If It Doesn’t Fit, It Doesn’t Work: Why Women Need Better PPE

Written by and imagery provided by Fae Gordon Holliday, Founder of Venus Workwear

Faeholliday@venusworkwear.com

I Got Tired of Waiting. So, I Started Venus Workwear

There is a moment almost all women across industrial, manufacturing and logistics environments know well. You change into your PPE ready to start work and are reminded that it was never designed for someone like you. The sizing runs from medium-man to large-man. And somewhere, buried in the small print, there might be a “women’s version” which is usually just a smaller men’s option in a different colour way.

That moment of frustration is what built Venus Workwear.

My name is Fae Gordon Holliday, and I’m the founder of Venus Workwear, the first UK-based PPE and workwear brand built exclusively for women, not adapted for women, not scaled down for women. Built for women, from the ground up.

Why This Problem Exists

The PPE and workwear industry has a diversity problem. For decades, safety equipment was designed around a default user. Typically, a male body, in a male-dominated workplace. That assumption is baked into everything: the aesthetics, the sizing, the fit, even the marketing.

The workforce has changed. Women now make up a significant and growing proportion of workers in logistics, warehousing, construction, manufacturing, and engineering. But the kit hasn’t kept up. Women are routinely issued PPE that doesn’t fit correctly — and ill-fitting PPE isn’t just uncomfortable. It’s a genuine safety risk. Boots that are too big cause trips and falls. Oversized gloves reduce dexterity. PPE that doesn’t fit properly gets adjusted, modified, or quietly abandoned.

This isn’t a niche problem. It affects hundreds of thousands of women across the UK every single day.

The Moment I Decided to Do Something About It

I’ve spent years working in logistics and supply chain at an international level. I know the industry. I know the environments women are working in, and I know what it feels like to be handed workwear and PPE that was never designed with us in mind.

At some point, frustration tips into action. For me, the question stopped being “why hasn’t anyone fixed this?” and became “why isn’t that someone me?”

Starting a brand from scratch while working full-time has not been the straightforward path. But when the gap in the market is this obvious, and the potential to genuinely improve safety outcomes for women is this real, the difficulty of the journey stops feeling like a reason not to go.

Venus Workwear was born out of that decision.

What I’m Building

Venus Workwear is a PPE and workwear brand designed exclusively for women. My focus is on products that combine genuine protection with a proper fit, because those two things should never be in conflict or compromise one another.

The flagship product is the Venus Core SB safety boot. It is certified to EN ISO 20345:2022+A1:2024, the most current European and UK safety footwear standard, with SB SRA classification. That means steel toe cap protection and slip resistance.

But beyond the certifications, what makes the Venus Core different is that it was specified for a woman’s foot. The fit, the proportions, the style - everything has been considered for the actual user, not retrofitted from a man’s design.

This is what proper PPE for women looks like. It protects you, It fits you and it doesn’t ask you to compromise on either.

The Response Has Been Remarkable

When Venus Workwear launched publicly on LinkedIn, the response was immediate and overwhelming. Women across logistics, warehousing, construction, and the trades shared their own experiences of ill-fitting PPE. The post reached hundreds of thousands of people within days (200,000+ impressions). The messages came from women who had been waiting for exactly this, and from safety managers who had been trying to source properly fitted PPE and workwear for their female workforce and hitting dead ends (or extremely limited options).

That response told me two things. First, the problem is even more widespread than I had appreciated. Second, there is a genuine, hungry market for a brand that takes this seriously.

Pre-orders for the Venus Core SB opened ahead of the first UK delivery, and the momentum has been exactly what you’d hope to see at launch. Women aren’t just buying the boots, they’re sharing them, recommending them, and telling their employers about them.

The Bigger Picture

Venus Workwear has initially launched with the safety boot, but the vision is much bigger than one product.

The goal is to become the go-to brand for women’s PPE across multiple categories. A brand that women in industrial environments can rely on for kit that actually fits, actually protects, and actually acknowledges that they exist as the primary user. I want it give women not only the safety, but the confidence they deserve at work.

That means expanding the product range over time. It means working with employers and safety managers to make properly fitting women’s PPE a standard expectation, not a nice-to-have. It means pushing back on the idea that the “default worker” in safety equipment and practical workwear design is male.

The industry is starting to wake up to this. There are more conversations happening now about inclusive design and fit-for-purpose safety equipment. But conversations aren’t enough. What is needed is product. Real, certified, available, affordable product — that women can actually buy and wear to work tomorrow.

That’s what Venus Workwear is here to provide.

What I Want Safety Professionals to Know

If you’re a health and safety professional, an EHS manager, or someone responsible for PPE procurement in your organisation, here’s what I’d ask you to consider.

When you last reviewed your PPE provision for female workers, did you verify that the products you are issuing actually fit the way women want and need?

Because the evidence is consistent: ill-fitting PPE is worn incorrectly, adjusted dangerously, or not worn at all. The risk assessment doesn’t change just because the PPE was technically issued. If it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t protect.

Venus Workwear exists to close that gap. The Venus Core SB safety boot is available for pre-order now, with UK delivery from end-April 2026 and further workwear products in the pipeline. We work with both individual customers and organisations looking to improve their PPE provision for female staff.

If you are procurement-minded, we offer B2B pricing for organisations buying at volume. If you want to see the product before committing to a larger order, get in touch — I’d rather have the conversation than lose you to a distributor catalogue that doesn’t serve your workforce properly.

To the Women Reading This

You deserve PPE that fits and makes you feel good. Not as a bonus. Not as a future product roadmap item. Now.

You’ve spent long enough pulling on someone else’s boots and making do. The Venus Core SB was specified for your foot, built to current UK safety standards, and it’s ready.

This is what it looks like when the industry finally catches up.

 The Venus Core SB safety boot is certified to EN ISO 20345:2022+A1:2024, SB SRA classification. Available now for pre-order with UK delivery from end-April 2026.