In Bangladesh, a country whose power shortages are particularly severe during its hot summers, it doesn’t make much economic sense to dress up in a stuffy suit and then crank up your office’s AC to stay cool. That’s why, to cut down on air-conditioning use, the prime minister ordered a new dress code for the country’s public servants: no more ties and suits — just simple, short-sleeved shirts. Casual Fridays every day shouldn’t be too difficult to enforce. [%comments]
Be Cool, Ditch the Tie
TAGS: energy, government
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“Ties don’t really have practical value. They don’t make you more productive and they don’t keep you warm, they are just hanging there doing nothing.”
I wouldn’t be so quick to draw that conclusion. The way you dress can have a major effect on the way you feel and the way you project yourself. The effect that wearing a tie has on the way a person comes across has more to do with the person wearing it (some people will feel more put-together and confident; others will feel overdressed and awkward) and the context (do you fit in or stand out because of your choice of dress).
I generally dress pretty casually, but I also know that a well-made, properly fitted suit and tie made from the right materials can be both very comfortable and quite cool; it’s the cheap suits and shirts with improperly sized collars that are hot and suffocating. Comfort and style is not an either-or deal, though cheap + comfort + style is a little harder to come by.
Offices in the US should follow this lead and cut back on the air-conditioning. On my last trip to Houston, the meeting rooms were uncomfortably cold, and I thought about how that excessive A/C was wasting electricity and spewing additional carbon into our atmosphere!
Japan has been doing this for some time now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Biz_campaign
Yes, a suit and tie make sense if you are standing outside in the cold, not if you are sitting in a closed building, or sweating out summer in a tropical country. It is time people started wearing more sensible clothes to work. I am not advocating T-shirts and jeans, but there are clothes you can wear that make you look professional and at the same time comfortable.
Japan has had such a system in place for about a decade. It’s called “cool-biz.”
Used to be evey ‘salary-man’ was wearing a suit and tie 365- but they tried to promote turning down the air conditioning and ditching the tie.
I beleive they also afterwards tried a similiar thing for winter- turn down the heat and wear a sweater.
There were grumbles when it first started that the whole thing was a stimulus for the men’s wear companies.
If anyone ever wonders why points on the Freakonomics comments seem to get repeated- I’d say it’s the time it takes to get your submission moderated.
When I submitted my comment about Japan, the comment (saying the same thing) posted 28 minutes (!)before mine had not yet appeared.
Maybe the moderator’s efficiency is down because sitting in his/her stuffy formal work wear in overcranked AC is bringing on some drowsiness?
Here in my government office in the Southwestern US, in a pay to play state, about half of us have space heaters running at our desk because the AC is on so high for the comfort of the appointed staff on a higher floor.
I believe Will’s comments are right on point: wearing a tie has more to do with the degree of respect one has for themselves and their .audience As a professor at a state university in Florida, some of my best lectures are delivered in shirt and ties sans the jacket. Yes, I feel more distinguished, more confident, more respected–even sharper:-) Lastly, we might be confusing the energy saving issue. Even if the employee (in my case–professor) ditches the tie,. the students–already in shorts and tank tops–still desire the AC. How can one persons’ change affect–in this case–hundreds? Admittedly, the energy cost argument becomes somewhat less poignant. Perhaps a craftier argument is to express it in terms of issues of ‘power and control’ as oppressed employees are straight laced and somewhat constrained (with the tie) so to speak. Chill out and leave the AC alone:-).