Uniforms

In the early days of the company male sales staff wore white single breasted coats, white aprons and black bow ties

From 1907, coats were double breasted

This offered greater protection at the front

Trainee staff wore coats with black buttons

Then progressed to red buttons when they had successfully completed their training. One of the buttons was numbered, mainly for identification purposes.

Women were not employed as counter sales staff until the First World War

Although early photographs of female sales staff show some variation in uniforms, by the late 1930s they were wearing sturdy buff coloured overalls with maroon cuffs and collar, and a buff hat with two maroon stripes.

In 1963, stylish new overalls were introduced for women

These were designed by top designer Hardy Amies. This light blue nylon outfit was used only by self-service staff, since synthetic fabric provided insufficient protection for counter staff.

During the 1970s, female staff wore two tone blue check nylon overalls and caps

In 1981, staff were issued with new uniforms in dark brown and brick colour schemes

The early 90s saw a return to the blue uniform

With the addition of a fruit a veg motif at the end of the decade

This was introduced in 1999 and was designed for Sainsbury's by Paul Costelloe. Then in 2008 the current uniform was introduced.