MINNEAPOLIS - The Minneapolis International Airport may be the last place you'd expect to see a fashion show.
Airline employees are used to working the runway outside the airport, but Tuesday morning Delta had its employees working an entirely different kind of runway.
"We really wanted to have a new day, a new look," celebrity designer Zac Posen says.
Posen and Lands' End teamed up nearly three years ago to design a new line of work uniforms for Delta's 64,000 employees.
Posen and his team observed workers with nearly every job title at the company to better understand what they need in a new uniform.
"I knew we needed to invest in good material," Posen explains. "We worked with anti-microbial elements into the fibers. We also worked with natural products and others that added some stretch to it."
The new line features more than a dozen different uniforms to outfit nearly every job title at Delta, from the flight attendants to the cargo crew.
"Our below-wing team has gone nearly 20 years without a uniform refresh," Delta Senior VP of Customer Service Gareth Joyce explains. "This is huge for them."
The new line features a bold new color "passport purple" that is a significant change from the company's traditional colors of red and blue.
"It brings something modern and fresh, but also the technology of the fabrics has evolved so much in clothing," Joyce says.
Posen and his team received survey responses from more than 30,000 employees who wanted to lend a helping hand in the design process.
This feedback led to 170 changes before the final uniforms were given to nearly 1,000 employees who tested them out.
"I've never designed something for this many people who will be putting on my clothing on a daily basis," Posen explains.
Delta says employees around the world started wearing their new uniforms Tuesday morning.
The company says its keeping the traditional red and blue logo and will continue to use those colors in other parts of its business.