Why wearing Jeans is considered unprofessional?
- by Gopinath
When I started my career 9 years ago I use to wear casual wear to office – Jeans & T-Shirts all the 5 days. The environment at workplace during those days encouraged me to be casual and many of my colleagues use to come in Jeans. We just started our career those days it was perfectly fine to be in casual.
As I grow up in the ladder, I started feeling the discomfort of wearing Jeans at work. During clients visits, senior managers meetings and consultations I was an odd man in the crowd as the rest of them are in formals.
In order to be one among the professionals I’m forced change my dressing style and start wearing formals. But the question of “Why wearing jeans to workplace is considered as unprofessional?” use in linger in my mind till today. I got the answer to my question from a discussion thread on Quora
When they were invented, jeans were associated with blue-collar work. They were meant to get muddy and gross and take lots of abuse without falling apart, even if you wore the same pair every day. The people who bought them were the ones whose lives required durable clothing.
And another commenter says…
A professional image is critical to cementing business relationships, and part of that is, for right or wrong, how you dress. Jeans are typically associated with "kicking back", relaxation, leisure, informality, and even a slightly rebellious flavor. The style and condition of the jeans are a consideration, as we often wear jeans into advanced states of being worn down, with tearing, etc.. that we generally do not do with other clothing items.
I agree with this theory even though it may be centuries old. If you want to look like a professional and treated like a professional it’s better to be dress up in formals. These days I make a point to be in formals at workplace.
Not everyone is Steve Jobs to wear a Jean & Turtle Neck T-shirt right?
CC Image credit flickr/exey
