It started with dress down Fridays in the summer. Many of you are too young to remember that most working men- even lawyers, investment bankers,stock brokers, accountants - wore suits to the office every working day. Then one hot summer when many offices worked a slightly shorter day on Friday and when many of the “upper class” work force were taking longh summer  weekends in Maine ,Nantucket, the Jersey shore, etc., it came to pass that a few firms decided to wear poplins and knit shirts to the office on Friday. It was a slippery slope. At first it was just the summer.  Then it became “dress down Friday” all year. The next step was summer dress down Friday became dress down Friday and Monday. Many of my customers - they had the most stripes on their sleeves - complained about the state of dress in their respective firms. They told me if they didn’t agree to allow the dress down they would not be able to attract the new blood that was graduating from law and business schools who all asked at interviews about the “dress code”.  To make matters worse they observed that there was less productivity on the Mondays and Fridays. Various think tanks analyzed the situation and concluded that Monday and Friday were treated differently by the troops because of the difference in dress. Their suggested answer- dress down every day in the summer and then the mental set will be the same all week. Many firms went that route.  The Dress Down and the influence of the internet, which I will discuss in my next blog entry, have resulted many fine shops closing down.

Tags: Dress Down Friday

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