How long before the suit and tie are dead and gone?

[JakeT]

In the office, it's always jeans and a shirt or polo. If it's above 30 degrees I'll even wear shorts! Client site it's suit with no tie. I hate ties and it's a company thing that we don't really. Whenever Clients are in the office they're smart casual too. Part of the company ethos is we don't dress in suits and nobody has their own office.

[sinbaddio]

Interestingly just read this about the tie not being a necessity in the House of Commons;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40446102

[Kermit power]

sinbaddio said:

Interestingly just read this about the tie not being a necessity in the House of Commons;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40446102

What a coincidence! I too just read that article after someone posted it up on here a couple of hours ago!

[aka_kerrly]

toon10 said:

When i first started, suit, shirt and tie.

Then the suit was dropped for smart trousers, shirt and tie.

I've not worn a tie at work in years. Even our MD wears a company branded shirt and chinos..

This is exactly my experience. Last week one of the directors looked like he was off to the beach. The other director wears cargo trousers and a polo shirt most of the time, all the warehouse and sales team wear company polo shirts and black trousers which can be smart or cargo style.

That said I attended a friend's wedding at the weekend and it was great to wear a decent fitted suit and dress up smart for a change, I was surprised to see a few guys turn up wearing chinos an sandals.

[jonah35]

Suit and tie tends to fit with cheap salesman now

[MCLARENSLR]

In my previous job you were able to wear anything that you like. I started working on a brand new team where only myself and another team member dressed smartly. I would say my competence level was average within the team but within the first month management took me to one side and said they wanted to give me additional responsibility and saw me as someone that they wanted to promote to a management role. My other colleague who dressed smartly was not particularly good at his job and the company is notorious for getting rid of people who don't perform but despite that he still works there now.
I think both of us were treated better by management due to the way we dressed although I don't think they did this deliberately, to me the difference was noticeable.

[Don]

Kermit power said:

I work in the more conservative end of the IT industry. When I joined the company ten years ago, everyone wore a suit and tie in any office likely to see a customer. When my father worked for the same company, they actually had the colour of their suits, shirts and ties in the contract of employment.

I now can't remember the last time I wore a tie. I went to a customer meeting last week with another pretty traditional company, and just one person out of eight in the room was wearing one.

Increasingly, as well, suits are a thing of the past, and I think working from home and video-conferencing is accelerating this. After all, if you've interacted with a client when you're both sat at home in T-shirts, why would you bother putting on a shirt, tie and suit to meet them in one of your offices?

Of course some people actually like wearing a suit, and that's great for them, but the vast majority of people I know really dislike them, and only wear them because that's what custom dictates.

How long do we think it is before they'll be considered a completely anachronistic foible in the workplace in the way that a bowler hat would be today?

I haven't worn a suit to work in twenty years. At first I owned my own small IT firm. Now I work for another small IT firm. Our customers don't visit in suits, we don't wear suits. In fact we wear T-shirts and shorts/jeans, upgraded to polo shirts and trousers when "smartness" is required.

For my niece's wedding I will break out the suit of course. Suits and ties still have their place, but not in the workplace so much.

[bad company]

A lot of people here seem to be in IT. I was a recruitment consultant and gave up suit and ties when I bought the company in 1991.

Funny thing is I see a lot of truck, bus and coach drivers wearing ties.

[So]

I'm a bit sad that ties are on the way out - which seems to be the case. I sent the majority of mine to the charity shop today actually.

However, shirt makers need to up their game in terms of shirts that look good without ties. I own some Eton shirts which are great quality but the collars collapse without a tie; my cheaper shirts are fine.

[Frankthered]

JuniorD said:

As these two Spanish gentlemen, waiters I believe, ably demonstrate, it simply must be a suit.

That bloke in the background looks Sharpe.