Coveralls are most often worn as protective clothing over "street" clothes at work. They can be used for painting and decorating, mechanical work, farming, factory work, and other activities where clothes may become soiled. Many companies provide workers with corporate branded boilersuits for identification and marketing. Coveralls are also sometimes used as
prison uniforms in the U.S and other countries.
Police tactical units often use boilersuits as a
uniform, for instance the French police unit
Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité, and the Austrian units
EKO Cobra and
WEGA. Similar coveralls made of
Nomex in
olive drab (and more recently, desert
tan) are also used by the crews of
armoured fighting vehicles in the
US Army and
Marine Corps, where the men and also their suits are sometimes called "CVCs", an abbreviation of "
Combat Vehicle Crewman". More form fitting coveralls with many zippered pockets, originally made of cotton treated for flame resistance, but made of
Nomex since the late 1960s, have been used as
flight suits since the beginning of World War II. There are two main categories for coveralls: cloth and disposable. Both cloth and disposable coveralls are manufactured with their own unique protective properties including: high-visibility, insulation to protect against cold weather, waterproof, flame resistant to protect against fire, arc resistant to protect against flash fires, and even microporous fabrics when exposed to hazardous chemicals. Japanese
politicians have been known to use boiler suits to convey an
image of preparedness. Coveralls called
student boilersuits are used by university students in some Nordic countries as a sort of party-uniform, with insignia on the back and colour varying with programme and university. The suit is associated with the
slasher subgenre, being worn by
Michael Myers of the
Halloween films.
Pete Townshend of
The Who frequently wore a white boiler suit during performances and in publicity photographs from 1969-71. The
Church of Scientology has punished
Sea Org members in the
Rehabilitation Project Force by making them wear black boiler suits. ==See also==