Walk into an office and Seeing shirts and suits parade is now less and less frequent. Dress codes are evolving and each generation goes one step further. If millennials said goodbye to going to work in a jacket and tie, Generation Z He also imposes his own identity when choosing the clothes he wears.
“Both men and women take off more clothes, especially in summer”
“Dress codes are much more flexible nowadays”Explain Pillar Passamonte, scientific director of the Fashion Area IED Barcelona. “There has been an evolution. Both men and women take off more clothes, especially in summer”, he adds. He gives footwear as an example: “Before it was impossible to go to work with bare feet, now we see everyone with those German sandals”, they say in reference to the ‘birkenstock’.
Lara Mangrane, a journalist, describes how in his newsroom “everyone goes as they want”. From skirt, pants or dresses, her colleagues go how would they go down the street. “In smaller places they don’t care, only the presenters have to change their clothes when they go to do programs,” she points out. He very much agrees with this decision by his company. “Clothes are a person’s identity, they don’t have to be imposed. Also, with the heat It’s not normal that you can’t go with shorts or suspenders“. Mangrané is foreign to the times when going to a newsroom wearing shorts was unthinkable.
“In the office there is everything,” he explains Sergio Cardenas, a data engineering student who is doing her internship this summer. “People dressed up, others in tracksuits, long pants, short pants… Come on, what’s up few rules how to dress”. Cárdenas believes that everyone should be able to dress as they want, as long as they “respect a minimum of common sense“.
“There are people dressed up, others in tracksuits, long pants, short pants… Come on, there are few rules”
“An older flexibility is valued positively by the workers”, explains Ana Isabel Jimenez, professor of Economics and Business Studies at the UOC. “It’s a vote of confidence,” she adds. Workers associate that flexibility with comfort, especially with the temperatures this summer.
Andres Espinosa, telemarketer, appreciates this freedom: “I think it is better that there are no rigid rules regarding clothing, for the convenience of the workers.”
“Companies are much more permissive now,” agrees Pasamontes. “That improves the work environment and the productivityThe more comfortable and free you are, the better. And vice versa, the more uncomfortable and repressed, the worse you work.”
The image of the company
“The dress codes represent the values of the company,” explains Estel Vilaseca, head of the Fashion Area at LCI Barcelona, and adds: “Now that ‘branding’ -building a brand- is given so much importance, each company wants to give a certain image”. What they want to convey, however, varies greatly depending on the sector. Vilaseca gives the example of the start-ups technologies that preach freedom and innovation. On other sites, like law firmsthe formality in clothing continues to be a key factor.
Going more covered continues to be synonymous with seriousness. “In summer I wear long pants,” he explains David Mendoza, engineer from Castelldefels. “They don’t impose any code on me, but I think it gives a more serious image. Since they still don’t know me, I want to be more professional. When I take more time, I’ll wear shorts and ‘kukuxumusu’ shirts,” he jokes.
In places such as law firms or jobs facing the public, formality in dress continues to predominate
This formality is sought above all in public facing jobs. “There, yes, the use of a dress code would be fine, always adjusting to the conditions in which you work,” says Cárdenas.
Facing the public
In jobs where you deal directly with the client, the rules on how to dress are much more rigid. “We have to go with pants or a long skirt. The shirts cannot be strapless or very low-cut,” she says. helenaa 21-year-old girl who works receptionist. In their work, both salespeople and receptionists have to go formal dresses.
“When you are facing the public, the way you dress gives a lot of information about what the company is, its seriousness, if it wants to convey a certain image, confidence…”, adds Jiménez, who does believe that the dress code is more necessary for the outside. However, even these companies are more flexible in the summer. “With the temperatures they are doing, they let us wear tank tops,” says Helena.
progressive change
The transformation in the work dress codes of yesteryear and today is undeniable. But can that trend be attributed exclusively to Generation Z? Vilaseca believes that this change has been observed for much longer. “Those dress standards have been relaxed for quite a few years. The change is prior to this new generation, it has been progressive,” he points out.
In fact, in the same Congress of DeputiesFor some time now, it has been seen how, little by little, T-shirts, shirts without a tie or jacket or suspenders have been gaining space in the wardrobe.
“The rules of how we dress to work are changing, but this is not recent. It has been a conquest over decades”
Pedro Mansilla, sociologist and fashion critic, confirms that this trend has been detected for a few years. “The rules of how we dress to work are changing, but this is not recent. It has been a conquest over decades, already since the previous century,” he underlines. Mendoza agrees with the fashion experts: “My grandfather was also an engineer and he had to wear a suit. My parents already wore only a shirt and long pants, and we’ll see what happens in 20 years.”
More desire to express yourself
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Mansilla does recognize the new generations as the pioneering of this transformation: “They have the courage to do it and they can afford to stand up. They express themselves more through clothing, marked by the ‘influencers’, who have decided that now less clothing is worn, and people are adopting it.”
This desire to express yourself could accelerate the change of work clothes. Vilaseca believes that “there comes a time in all generations when young people need to express themselves, and they do so through fashion. Now it is the turn of generation Z: they look for that experimentation, that desire to try things, to stand out”. Jiménez also observes that impetus of the young people. “They use clothing as a way of demonstrating and companies should join that idea, with flexibility, without going to extremes.”