Shopping Tips: How to Create an Iconic Business Casual Uniform

[caption id="attachment_1384" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Image source: Pad1.whstatic.com[/caption]   Next up on our Shopping Tips series we're moving away from flip flops and baseball caps and we're entering the world of khaki shorts and button-down shirts. That's right: we're focusing on business casual, which may very well be the world's most popular company uniform. Why is business casual so universally adored, you ask? Well, I suspect that it has something to do with its versatility. If you think about it, business casual uniforms work extremely well in the front and the back of a business. Do you want your office workers to be comfortable but presentable as they type up expense reports? Go with business casual. Do you want your store employees to wear functional clothing that won't get in the way of their job, all while looking well-polished for potential customers? Go with business casual. It fits in everywhere.  

Polo Shirts

  You just can't go wrong with custom embroidered polo shirts. There's a good reason why you see them everywhere. You can go into any restaurant, fast food chain, or retail store and I'd bet you dollars to donuts that you'll find an employee wearing a polo shirt.   The polo shirt is in a happy middle ground that gives it a bunch of different advantages without many drawbacks.   [caption id="attachment_1386" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Image source: Media.glassdoor.com[/caption]   Pros:   -They're formal and presentable. -Polo shirts look good as part of a company-wide uniform. -They're comfy. -Even when they're fully unbuttoned they don't reveal too much skin. -They only have a few buttons near the collar, so workers don't have to worry about buttons snagging on things when they work.   Cons:   -They aren't quite as formal as dress shirts.   Sounds like a pretty good deal, doesn't it? It's not surprising that Best Buy, Wal-Mart, McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, and a thousand other companies use polo shirts for their uniforms.   You should also think back to when Paul Ryan made headlines with his striped polo shirt. His outfit was fairly formal, but at the same this everyman shirt made Ryan look like a normal, approachable bloke.  

Dress Shirts

  Of course, you can always opt for custom dress shirts if you want your employees to look a bit more formal. Dress shirts are generally best suited for desk jobs or customer service roles. Employees in these positions typically aren't going to mess with a lot of merchandise or do any heavy lifting, so you don't have to worry much about snagging shirt buttons.   [caption id="attachment_1385" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Image source: Graphics8.nytimes.com[/caption]   Another advantage of dress shirts is that they can be much more feminine than polo shirts. Dress shirts and polo shirts can both have an hourglass cut to fit the female figure, but with dress shits you can always change the size of the collar or unbutton a few extra buttons to add some feminine, sexy flair.  

Khakis

  Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of options for the lower half of your company uniform when it comes to business casual. You can allow your female employees to wear skirts, but at that point you've crossed the line into smart casual territory.   [caption id="attachment_1569" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image source: Businessweek.com[/caption]   Khaki pants are semi-formal, they generally don't get in a worker's way, and light brown can go with any color.