Workwear is clothing worn for work, especially work that involves manual labour. Often those employed within trade industries elect to be outfitted in workwear because it is built to provide durability and safety.

The workwear clothing industry is growing and consumers have numerous retailers to choose from. Chains that have made a commitment to the $1 billion and rising workwear business report steady 6 percent to 8 percent annual gains in men's workwear.

In the United Kingdom, if workwear is provided to an employee without a logo, it may be subject to income tax being levied on the employee for a "payment in kind." However, if company clothing is provided with logos on then the employee may be entitled to a tax rebate to help pay for the upkeep.

In Britain from the mid 19th century until the 1970s, dustmen, coalmen, and the manual laborers known as navvies wore flat caps, corduroy pants, heavy boots, and donkey jackets, often with a brightly colored cotton neckerchief to soak up the sweat. Later versions of the donkey jacket came with leather shoulder patches to prevent wear when shouldering a spade or pick. Mill workers in Yorkshire and Lancashire wore a variant of this basic outfit with English clogs. The cuffs of the pants were frequently secured with string, and grandad shirts were worn without a collar to decrease the likelihood of being caught in the steam powered machinery.

By the early Victorian era, a working class man's occupation could be identified through his attire. Millers, bakers and cooks wore white clothing due to the importance of food hygiene, knife makers, blacksmiths and shoemakers wore heavy duty leather aprons, butchers and fishmongers wore straw hats and red or blue striped aprons, and cab drivers wore top hats and caped greatcoats as protection from the rain. Costermongers wore one of the most distinctive outfits, comprising a flat cap, well polished boots, a silk scarf known as a kingsman, and blue corduroy trousers and waistcoat with gold huntsman buttons (i.e. buttons with a hunting motif). The tradition of the pearly king emerged during the late 19th century when a young street sweeper named Henry Croft imitated the costermongers' clothing by stitching mother of pearl buttons to the seams of his jacket and trousers.

In Japan, workwear developed during the early 20th century from a synthesis of Japanese and European clothing. Tobishoku, Japanese high rise construction workers would wear jika-tabi boots with Nikkapokka pants which emerged from Dutch knickerbockers and Japanese design. They were often stitched using Sashiko, a garment mending technique originally made by Japanese farmers and fishermen to repair damaged garments. During the Pacific War tabi boots were issued to Japanese soldiers to facilitate tree climbing.

Modern Chinese workwear was developed from the five button Zhongshan suit popularized by Sun Yat-Sen and Mao Zedong. This was derived from fatigue blouses issued to the prewar German, British and Russian armies in addition to the blue denim chore jackets and shackets worn by French factory workers. Under Communism the Mao jacket became mandatory for all sections of society and was made in blue for the workers, grey or tan for CCP members, black for policemen, white for naval officers, and green for the military. High ranking party members were entitled to four rather than two external pockets. In cold weather, a padded two-piece outfit based on the Russian telogreika was worn by peasants and construction workers.

Since the late 18th century, merchant seamen and dockworkers have worn denim flared trousers, striped undershirts, knitted roll neck jumpers, and short blue peacoats. This basic outfit, paired with a thick leather belt, flat cap and clogs, was also a mark of identification for turn of the century criminal gangs such as the Scuttlers. On the more luxurious cruise ships and ocean liners, deckhands wore neatly pressed dress blues similar to those of the Royal Navy and USN, while waiters and cabin stewards wore white uniforms with a band collar, gilded brass buttons, and a gold stripe on the trouser leg.^{[citation needed]}