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Over the past year and a half, increasing numbers of us have found ourselves working from home. The Covid-19 pandemic has spread across the world and governments have reacted by implementing lockdowns and social-distancing measures to slow the spread of the virus from one person to another. Many companies have continued operations by switching to a remote-working basis where possible. Of course, when working from home, you operate in a different way. One change that most of us have experienced is waving goodbye to our work wardrobes. Most remote workers can dress more casually, not having to don suits and ties and being able to wear more comfortable attire. Now, with vaccines being rolled out around the world, more of us are finding that the companies we work for are requesting us to get back in office. This means a return to workwear. But what should you have in your work wardrobe to dress appropriately? Here’s some information that can help you tick your workplace’s boxes.
Check Your Contract for a Dress Code
The best way to determine what you should invest in for your work wardrobe is to check your contract and see what it says in terms of uniform or dress code. If you have a uniform, chances are, your workplace will provide it and you may just simply have to choose your own footwear. If you don’t have a uniform, they may stipulate rules like business formal or business casual. If your contract doesn’t mention anything, check in with your line manager or HR for further information.
Invest in some quality footwear
Men seem much more likely to overlook the importance of shoes than women when it comes to workwear. Nobody bothers looking at your shoes anyway right?
WRONG! Scruffy and unkempt shoes can send a message to others that you’re the type of person to cut corners and be a little slapdash. These are the last sort of signals you want to give out in the workplace. The devil really is in the details, and no matter how nice your suit is, if you’ve decided to team it up with some scuffed plastic shoes, you’re at risk of not being taken as seriously as you’d like. When it comes to fine leather shoes, there’s really no other country to look to than Italy.
If your budget allows, you’ll struggle to go wrong with any of the offerings from some of the best shoe brands in Italy. Like Swiss clocks and Belgian chocolate, Italy’s reputation for fine shoes has been forged over years of craftsmanship and contented customers. If you are working within a budget, go for sustainable shoes that will make your wallet and the planet feel good.
Workplace Basics
There are certain basics that the majority of us should have in our work wardrobes. These include:
Make sure you have sufficient outfits to wash each in a cycle while still having a full outfit to wear to work the next day.
Dress-Down Fridays
Nowadays, a lot of workplaces offer dress-down Fridays. This is a day where you can wear more casual clothing to be more comfortable and welcome the weekend. Of course, you don’t want to go too casual with this. While it could be tempting to turn up in a tracksuit to gain ultimate comfort, you still want to maintain a professional presence and to look relatively neat and tidy. Consider nice brands like Men’s Dsquared 2 for these days. Also double check if your office has certain rules for the dress-down days. Some will stipulate things like no ripped jeans or no trainers.
No Workwear
Some workplaces don’t require workwear at all. These are often offices that have no contact with customers. For this, you may want to follow the rules above for dress-down Fridays. This will help you to maintain a professional presence without coming across as too formal.
The return to the office can be daunting as it is. Hopefully, the information above will help clear up any concerns about what to wear at least!