alston for Braniff Airlines. Jetstar, the younger sibling to Qantas, has created a culture of diversity, collaboration and inclusion that goes hand in hand with its discounted flights, which democratise travel. To Jetstar Group CEO Stephanie Tulley, the uniforms mark a new chapter for the airline, its employees and customers.  “We’ve listened to our people and together wanted to create a uniform that reflects how far we have come as we move into our third decade of operation,” Tulley explained. “With the help of [Ginger & Smart co-founder and designer] Genevieve Smart, the newly designed collection caters to everyone and gives our crew more freedom to choose what they would like to wear.” The uniform overhaul is more than a rebranding exercise, it’s an attempt to let the Jetstar employees wear the airline’s values on their sleeves. Looking for new horizons  Smart took literal and figurative inspiration from air travel to design Jetstar’s new uniforms, to ensure the creative collaboration was authentic. “In the words of Diana Vreeland, ‘the eye has to travel’. And I think for me, that’s what Jetstar represents. It means we can all expand our horizons,” Smart told Inside Retail. “So I came back to that idea of expanding horizons and I think my memory about flying has just been that amazing kind of view at the window of a sunset and sunrise,” she added. Beyond the horizon, Smart’s design process also took into consideration how Jetstar employees could bring their own sense of self to work while wearing a concise uniform that would evoke pride. “I wanted it to feel like pieces that you might want to wear travelling, like a linen jacket, chinos, a kind of chic polished shirt, printed shirt dress – pieces that you might actually consider taking when travelling,” Smart said. The unisex nature of the range – employees can select the pieces they feel most comfortable wearing – promotes individualism. Jetstar is also relaxing some of its dress code policies, now allowing multiple ear piercings and some visible tattoos. One of Smart’s design challenges was reframing Jetstar’s iconic orange brand colour that is featured throughout its signage and on the wings of its fleet of planes. “The evolution from black to a dynamic blue and orange palette reflects Jetstar’s transformative journey over the past two decades,” Smart said. Smart chose an alternate orange from Jetstar’s palette, one she likened to tangerine or Moroccan, so the uniforms would complement diverse skin tones.  “I also really enjoyed getting the orange jacket right because I felt like it was a real challenge to make sure it was a really desirable jacket,” Smart said. It’s all in the details   Besides reimagining the orange blazer that customers have come to recognise Jetstar staff by, Smart also included the brand’s signature colour in a fabric print that features throughout the uniform. “[The print] is actually just their Jetstar logo, but it’s all interconnected. The messaging was to talk about the interconnectedness of their team, which is really important to Jetstar and the leadership team at the moment. It’s really about unity within the team and also unity with how they fly,” Smart explained. Smart wanted the new uniforms to create a sense of unity between the passengers and crew, so the designs are intended to feel like a well-edited travel wardrobe. “Print is a language – you can say so much in a print, it doesn’t have to be super obvious,” she said. Smart didn’t take inspiration from the past, saying, ‘I didn’t look at anything old or retrospective at all. It was really about the future.’” She did pay homage to Ginger & Smart, however, with the inclusion of a shirt dress that was a signature piece in her brand’s collection over two decades ago. “To me, the shirt dress, it’s eternally chic because I think it’s super practical but it’s really effortless…And they work from across all shapes and sizes really. It’s one of those dresses that most of us can wear,” Smart explained. Jetstar has also taken a sustainable outlook. It will dispose of its old uniforms by partnering with BlockTexx, an Australian textile recycling company, to upcycle the estimated 17 tonnes worth of material that will be made obsolete with the uniform switch.