St. Paul, MN, Dec. 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- When the conversation turns to why women remain underrepresented in the skilled trades, one barrier surfaces again and again: gear that wasn’t built for them.
That’s why Ergodyne has joined the national Women in Skilled Trades campaign—standing alongside labor groups, educators, and advocates to spotlight the challenges tradeswomen face and the solutions pushing the industry forward.
A National Platform to Elevate Worker Voices
The Women in Skilled Trades campaign brings together influential voices across the industry—HGTV builders Mina Starsiak Hawk and Jasmine Roth, the American Welding Society, the National Association of Women in Construction, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, and more—to highlight the systemic barriers women encounter and the practical steps needed to remove them.
Their shared message is clear: meaningful progress demands action on multiple fronts—training access, workplace culture, leadership pathways, and yes, the PPE workers rely on every day.
Ergodyne’s contribution centers on a simple truth: when the people wearing the gear help shape it, the gear gets better—and the job gets safer.
A Growing Workforce, Outgrowing “Unisex” Solutions
Even as more women enter the trades, most PPE on the market is still patterned around male bodies. The consequences show up everywhere—safety, comfort, confidence and performance. Ill-fitting gear that rides up, restricts movement or snags is far more than a nuisance.
“It’s a safety failure and a daily reminder of whose bodies weren’t considered in the design process,” said Kris Wolle-Wayne, the product manager tasked with leading Ergodyne’s women’s high visibility workwear development.
That experience is widespread. According to the International Safety Equipment Association, citing CPWR research, 74% of tradeswomen report exposure to unnecessary hazards because their PPE doesn’t fit.
Ergodyne’s role in the campaign is to show what solving that looks like in practice. The company’s worker-informed design process puts real tradespeople at the center—testing prototypes through long shifts and extreme conditions. Their insight has driven refinements to shoulder seams, sleeve lengths, garment drape, breathability, fabric durability and silhouette to create a women’s hi-vis line shaped by lived experience.
“‘Be Seen. Feel Heard.’ is more than a slogan—it’s the reality of how this line came to life,” said Wolle-Wayne. “Iteration after iteration went into the field and detailed notes about what worked and what didn’t would come back… and then it’s rinse, wash, repeat until we have something that truly reflects the realities of the jobsite.”
But that cycle doesn’t end at launch. Through the company’s Tenacious Tester program, tradespeople continue to put gear through its daily paces, offering unfiltered feedback that drives continuous improvement.
“Designing around workers isn’t special—it’s common sense,” said Ergodyne President Greg Schrab. “And it’s a feedback loop that never really stops.”
For more on Ergodyne’s new women’s workwear line, visit ergodyne.com/feelheard.
For more on the Women in Skilled Trades campaign, visit futureofbusinessandtech.com/campaigns/women-in-skilled-trades.
ABOUT ERGODYNE
Since 1983, Tenacious Holdings, Inc. (dba Ergodyne, a Klein Tools Company) has pioneered the development of products that Make The Workplace A Betterplace™. What started with just one product has grown into a line of top flight, battle-tested, Tenacious Work Gear®; all precision crafted to provide protection, promote prevention and manage the elements for workers on jobsites the world over. The current lineup is extensive and constantly growing: ProFlex® Hand Protection, ProFlex® Knee Pads, ProFlex® Supports, Skullerz® Head & Face Protection, Skullerz® Eye Protection, Trex® Traction, KREW'D® Skin Protection, Chill-Its® Cooling Products, N-Ferno® Warming Products, GloWear® Hi-Vis Apparel, Squids® Lanyards, Arsenal® Gear and Tool Storage, and SHAX® Portable Work Shelters.
Originally posted on: www.ergodyne.com
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