Dressing for Success or Stress?

Business casual dress codes have exploded in the United States. Large companies such as Ford, General Motors, and Sears, have had these policies for quite some time, and are now being joined by smaller companies like law firms and advertising agencies. In some New York offices even slippers are allowed!

A few companies that adopted a more casual style are now revoking the policy, and returning to conventional business attire. These companies have seen "more and more casual attitudes and sometimes even a deterioration in work behaviour".

I think it is a little extreme to allow slippers in an office - that may promote napping instead of working! As far as law firms and advertising agencies, because these kinds of companies meet with clients face-to-face on a regular basis, they should adopt a more conventional dress code. I would feel more at ease with a lawyer in a suit rather than khakis and a golf shirt.

Why are some companies successful when a casual dress code is implemented, and some are not?

Author Unknown (2000). Casual Wear in the Office: Dressing for Success or Dressing for
Stress?. Knowledge @ Wharton. Retrieved from

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=194