Office Apparel: Dressing the Part

Acceptable office apparel varies widely. For some businesses, dress down Friday has colonized the whole week. Think the laid back, anything that’s clean and not wrinkled beyond approach of Silicon Valley.  Many offices, however, limit the range of what their worker can wear. Male employees often are limited to suits and ties; women skirts or business suits.

All decisions on what to don when setting off to work hinge on what a particular office expects and accepts. Still, some general considerations and choices can be laid out for the individual and a set of rules of thumb offered as a guide for office apparel for companies pondering just what parameters of dress to establish for their employees.

 Women don’t want to call undue attention to themselves while at the same time they need that brief glance or casual look to say the right things about their capabilities.   Companies do right by their female employees if they require office apparel grounded in  basic colors such red, navy, gray and black for skirts and pant suits. These are actually colors that can help project poise and confidence.

A wise idea is to avoid showy items, such as jangling, long, earrings, wrists cluttered with bangles. A simply earrings lend feminine elegance without compromising your image of competence.

If office wear by nature cuts downs on the individual choice and can feel like a prison, then companies want to be very careful when selecting a corporate look so as not to make things too stiff and drab.  A good idea is to make sure there are enough types of acceptable garments. Mixing in a number of different materials is good for comfort.  Along with dress shirts and skirts, a number of pantsuits for women should be available in the selection of office apparel.  For men, turtle necks, blazers, along with polo shirts work well for the dress down Fridays.

Company logos can be affixed to office wear through screen printing or placed directly on the item. The size and prominence of it can vary. Of course, the clothes item in question will help determine just how big or striking it should be. On a dress shirt, it can be subdued though strategically placed as to catch the eye.

The more causal items of office apparel, of course, lend themselves to being adorned with company logos and slogans. It’s true for tee shirts but also for polo shirts. For those employees whom your public or other businesses might meet, company names can be tastefully be added to shirts.

Before deciding just what items should be adorned with a company logo, much consideration and planning needs to go into the design of the logo. It should be something that is not ostentatious at the same time that it catches the eye and declares your company’s identity. If it’s simple enough to customize your company’s softball team and picnic wear by simply printing the company name on a tee shirt, it’s a little trickier to settle on a simple and strong logo for everyday wear.

The advantage of customizing office apparel is that it can foster a sense of team spirit and common interest.