National Portrait Gallery staff to have sustainable gender-neutral uniforms

Staff at London's National Portrait Gallery will wear new gender-neutral uniforms made from recycled materials when the gallery reopens to the public this month.

The outfits include ties sourced from charity shops and hard-wearing waistcoats that it is hoped will be passed on to new staff.

The Wayne Hemingway-designed clothes are, the gallery said, intended to give "staff the freedom to choose from different options to best suit their individual needs, as well as seasons and occasions”.

Hemingway said: “We don’t know of another uniform in the world that combines fabric offcuts and locally sourced materials and manufacturing, with pre-worn elements and fabrics made from waste.

“The National Portrait Gallery team have been fully supportive of this approach and helped push their new uniform to be such a sustainably ground-breaking one."

The gallery reopens to the public on 22 June following a £35 million refurbishment.