When I started MicroSolutions I was 24 years old. I had just gotten fired from my job and was sleeping on the floor of a 3 bedroom apartment with 5 other guys living there. I didn't have a closet or a bed, but I had 2 suits.
I bought both of those polyester wonders, one Grey pinstripe, the other blue pinstripe for a total of $99 dollars plus tax. To go with those fashion forward wonders, I had several white polo button downs that I had purchased used from a re-sale shop, and a couple ties that I had bought on sale or had gotten as hand me downs from friends.
I wore those babies when it was cold. I wore them when it was 100 degrees plus. I ironed them and when I could I got them dry cleaned. MicroSolutions was started in June and over the next 7 years , starting with those first 2 suits, I wore a suit every work day. I bought new suits as the business grew. I bought shirts and ties and shoes new instead of used. I went 7 years without a vacation to make that company work, but I didn't go a work day without a suit.
Someone had once told me that you wear to work what your customers wear to work. That seemed to make sense to me, so I followed it, and expected those who worked for me to follow it as well.
After I sold MicroSolutions I decided that I never would wear a suit again. I was able to hold true to that while I was making a lot of money trading stocks for the next 5 years, but then Todd and I started AudioNet which would morph into Broadcast.com.
With our new business, I decided that I would have to wear a suit, but would modify the rule so that I would only wear a suit when someone I was selling to was wearing a suit. If they were selling to me, I didn't care if they were wearing a tux. I was going to go comfortable and not wear a suit.
When Broadcast.com was sold, the suit went out the window completely. I vowed to never wear one again other than weddings and funerals, and only then because it wasn't worth the hassle to deal with people asking why you didn't wear a suit. I'm certain the people getting married dint care, and I don't think anyone is going to be looking down at me wondering why I showed up at their funeral without a suit. Suits make no sense whatsoever.
Why am I such a suit hater ? I'm not a suit hater, I just could never think of any good reason for any sane person to wear a suit in the first place.
Exactly what purpose does a suit serve ? Why in the world are so many people required to wear a suit to work ? Do the clothes make the man or woman in the western world today ? Does wearing a tie make us work harder or smarter ? Is this a conspiracy by the clothing, fabric or dry cleaning industry to take our money ?
Or are we all just lemmings following a standard we all know makes zero sense, but we follow because we are afraid not to ?
If you are a CEO , are there not better things your employees could spend money on than multiple suits, ties, dress shirts, dress shoes, dress socks, dry cleaning, and all the other associated costs ? Gee, no suits would be the same as giving your employees a tax free raise. Think that might make them happy ? Or do employees consider having to spend money on suits a perk ?
Now I understand some people think wearing a suit provides them with a certain level of stature. It gives them confidence. It helps them feel good about themselves. Well let me be the first to tell you that if you feel like you need a suit to gain that confidence, you got problems. The minute you open your mouth, all those people who might think you have a great suit, forget about the suit and have to deal with the person wearing it.
Is there a reason other than "thats just the way it is" ? Haven't you looked at someone in a suit, trying to look important and just thought how stupid and out of place it is ? Why do we do this to ourselves ?
I know this all is a crazy rant, but come on now. If you have had to wear a suit to work every day, haven't you wondered why ? If you are the CEO or in charge of a company, haven't you wondered yourself why you are making your employees waste all that money and come to work and spend the day in uncomfortable clothing ?
Give your suit wearing employees a raise. Tell them every day is casual day.
Why I Don't Wear a Suit and Can't Figure Out Why Anyone Does !
Reader Comments
(Page 1)3. I never wore a suit. Even for my wedding. In fact, I don't own a suit. Once, i rent a tux for the Emmy Awards but that's it. My business attire are a good pair of shorts and a t-shirt. When I need to go upscale, i wear a pair of jeans and a polo. Once, somebody asked me why I never wear a suit. Suits are like prisonners uniforms. They "jail' my creativity.
Posted at 3:11PM on Jan 16th 2007 by William Reymond
4. I started working for a large Fortune 500 company five years ago, fresh out of college. I didn't have any kind of signing bonus to get me started. As a result, I had to put my first shirts, ties and dress pants (which were the required attire) on a credit card.
How silly is that?
Starting my road of financial freedom and responsibility from my parents with an irresponsible credit card debt required of me because I had to wear pressed shirts and neckties to work?
