Category Archives: Trends In Medical Apparel

Power Dressing For Female Clinicians

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If you’re a female leader in medicine (or are heading down that path) there will be times when you need to step up your style to convey the appearance of the powerful, take-charge woman that you are!

So the next time you have an interview, presentation, important meeting or even just are having a professional headshot taken, follow these basic guidelines so that you can present yourself as a polished, skilled leader.

Skirt suit or pants suit

You can’t go wrong with a business professional skirt/pants suit, as long as it fits you properly. This is an opportunity to let your personal style show a bit more, and it can make a powerful statement if you go outside the box of traditional colors (think black, navy, grey) to opt for a bolder, more unique color like a burnt ochre, or deep plum – you can even play around with unexpected patterns like plaid or stripes, as long as the color palette is muted and still professional.

Crisp white button down shirt

If you don’t have this in your wardrobe already, bite the bullet and get one. This is not only perfect for professional settings, but it’s an extremely versatile piece that you will find dozens of opportunities to wear throughout the year.

My recommendation for purchasing a button down shirt is to not necessarily go for the most expensive or the cheapest option. You should shop for a middle-of-the-range shirt that isn’t absurdly priced, but is still made with quality materials, and take it to a professional tailor to have it fitted perfectly to your body. This simple step will make it look like the most expensive shirt you own!

Low heels or pumps

You should have at least one pair of nice dress pumps in your closet, but I would recommend against any heels higher than 3 inches. For one, they aren’t as comfortable, no matter how much you might relate to Sarah Jessica Parker’s affinity for sky-high heels. Secondly, super high heels can be distracting and don’t look as professional as a more modest heel.

Tailored lab coat with name & title embroidery

You worked hard for your credentials, so show them off by having them embroidered on your lab coat. And while you’re at it, get a lab coat that actually fits you – not the cheap, semi-see-through, unisex lab coats you might be used to. Even if you don’t think you’ll wear it in a clinical setting, you should have at least one professional tailored lab coat that will make you look polished.

Medelita offers quite a range of different tailored lab coats for female professionals, and they offer in-house embroidery services so that you can skip the step of taking it to a separate embroidery studio to have your name and title added.

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Why Are These Lab Coats So Expensive?

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The Medelita White Coat Collection is well-known as the best in class for medical professionals seeking a tailored, fitted lab coat. They have numerous designs in gender-specific styles, ensuring that there is a style for everyone.

But the price tag is steep – compare their H.W. Cushing lab coat, which costs $154, to a cheaper Landau lab coat at $30.58.

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H.W. Cushing Slim Fit Lab Coat

Why is the Medelita lab coat so much more expensive?

The simple answer is, you get what you pay for. Quality starts with the raw materials, and the cost of the high-quality raw materials sourced by Medelita for their fabric and buttons actually costs more than the retail price of that Landau coat. The difference in the quality of the fabric is the first thing you’ll notice that makes the Medelita version worth the extra money.

You also need to take into account the fact that Medelita lab coats are designed more or less like blazers or nice suit jackets. If you made them about half a foot shorter and in a khaki color or dark neutral, you would basically have something similar to a Brooks Brothers jacket, which is $648. So when you think about it, it’s actually a pretty darn good deal.

Medelita Lab Coat Features

  • Performance fabric is bright white, resists stains, wicks sweat away, easy to care for
  • Highly durable, double seams, darting, pleating and other small quality indicators
  • Flattering styles for men and women that are fitted and allow full range of movement
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A Women’s Lab Coat Of Distinction

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The challenge with looking professional as a woman in medicine is that the traditionally male-dominated field has set the bar pretty low for attractive and flattering uniforms. Historically, almost all medical lab coats available have been unisex, with a very boxy shape that tends to look like a white smock.

That doesn’t look very professional. And it doesn’t make you feel very professional, either.

If this is a familiar situation for you, it’s probably time to upgrade your lab coat to one that is actually made for women. I recommend the classic Callia M., which was actually first developed back in 2008 as the very first women’s lab coat in history. Since then, it has been modernized and had its design upgraded to fit better than ever.

Check out our favorite features from this timeless style of women’s lab coat.

Women's Lab Coat Lapels

Delicately scalloped lapels

Callia M Back Belt

Two-button defining back belt

Darted back venting

Women's Lab Coat Pockets

Functional iPad patch pockets

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Men’s Scrubs Pants With A Relaxed Fit

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Scrubs are pretty comfortable when you think about it, at least compared to the stiff suits and neckties that professionals must wear in so many other industries. Anything with a drawstring or elastic waistband tends to be pretty comfortable, but these scrubs pants for men have been highly rated by almost every single purchaser.

The Modern Fit Men’s Scrubs Pants have a dual elastic/drawstring waistband, ensuring that they are neither too tight or too loose, but just right. They also come with a built-in fly zipper, an ideal feature for anyone under a time crunch.

The material is much softer than what you’ve probably come to expect from your scrubs. The inside of the material feels about as soft as flannel PJ pants, rather than the scratchy thin fabric that you’ll find in cheaper scrubs.

A lot of men seem to have appreciation for the fit, which is where these scrubs pants truly stand out. With the perfect length and cut, the fit actually resemble a pair of chinos or nice pants more than a pair of slouchy sweats.

Check out these amazing scrubs pants for men here, and don’t take my word for it – check out the reviews at the bottom of the page.

