin. Add the airflow benefit at a 40 °C pass and the traditional baggy cut earns its look.
Slip-rated kitchen shoes, then three jackets, then trousers. Shoes prevent the injury that ends shifts; jackets carry your presentability; everything else can accumulate or be house-issued.
Either way the kit list is the same — send the role and the headcount and we'll price it, embroidered.