4 ms·

In my case, it ended in 1994. The company where I worked at the time already had casual Fridays. Business casual, mind you; it was quite some years later before

In my case, it ended in 1994. The company where I worked at the time already had casual Fridays. Business casual, mind you; it was quite some years later before I got to see the whole jeans-and-sneakers casual Friday thing. During the summer of 1994, they went to business-casual-every-day. Then, as a morale booster (probably, as I look at it now, because the execs knew a 40% layoff was months away), the management decided at the end of summer to let us stick with that. The only time I wore a tie to work after that was on a day when I was going to have to leave early to go to a funeral.

ghaff 4y ago
When I joined an east coast computer company in the mid-80s, ties all the time were already gone for a lot of engineering positions (though more senior engineers and managers still tended to wear them). Suits were pretty standard for marketing for marketing and other business roles. Around the time you say, casual Fridays came in. The funny thing is the CEO got annoyed at one point because a lot of the engineers felt they need to underdress relative to the business people who were now dressing business casual on Fridays and increasingly most days. I'd say that over the next couple decades, things got more and more casual to the point where ties, much less suits, are pretty uncommon in settings where not wearing one would have seemed out of place 25 years or so ago. At trade shows, as I recall, at some point in the 90s, IBM booth staff showed up at one big show wearing branded polo shirts rather than suits. At which point, most everyone else went: If IBM isn't wearing suits, I guess we don't need to.
- greedo 4y ago
  A company in my town still requires suit and tie for men, dresses or long skirts for women. If you leave your chair, you need to put your suit jacket on. You can take it off when sitting. The amount of money it would take for me to put up with such ancient, sexist and conformist bullshit is hard to imagine.
  - corrral 4y ago
    Basically every low-wage service worker puts up with it. Not suits, but often-ugly required work uniforms. At least suits and dresses look good.
    - greedo 4y ago
      Yup! I remember wearing nylon shirts and pants at McDonalds in the early 80's. Those were so much fun...
  - brycewray 4y ago
    Even long after Ross Perot had sold EDS to General Motors, it was still frowned-upon for men to go to an EDS cafeteria without wearing their suit coats. Saw this in 1993 and, even as a lowly temp worker while between permanent gigs, I felt plenty of pressure to conform (and I did, because I wanted to be asked back for more work).

ghaff 4y ago

When I joined an east coast computer company in the mid-80s, ties all the time were already gone for a lot of engineering positions (though more senior engineers and managers still tended to wear them). Suits were pretty standard for marketing for marketing and other business roles. Around the time you say, casual Fridays came in. The funny thing is the CEO got annoyed at one point because a lot of the engineers felt they need to underdress relative to the business people who were now dressing business casual on Fridays and increasingly most days. I'd say that over the next couple decades, things got more and more casual to the point where ties, much less suits, are pretty uncommon in settings where not wearing one would have seemed out of place 25 years or so ago. At trade shows, as I recall, at some point in the 90s, IBM booth staff showed up at one big show wearing branded polo shirts rather than suits. At which point, most everyone else went: If IBM isn't wearing suits, I guess we don't need to.

greedo 4y ago
A company in my town still requires suit and tie for men, dresses or long skirts for women. If you leave your chair, you need to put your suit jacket on. You can take it off when sitting. The amount of money it would take for me to put up with such ancient, sexist and conformist bullshit is hard to imagine.
- corrral 4y ago
  Basically every low-wage service worker puts up with it. Not suits, but often-ugly required work uniforms. At least suits and dresses look good.
  - greedo 4y ago
    Yup! I remember wearing nylon shirts and pants at McDonalds in the early 80's. Those were so much fun...
- brycewray 4y ago
  Even long after Ross Perot had sold EDS to General Motors, it was still frowned-upon for men to go to an EDS cafeteria without wearing their suit coats. Saw this in 1993 and, even as a lowly temp worker while between permanent gigs, I felt plenty of pressure to conform (and I did, because I wanted to be asked back for more work).