Pockets On Women’s Lab Coats

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A decade ago, this headline would not have existed because there existed no lab coats just for women! We’ve come a long way since then, and today there are quite a few different non-unisex options for female professionals working in healthcare.

Choosing a lab coat with pockets appropriate for you is an important factor while shopping for your lab coat, though there are really only two main options.

The first, which you can see here with the Callia M. lab coat from Medelita, is a patch pocket. It looks like a square or rectangle patch that is large enough to fit a small tablet and notebooks, in addition to anything else you need to carry.

Callia Patch Pocket

The other option is a pocket more like what you would see on a blazer-style jacket. You can see this on the Miranda B. lab coat from Medelita. Though perhaps not as functional since you probably can’t fit an iPad in these pockets, the slanted angle creates a flattering silhouette by slimming with vertical seams.

Miranda B Lab Coat Pocket

What do you think? Which lab coat pocket style do you prefer and why? Let us know in the comments section!

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5 Tips To Keep Your Lab Coat White And Bright

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Nothing says professional like a crisp, white lab coat. The white color is highly significant in the medical profession, as it has come to symbolize cleanliness and purity. Wearing an immaculate white lab coat sends a strong visual signal to your patient that you are diligent and thorough, and instills a greater subconscious sense of trust in your patient-physician relationship.

Here are some tips for keeping your white lab coat as bright and white as the day you got it.

  1. Separate your colors – seriously. Even light colors can transfer onto whites.
  2. Don’t use too much detergent, which can leave residue on clothes that acts like a magnet and sticks to dirt.
  3. Use a bluing agent to remove a yellowish tinge, but make sure to read and follow the instructions.
  4. Don’t use bleach. White clothing is actually dyed to be white, and bleach can strip the whiteness away leaving behind a dingy greyish color.
  5. Use white vinegar or lemon to make your whites brighter, by adding 1/4 a cup of vinegar or lemon juice and warm water and letting your whites soak before washing. Do not mix with ammonia products!!
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Lab Coats Are The Perfect Winter White!

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If you’re anything like me, the turn of October has you already planning your fall and winter wardrobe. Usually what people wear in the hot weather couldn’t be more different from cold weather clothes, and that includes everything from fabric, style, cold protection, and colors.

Winter white is personally one of my favorite parts of the changing seasons. It’s crisp, clean, and always makes you look effortlessly put together. It goes with everything, and is reminiscent of a beautiful white snowfall the day after a blizzard.

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It recently occurred to me that lab coats are, in fact, the perfect shade of winter white! This makes sense, as the popularity of white in the winter is probably due to the snow, which is most beautiful in its pristine form – the pure sheet of white that you see before cars start driving over it and it turns into slush.

Similarly, the doctors coat is a striking white color because of the purity and cleanliness it represents.

Drawstrings On Scrubs Are A Problem

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One of the most common complaints about why scrubs don’t fit well is poor drawstrings. Most scrubs pants don’t have a happy medium: they either have an elastic waistband, or there is a shoelace-like drawstring.

These options aren’t great. At best, they keep your scrubs pants from falling down your hips, and at worst they don’t even do that! Moreover, when scrubs are made cheaply like this, they just don’t fit well and probably aren’t very flattering or professional looking.

Fortunately, this brand of scrubs has come up with a drawstring-elastic band combo that is perfect because it allows you to adjust the tightness of your waistband if necessary, but you can also just tie the drawstring without cinching it tighter if you are a bit small and between sizes.

Best Scrubs For Men

The best part is that the drawstrings are double looped. Meaning you can rest assured that you won’t have to fish out the end of your drawstring with a wire hanger after it gets sucked into the hole of your drawstring band. And for men there is even a zipper option so that they are more like regular pants than prison jumpsuits!

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Underscrubs Shirts Are Coming Back In Stock Soon

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We’ve gone over the reasons every medical professional should invest in a proper underscrub shirt. Not only are they super versatile and can be worn without scrubs, but they are designed so that they work for the wearer.

Medelita’s brand of Core One Tees has been sold out for a while, and we’ve been waiting anxiously for them to come around again. That’s why it’s very exciting that they will be coming back in stock in just over two weeks!

Core One Underscrub

Pre-order your underscrub shirt here. 

They’re also accepting pre-orders now, and these shirts are likely to sell out again fast, so I recommend that you pre-order yours so you don’t have to worry about missing out.

Put Your Scrubs To The Test

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One of the biggest complaints I hear about scrubs is the lack of coverage. When you reach for an instrument, the sleeve gapes open, so you need to wear an undershirt. When you bend down, they reveal your underwear, which is unacceptable for anyone who isn’t a plumber. When you lean over, the front of the tops open wide, again giving you need for some coverage à la undershirts.

Here’s a challenge for you: get some scrubs that don’t do that. Get some scrubs that fit you well. How can you tell if your scrubs will give you the function you need?

Do some yoga in your scrubs.

Even if you’re not a yogi yourself, test out some simple yoga poses while wearing your scrubs to see how they fit when you have contorted your body into wacky positions.

So what are you waiting for? Put on your new set of scrubs and try out these four poses so you can see if they stand up to the test of fitting you while you work.

  1. Tree pose

Tree pose

2. Mountain pose

Mountain pose

3. Downward dog

Downward facing dog

4. Warrior pose

Warrior 2 pose