Posted at 3:12PM on Jan 16th 2007 by FilteringCraig
5. Interestingly, right after reading your post, I read a StrangeEconomics blog post (www.strangeconomics.blogspot.com) on the same general topic . According to the study in the link below, women who "dress up" or spend more on beauty-enhancing goods and services make more money but there are overall diminishing marginal returns for each expense on new beauty enhancing goods ability to return more income. Interesting read.
http://www.eco.utexas.edu/facstaff/Hamermesh/chinabeauty.doc
Posted at 3:12PM on Jan 16th 2007 by Matt McMahon
8. Mark, I graduated from Texas A&M with a Business Information
Systems degree in 1990. I drove to Dallas for an interview at Lennox (sp?). Yes, I
played the game: I put on my suit. When I arrived, it was a freaking
morgue! Dark, gloomy, no windows. I swear I saw Bella Lugosi's ghost
walk past me. I kept asking myself: How in the hell can these
programmers be creative in this environment? Well, I already made
the drive, and I knew there was no way I'd work for them. So I
played with them. Messed with them. The VP pulled me into his
office and asked me what my dad did. I thought WTF? why does that
matter? Funny thing was my dad quit his job so I told the man "I
dunno" and kept staring at a picture of his daughter on his desk
while he talked to me. It was a blast. Once I knew they could not
"get me", I made the best of it.Anyway, this post is GREAT. You have
a lot of people who don't like you and a hellouva lot more who do.
The ones who don't just won't "get it" when reading this and will
have more reasons to try to put you down. The ones who appreciate
everything you stand for are here, chearing, from desks behind PCs
and... quite appropriately, are wearing a T-shirt.
greg
ps-no lie,
right now I have on a white t-shirt and jeans... and working on my
website ( http://www.boxscorebasketball.com ) along with doing
research on my masters thesis. And the jeans and T-Shirt allow for
more creativity.
9. I can imagine making everyone wear suits is similar to the reason that schools make children wear uniforms.
I have friends who teach at inner city schools and the children there have to wear uniforms. The logic: poor children in inner cities go to great lengths to shed any outward vestiges of poverty - to that end they make great strides to acquire popular culture items (clothing, phones, ipods, etc) in order to appear wealthier than they are. This leads to unnecessary and distracting strife between and amongst students. Uniforms thus remind the kids that they are ALL THE SAME - and need to distinguish themselves academically and otherwise, rather than using other methods of individualism as springboards for identity.
I can imagine that has some value to those students.
I can imagine that suits did a similar thing in the workplace at one time. At one period in time, a sharecroppers son and a wealthy heir should have little outward to distinguish them as such when they show up for work at their investment bank.
I can imagine that there was a value at some time.
Posted at 3:34PM on Jan 16th 2007 by blyx
10. Suits look nice, and for societal/brainwashing reasons can really set the tone for a high-power meeting, business pitch, or special event. But for every day? I agree--it's asinine. Luckily, I get to dress pretty comfortably and casually for work, and occasionally will put a bit more "effort" into my look and go with a tie or a blazer. But regardless of whether it's a suit or a sweater and jeans--it's not the fabric pieces themselves, but the care and grooming that goes with it which makes a difference. I would have a much more (superficial) favorable impression toward a professional in a clean sweater and nice jeans with combed hair and a wisp of nice cologne than I would for some schmuck in an ill-fitting, wrinkled suit and a greasy side part.
Posted at 3:38PM on Jan 16th 2007 by Matt Mendolera
11. I spent most of my childhood and all the way through college wearing old navy jeans and those $5 "flag" t-shirts. When I got out of college and got a job, I found that I preferred wearing suits and was sick of wearing casual attire every day. The suits are more comfortable (the better quality ones) and they look better on me - it's not a confidence issue for me. To each their own, I guess.
Posted at 3:43PM on Jan 16th 2007 by JB
13. While I completely agree that suits are worthless, they do have one redeeming quality: I look damn good in them. That said, our image of what looks good is of course skewed by tradition and James Bond movies. Throughout history the trend in fashion has been toward more comfort, thus the recent rise of the no-tie look. While I doubt the t-shirt will ever be considered appropriate dress, I hope our requirement of a suit is replaced by a requirement for substance and smarts.
Posted at 3:50PM on Jan 16th 2007 by Richard Crowley
14. I totally agree with you Mark and your statement about only wearing a suit if the person you're selling to is wearing one. I am a regional sales manager for cable and satellite tv signal processing equipment and 99% of our clients are the not wearing suits.
