Scrubs are the uniform of choice for many allied healthcare professionals, and is a $1.5 billion industry.

In most cases, working in a clinical allied health profession is a physically active job, whether you're a nursing assistant, dental assistant, radiology technician, or dietary aide. Moving around, walking, bending and reaching are not always fluid movements unless the worker is wearing comfortable attire. What kind of attire works? Scrubs, of course!

Scrubs 101

Scrubs make life easy for many reasons. First, there is no decision about what to wear every day or how to accessorize an outfit. Just pull them on and head to work.

There are the traditional, hospital-issued blue scrubs that are seen and worn everywhere around the healthcare industry by allied health professions, nurses and doctors. They fit some bodies a little looser or a little tighter in places but are basically the same for everyone -- baggy and lacking style.

Since scrubs are so popular, the industry has responded to the signs of the time (and the demand) and become far more trendy and fashion forward.

The Business of Scrubs

Traditional blue scrubs continue to account for the bulk of the scrub uniform industry purchases across the country. But, fashionable scrubs are creeping closer to the summit of the retail uniform industry.

The total amount spent on scrubs in the U.S. is about $1.5 billion a year. Fun and stylish scrubs currently account for 40% of the total purchases nationwide and the numbers are growing higher.

The Best Supply

There are retail stores catering to medical work wear but there are also catalog and online ordering options to purchase all styles of scrubs. A basic uniform retail chain is Work ‘N Gear. They also have an online site, http://www.workngear.com, with a special healthcare site subdivision.

The fashion forward scrub brands are evolving throughout the industry. Popular brands for trendy scrubs include Urbane (http://www.urbanescrubs.com), Med Couture (http://www.medcouture.com), Koi Design (https://www.koihappiness.com) and Scrubology (http://www.scrubology.com). Each site has a wide variety of colors, styles and detail options.

The Trends

Most allied health professionals, and nurses alike, are looking to update their appearance from the baggy, shapeless style of traditional blue scrubs. According to recent surveys, these allied health professionals are looking for:

• Comfort and ease of movement
• A more contoured fit
• Sturdy garment construction
• Print designs, neon colors and other job-related prints like pediatric themes, dentistry and holiday themes
• Garment details like ankle contour, key loops and a scissor pocket

The price rises when fashion comes into play. Trendy styles cost more than the traditional, boring blue scrubs. There is a place in the healthcare industry for those blue scrubs. They are most often still seen in operating rooms and in clinical procedure areas like cardiovascular labs, but times are changing the styles. One caveat, despite the higher price for fashion, is that scrubs of any style are less expensive than a professional and traditional white uniform that nurses wore in the past.

There are no rules for what is right or wrong on the healthcare fashion scene. It is a matter of personal choice, availability and, of course, cost. Sometimes, wearing hospital-issued scrubs just makes sense financially for some professions.

On the other hand, if scrubs are the required attire, some employees just need to step up the fashion game a little and splurge on some trendy scrubs.