About Business Casual Clothing for Men

Business casual is a common professional dress code for men in a wide variety of organizations and industries. The range of acceptable clothing in fashion can cause a great deal of confusion and potential mistakes. The most creative jobs, such as graphic artists, will be comfortable with the fewest restrictions. More conservative roles, such as engineers, require standards that look almost like uniforms.

Significance

Dress codes are established to set a standard and professional image. Every employee in a company represents the organization to other employees, vendors, customers and clients. When business casual is adopted, men are no longer required to wear jackets and ties in the workplace. All men should understand and comply with the dress-code policy where they work. In some situations employees who violate the policy could be disciplined or even sent home to change clothes.

Function

Business casual clothing is considered a way to make men more comfortable at work. The relaxed standard takes into account the potential for long commutes and open work spaces. Since business casual clothing costs men less money to buy and take care of, it also reduces employee expenses. Business casual policies can help attract and retain employees, particularly younger workers who are newer to the work force and have tighter budgets.

Features

Business casual clothing for men distinguishes between formal suits and ties and dress that is appropriate only for nonwork situations. Business casual clothing includes shirts with collars. These can be knit, polo styles, or shirts in solids, stripes, plaids or herringbone. Textures are fine but Hawaiian shirts would not be considered business casual even though they have a collar. Pants should be cotton, blends, corduroy or wool that are worn with a belt. Pull-on pants, drawstring, shorts or jeans do not typically meet a business casual standard for men. The outfit is completed by shoes that are lace up or slip-on. A requirement for socks will be dependent on the company, location and season. Sneakers, sandals and flip-flops do not fit the image of a man dressed in a professional manner for work.

Geography

Business casual for men is more common outside of large cities. New York, Boston and Chicago are home to many men who consistently wear suits and ties to work. They may enjoy an occasional casual Friday when the jacket and tie are left home. In suburban areas and office parks business casual is more likely to be the standard for men. In most creative and youth oriented settings such as entertainment and high tech start-ups, the least restrictive or non-existent rules allow flip-flops, T-shirts, shorts and ripped jeans as common and acceptable.

Considerations

Men who enjoy the benefits of a business casual policy may need to have a jacket, shirt and tie available for occasional client or customer meetings. This may be a requirement or simply a good business practice. Men will always make a better impression if they are slightly overdressed, not underdressed. It is better to have a client say, "You can take your jacket off," than make a decision that the company is is unprofessional because the man is not wearing a jacket. For job interviews a jacket and tie will always be the safest if a man does not know the organization's dress code. Even if he does, the attention to detail will show that he cares.

Warning

Most organizations prohibit men from wearing shirts with graphics or sayings on them. If these are allowed men need to make certain that nothing is worn that could be potentially offensive to a co-worker, client or customer. This includes inappropriate language or sexual references. T-shirts that denounce a rival sports team, ethnic groups or gender are also poor form for work.