Posted at 3:54PM on Jan 16th 2007 by David Ward
15. I've only had one job that required a suit, an internship in Germany. I hated wearing one every day, but on certain occassions, there's nothing wrong with wearing a suit. A suit looks good, better than a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Wearing a suit to a wedding or a funeral means you give a crap enough about the people to try and look your best.
Also, like Matt said, it's a signaling device. Sure you can look like a slob in a suit, but that's the wearers fault. A stylish, well pressed suit that fits can make you look a heck of a lot better than a nice sweater and jeans.
Besides, the worst part of wearing a suit isn't the suit, but the noose/tie you have to wear. God I hate ties.
Posted at 3:58PM on Jan 16th 2007 by Mo
16. During the days when CompuServe was run by former IBM execs, the dark suit, white suit and power tie was definitely the only accepted dress (per IBM's Buck Rogers). And I think it played a role at setting a professional attitude, particularly in the B2B part of the company (which purchased MicroSolutions).
But like many companies, we went with the casual trend in the 1990s. When we did the first of our 'casual days' I remember remarking to the CEO at the time (one of the IBMers) that seeing everyone in golf shirts and khakis made the place feel like Microsoft. He said it made him feel uncomfortable. I commented that perhaps we should look at the 1990s market cap of IBM vs Microsoft and decide which company had the dress code right.
My theory is that there's a connection between the level of conservativism in dress and the state of the economy. It has long been said that dress lengths move inversely with the stock market (maybe Britney's antics are an indication that we're at a peak!!).
I think there's something like this with men's clothes too. When men's fashions shift from casual (or gregarious like the 70s-80s) to conservative, it means we're close to the bottom, and have shifted into a attitude where it's time for serious work.
Like you, I quit wearing suits when I retired. But there are times when a suit is appropriate, especially when it is a sign of respect (e.g. at the funeral).
18. wearing a suit has gotten me laid multiple times. i dont need one to get laid, but its easier for me with a suit on @ random happy hours. so hail the suit.
Posted at 4:07PM on Jan 16th 2007 by winash
19. I think you're way off base and here's why: you are sharing your personal dislike for suits, and as a value judgment it's as subjective as not liking any other "optional"/non-functional accessory/apparel. Attack the disease of consumerism, etc -- not one symptom.
1) Sure suits aren't practical, but how many items do we wear in our every day life that aren't? A lot. Now, I see that you typically wear t-shirts and are a pretty simple guy. I respect that. But are you saying you want everyone to be like you? And if you are saying that (which I don't have a problem with), why don't you then attack the numerous things which are not practical apparel?
2) If you just meant to direct your post to CEO's and people in charge of dress codes-- *then* I'm with you. You've got a powerful demographic reading your blog, and I believe if this didn't come across as calling suits stupid in general, and instead calling the forced practice of suits as the dress code foolish, you might have changed some decision makers minds.
3) Instead your post came across (to me) that you believe that everyone who wears a suit is trying to make themselves look important. Really?
I love wearing a suit. But it's because it feels energizing to me. I don't think it makes me look important, but it gives mea feeling of "focus". There's a methodical process of getting ready in a suit that helps to ready my mind. It's the same feeling I get when I get a fresh haircut or take a long much-deserved hot shower. Now, some people do try and act important and wearing a suit is one of the many ways they try and project this (including talking on their cellphone as loudly as possibly as publicly as possible). You should pick on those things as well?
Why does anyone wear a suit? The same reason people wear white hats, sweatshirts, high heels, fashionable scarves or any other "optional" accessory/apparel. When it's by choice, I'm great with it. If it's forced, I think it's questionable (as you do).
End diatribe.
Posted at 4:14PM on Jan 16th 2007 by surya
20. Sorry you had to suffer for so long;-) My early corporate life included shirt, slacks and tie - we rebelled, declaring the tie cut off circulation to the brain that we needed to think...
One anecdote on the other side - I once had to counsel a junior member of my team to wear nicer shirts with collars. It is one thing to be casual, and another to look like you're at the beach. (or going out on a date)
Posted at 4:17PM on Jan 16th 2007 by Steve Tylock
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1. I have to agree. I think you should take it a step further for warmer climates. I see no reason to wear pants when shorts will provide the same function. :)
Posted at 2:49PM on Jan 16th 2007 by G Meyers