Street style scrubs

Scrubs are meant to be a functional and affordable uniform for professionals in healthcare settings. Nurses who wear them, though, want them to be more like…well…clothes! Here are three ways scrubs designers are taking a cue from street wear.

1. Scrubs with edgier prints
Tops on the wish list for nurses is more variety in print scrubs. Nurse Ramona Wildig Banker notes, “We don’t all want to wear hearts or bears or flowers.” A cotton/spandex stretch blend top in an abstract print like Skechers Vintage Splendor or Baby Phat’s Art Decor offers a cool, edgy yet professional alternative for nurses who aren’t necessarily in pediatrics.

2. Scrub pants that are more like jeans
For nurses who don’t find traditional scrub pants comfortable or fashionable, jeans are generally seen as the ideal alternative to flimsy, see-through material. Zip-front scrub pants like Dickies Utility Pants are similar to a casual khaki trouser with heavier fabric and belt loops. Cotton/nylon/spandex scrub trousers look and feel more like exercise pants!

3. Scrubs with more comfortable fabric
The rising popularity of polyester is a problem for some nurses who want fabrics that can wick away sweat. At the same time, 100% cotton tends to wrinkle more easily, making it difficult to keep that crisply pressed look through a long shift. Some scrubs are a cotton spandex blend, making for a more flexible look and feel. If you fall in love with a set of poly scrubs, one compromise many nurses make is wearing a knit cotton shirt under a poly scrub top. Judith McKinley Miller shares her secret: “I wear a 100 percent cotton undershirt under scrub tops. It wicks perspiration away and absorbs it, making the high polyester blend much more comfortable.” Skechers 100% cotton Kaleidoscope collection would also satisfy the anti-polyester crowd.

It just takes a little digging to find that many of the “street clothes” features that nurses would add to their scrubs are already available. You just have to know where to look.