Pants, Culture, and the Battle of the Excel Sheet

What 10 Years of Uniforms Taught Me About Team Morale and the Power of Good Data

By Dave Fairburn, Co-Founder of North Point Outdoors & CrewHero

In 2015, we were growing fast.

The crews were sharp.

The work was steady.

And one day, we decided:

“Let’s go all-in on uniforms.”

It made sense.

The military does it.

Police departments do it.

Unis Forma — one form. One team. One identity.

It sounded perfect.

Until we got to the pants.

Welcome to the Pants Problem

You don’t realize how many unique pant sizes exist… until you try to order 100 of them.

Waist, length, fit, flexibility — it’s all over the map.

We learned quickly: everybody’s built different.

And I had the Excel sheet to prove it.

The problem?

At the time, we couldn’t afford the best pants.

We wanted to — but it wasn’t in the cards.

So we ordered what we could afford:

• Baggy

• Heavy

• No stretch

• Cheap zippers

• Trapped water

• Attracted dirt

• Canvas nightmares

Everyone hated wearing them.

I hated buying them.

We were all losing.

2022: A New Standard

By 2022, we had a stronger business.

And stronger resolve to do right by the team.

That’s when we connected with TrueWerk.

It wasn’t cheap.

But it was worth every dollar.

The difference was immediate:

• Stretch where it mattered (knees, waist, hips)

• Lightweight feel — even when soaked

• Water wicked off like magic

• Easy movement = better morale

• Heads turned — “Where’d you guys get those pants?”

Culture soared.

People moved faster.

Crews took pride in their fit.

Work got done better — and felt better.

10 Years of Ordering Pants… For a Small Army

It’s been a decade now.

We’ve probably ordered thousands of pairs.

And one thing’s become crystal clear:

Pant sizes change. Often.

People grow. People shrink. People prefer a tighter or looser fit year to year.

Trying to manage all of that from a spreadsheet?

Forget it. That’s a full-time job.

At least, it was — until we had CrewHero.

CrewHero Turned Chaos Into Flow

With CrewHero, it’s easy:

• Every team member has a profile

• Sizes are logged, updated, and reported

• Admins can filter by division or role

• Pull a report in seconds

• Click, order, ship — done.

Our admin team has become pant-ordering machines.

No guessing.

No chasing people down.

No awkward handouts where sizes are wrong.

The faster we get the right pants on the right legs…

The faster we build patios, move material, cut clean lines — and look damn good doing it.

Culture Lives in the Details

You want to talk about culture?

It’s in the comfort of a uniform that fits.

It’s in the team picture where everyone looks sharp.

It’s in the little moment when someone says,

“These are the best work pants I’ve ever owned.”

It’s not just about clothing.

It’s about pride.

Belonging.

Belief that you matter.

CrewHero made something as tedious as pant ordering feel like a culture win — because when you get the small things right, the big things follow.

Need help tracking sizes, shirts, gear, or anything else your team wears, lifts, drives, or breaks? CrewHero makes it easy — because we lived the chaos before we built the cure.

Let’s get those pants ordered, drop-shipped, and making people proud.

— Dave