New business makes maternity PPE for women in the manufacturing industry
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AMERICAN FALLS
Woman’s online business provides maternity PPE for the workplace
AMERICAN FALLS – Working in a rugged environment is where Svetlana Blancher feels at home.
The 37-year-old American Falls woman works in manufacturing, which requires personal protective outerwear on the job site. This type of clothing often poses a challenge for women, and her new business, Rugged Peach Workwear, fills that niche in the marketplace.
“We provide maternity PPE — high-visibility shirts made to (industry) safety standards (that accommodate women who are pregnant),” Blancher tells EastIdahoNews.com.
The shirts are made in Kentucky out of recycled polyester and shipped to customers’ homes. EastIdahoNews.com met Blancher in Pocatello to see what it looks like, which you can watch in the video above.
It’s a product she’s spent the last three years refining. She finally has a product she’s happy with.
Blancher launched the business a few weeks ago and is trying to spread the word.
“I’ve had a lot of interest and a lot of kudos (sent my way),” Blancher says.
She recently took it to an industry fashion show and says the feedback was positive.
“The first thing they said was, ‘It’s so soft, so comfortable,'” says Blancher. “It was so cool.”
It was Blancher’s experience as a woman on the job site that sparked the idea for this business.
A job opportunity brought her and her family to eastern Idaho about five years ago. She was pregnant at the time, and the shirts she was required to wear were uncomfortable and didn’t fit right.
She searched the internet for a solution, but none could be found.
That’s when she started researching to make her own shirt.
Blancher says PPE fashion shows are becoming an industry trend, and she’s excited to showcase her shirt at a safety conference in Denver this fall.
She also wants to expand her product offerings. The immediate priority is a short-sleeve version of her shirt.
She’s also gotten a lot of requests for maternity vests, sweaters and postpartum wear.
“You have your baby and come back to work. A lot of women are still pumping. They have to do that on the job,” she says. “I’m working on a shirt where there’s a zipper in the seam that they can unzip, do what they need to do and go back to work.”
A Canadian company caught wind of what Blancher is doing and wants her to make a version of the shirt that meets its safety standards.
“I’ll be working on that too. That’s very exciting,” she says.
Blancher is ecstatic about the possibilities ahead of her.
The fear of standing out at work is a real challenge for women, she says, and she’s worked hard to find a remedy. She wants women in this situation to know that she’s been in their shoes and that she’s “looking out for them.”
“When I started working on this and talking about this, so many people were like, ‘Where was this 20 years ago? I didn’t know this was a thing. I can’t believe someone is doing this,'” Blancher says. “That’s what makes this rewarding for me. I love solving problems.”
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