Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

What`s your  view on men wearing ties?

The views are split, aren`t they? Some people say you can`t do business without wearing a tie. Some say, wearing a tie makes no difference.

When I first started working in a office I had to wear a tie. It was compulsory. You had no choice. Then came `dress-down Fridays` and you could wear `smart casual` which was basically `take your tie off`.

Nowadays, I very rarely see a man in a tie - even in central London.

How would you vote?

Tie or no tie?

Well, I tend to work in my pajamas most days. There`s really only 2 choices for this time of year - shorts or boxers.

I`ve found that although wearing a tie can be useful, depending on the client location, you also have to wear the rest of the clothes for it to work. I try to wear as little as possible, favoring cutoff bluejeans shorts, but if I`m going out, I`ll put on a tie and some sandals. If it`s really cool, I`ll also try to find a shirt.

Once, I think I wore a coat too...now that I think about it......? Maybe it was winter though, `cause there was a lot of snow laying around.

With the fringes, Craig?
Because I`m picturing the cutoffs with the fringes.

In the nature of cutoffs, I manufacture them myself. And so, they naturally have fringes. Who ever heard of cutoffs without fringes? For awhile, I used to wear red suspenders with them, but eventually, and with sufficient gustatory exercise, I reached the point where they`re no longer necessary.

Oh no.

Now I`m rolling.

I know...it was the reference to "exercise," right? A little much?

I think that this really depends on where you are working and who your clients are. "Business Casual" seems to be the norm at most big corporations in the US these days.

If you are providing certain types of professional services (legal, accounting, business consulting), I believe that you should be professionally dressed when you show up for the initial client meeting. This often means wearing a suit or jacket and, for men, a tie. After you have developed the relationship, you may choose to "dress down".

There used to be an old rule of thumb called "two up" (or something like that.) The basic premise was that you were to supposed to dress at least two levels more formally than the client to whom you were calling on. I think that it never hurts to err on the side of being too conservative rather than too casual when calling on a prospective client for the first time.

How you dress is really part of your personal and professional "branding". In my case, I wear a tie about 95% of the time when working. Even though dress codes have become more casual, I have continued to dress in a more conservative fashion. In my industry, I am known as "the guy who always wears the suit" and this plays well into the image that I am trying to maintain.

I`m sure that in some industries, my conservative dress would make me look like a freak, but in my profession, it seems to work well. (Unless people really do think I`m a freak and I just haven`t found out yet ..)

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Michael A. Silva
Silva Consultants

www.silvaconsultants.com

For years I worked landsacping and was always in a grubs wardrobe, so any time I got the chance I enjoyed the times that I got to go to business luncheons and such and had the opportunity to dress it up a bit. Now that I am on my own, I find that "the clothes do make the man" or at least helps get me into the groove of what I am doing. IF I know that I am going to be doing some marketing or meeting clients, etc. I get dudded up first thing. This seems to get me motivated and in a client meeting mode. This works the opposite way aswell. On days where I want to spend family time and not think about work, I keep dressed down and it seems to keep me from concentrating on work during my family time.

Long ago there was a book by John T. Molloy, "Dress for Success." It`s been updated, but that book is a definitive work on why clothes matter, and what clothes work. It ought to be required reading for anyone starting a business or trying to get a job.