Women break into STEM fields, but uniforms still designed for men

Designer creates stylish, fire-resistant looks for women in oil and gas field

NEW ORLEANS – Women make up 24 percent of people working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics jobs.

But many of these women face one challenge every day: fitting into uniforms designed for men.

But Jaime Glas came up with a solution that is giving these women a new look.

Glas always had a passion for fashion, but never thought she could make a career of it. Instead, after graduating college, she began her career as a petroleum engineer for an oil company.

In the oil fields, her uniform, which was designed for men, was too big.

“(It) looked like a potato sack. I’d trip over the crotch as I was walking, and I thought, 'Why don’t they make these for women,” Glas said.

After all, women comprise 22 percent of all oil and gas workers.

"For me, it was like, 'Wow, that’s a big population of women right there that are being ignored in the market,'" Glas said.

So Glas stitched together her love of fashion and knowledge of real-world oil fields to design a line of fire-resistant clothing for women.

“I think it’s so wonderful something can be safe and look so stylish," said Jasmin Richardson, an engineering science PhD student.

Her female counterparts even inspired the colors: from Mackenzie mint to Katherine khaki. Glas quit the oil fields to devote her full-time attention to her company called Hautework.

“I’m hoping by the end of this year, we will be selling 700 to a thousand a month,” Glas said.

And now, her fashions are starting to follow Glas out of the oil fields.

“There’s been a couple of customers on popular TV shows, where they have to do different things with welding and fire," Glas said.

Her goal gets closer and closer.

Glas has even presented her new business to the judges at the TV reality show "Shark Tank," where they said her clothing line might just be the next "haute" thing on the market.