If you’ve ever been to Australia, you might have noticed trade workers clad in high-visibility uniforms, colloquially referred to as “tradie uniforms”.
These high-vis uniforms and vests are mainly seen in airports and on roads and have become a symbol of workers in Australia — though they aren’t exactly considered a fashion statement.
But one Singaporean man might be changing all that.
He loves “tradie uniforms” — which you can buy from Kmart — so much that he wore them everywhere in Australia and even after he came back to Singapore, rocking his shirt with pride.
A slideshow posted by his fiancée, Renae Cheng, on 30 June about his obsession with the orange shirt went viral on TikTok.
Source: @renaecjc on TikTok
The story tickled many Australians, many of whom found his obsession with the tradie uniforms fascinating.
Speaking to MS News, Ms Cheng, who’s an employee at TheSmartLocal, shared that she made the post on a whim and had no idea it’d go viral.
However, she’s glad that more of the world can see how goofy and silly her fiancé is as she loves him for that exact reason.
“My fiance’s beige flag is that… he unironically loves the Australian tradie uniform aesthetic,” she said.
A “beige flag”, TIME notes, refers to “attributes that are neither good nor bad, but still give reason for pause” when it comes to dating someone.
Ms Cheng went on to explain that her fiancé “fell in love” with the neon orange tradie uniform when he visited Australia for the first time in August 2022 and encountered them at a Kmart outlet.
Source: @renaecjc on TikTok
He liked the shirt so much that he even braved the cold to wear it during winter in Australia.
Source: @renaecjc on TikTok
When he wore the shirt on his flight back to Singapore, a tradie staff at the airport saw it and said to him, “Nice fashion!”
“My fiancé giggled shyly but deep down he was elated,” Ms Cheng shared.
Even when Ms Cheng’s fiancé returned to Singapore, he continued to proudly don the shirt.
Source: @renaecjc on TikTok
And of course, when the couple returned to Australia in June 2023, it was a must to return to Kmart and reunite with his beloved tradie shirts.
Source: @renaecjc on TikTok
“In conclusion, get you a man who will love you the way my fiancé loves tradie uniforms,” Ms Cheng quipped.
Source: @renaecjc on TikTok
Though Ms Cheng’s fiancé does love his tradie uniforms, he hasn’t actually bought another one yet.
She shared with MS News that he doesn’t want to buy new ones. Instead, he simply wishes to wear his beloved orange shirt until he can’t anymore.
That said, many people have sent him “fan mail” since her TikTok post went viral, including TradeMutt, a social impact brand.
Thus, he likely won’t have to buy another tradie shirt for a while.
Ms Cheng told MS News she’d simply made the TikTok video on a whim “in 15 minutes on my sofa” because she saw her fiancé wearing the shirt yet again and wanted to make fun of him as she always does.
“It’s just that this time I wanted to post online about it to share how silly and goofy he is, mainly to my friends who follow me online, and to partake in the TikTok ‘beige flag’ trend,” she shared.
Never did she expect that her video would reach audiences in Australia, much less achieve such booming virality.
It led to plenty of press coverage and the couple even appeared on live Australian news for a virtual interview.
Image courtesy of Ms Cheng
She recalls getting “a sad 300+ likes” on Instagram but after she posted the TikTok, it went from 5,000 to 500,000 views in just half a day.
Then, she woke up to hundreds of comments after the TikTok post reached Australians, along with a flood of positive reactions.
The funny thing is that Ms Cheng’s fiancé has been in reservist throughout all of this.
He shared that being able to scroll through the hilarious and supportive comments during his downtime has been a nice way to recharge.
Somehow, Ms Cheng has become something of a “talent manager” for him, fielding media queries and arranging to send his “fan mail” to his place — but she’s not complaining.
It’s all very heartwarming to see because I’ve always loved my fiancé for his silly goofy nature and his wacky antics.
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Featured image adapted from @renaecjc on TikTok.
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