In late 1998 in to 2000, “casual dress” policies were being implemented across the United States.  The frenzy to have a casual dress-down day opened the door to all types of casual attire to be worn in the workplace.  One of the original thoughts was that companies adopting a less restrictive dress code would enhance employee satisfaction and morale.  This would be considered a “perk” of the job.  David A Morand, associate professor of management at Penn State Harrisburg wrote in the Business Horizon, Jan-Feb 1998 issue that “…there are also tangible, concrete effects from casual dress.  Loosening one’s tie or rolling up one’s shirtsleeves clearly allows easier breathing, comfort, and freedom of movement.  Wearing casual shoes in place of high heels or other dress shoes is not only more comfortable but also liberating to one’s pace and mode of walking; it facilitates easier movement across grass, uneven areas and so forth”. Casual attire, however, while still very popular in 2001, is being revisited by companies across the country for practicality, productivity, and perception purpose.

            A firm that institutes a day or week of casual dress wants to look at the overall goals and values it wishes to impart.  The message should be that informal dress might be a part of the firms way of succeeding its mission but it is certainly not a relaxation of the firms standards for quality and excellence of service.  In addition, various cultures might view the imformality as lack of ability.  Morand also writes, “…Americans are notoriously informal.  Within Japanese culture, for example, formality of posture and overall interpersonal comportment is deemed an essential element in business communications.  Thus, Americans need to be aware of the fact that their “breezy informality” may not transfer easily into the value system of other cultures”.

            In essence, casual dress may be viewed as a firm’s lack of confidence.  Many corporations across the country are viewing their casual dress policies and making drastic changes to them. In fact, many are reversing them.  In a recent Knoxville News Sentinel article by Matt Moore, Brad Thompson, research director at Financial Resource Group in Birmingham, Ala states, he “has seen the casual trend ebb and flow.  There are still a lot of firms out there that dress down, but you don’t see people taking it to the extreme.”  Thompson himself has moved away from open collars and khakis and back to suit and tie.  He views it as a sign of “confidence”.

            With the softening stock market, many workers find wearing dress clothes help them to feel more secure about their job.  The more traditional suit with conservative colors, etc., is becoming more of the norm again.  Ken Gordon, president of Kreiss & Gordon, a supplier of upscale clothes, states, “the mood shift has been good for his business.  Dressing with a business suit has caused our customers not to go back to their closets, but to the store to see what’s new and different.”  Companies, such as upscale furniture dealers states “a dress code for salespeople has been in place for a year: dress pants, shirt and tie, with a sport coat optional….khakis and t-shirts and polo shirts were coming across as too casual and it was being overused”..  They view it as a one-to-one relationship between the customer and dress.  If the customer (or client in our case) is spending money on our service, our appearance is a direct correlation with professionalism.  Truthfully, if our clients come in to the office well dressed and we approach them in casual attire, the level of confidence is somehow, at times, distorted.

            While casual attire is still acceptable in some areas of the work place, one wants to be sure that their employees follow some guidelines in dress.  A casual dress code does not mean sloppy.  A casual dress code needs to be specific with regards to type of clothes that can be worn on this day.  Each firm has to look at their clientelle and day to day interaction with the client to specify what, if any, casual dress is worn.  Also, if casual dress is acceptable, should it only be by employees that do not directly interact with clients. 

Overall, while casual dress was popularized during the upturn of the financial market and an ease of interaction between professionals, it seems that casual dress, on the whole, is definitely migrating back to pre-1999 wherein the more professional dress is becoming the  standard again in Corporate America.

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