Sewing identity

Stories of workers and the work uniforms

Abstract

This article explores the complex relationship between work uniform and social identity, focusing on individuals from socially and economically marginalized groups. Through a brief theoretical review and oral history interviews with three workers, we sought to understand the resignification of the uniform as an enhancer of identity and life narratives. We show how the uniform, in addition to its practical and/or control function, can also become, in the eyes of those who wear it, a symbol of ascension and rupture with invisibility.