clothes for work

mariaalice

A young man get his first professional job in which wearing a shirt is the norm, he comes to work in shirt however he appears not to iron his shirts and they are all crumpled. At some point he will have to go to meeting with outside agents and going in a crumpled unironed shirt would not be acceptable at all.

If his supervisor says something it could have a similar vibe to giving someone deodorant and might be insensitive, if noting is said the young man might never cop on the fact that its not acceptable to go to work meeting in an unironed shirt.

Do you think he should be told outright that he cant come to work in a shirt that is not ironed.

ongarboy

Maybe a neutral mail should go out to all staff advising how they should be well presented and groomed at all times and make reference to clothes being clean, ironed and shoes etc shined and not scuffed.

We have casual Friday in our place and standards slipped at one stage with torn jeans, scruffy runners, tracksuit bottoms, flip flops, tshirts with offensive logs etc being worn. A mail from HR went out advising what was expected and what was disallowed. It was obvious that it was directed at the offenders but as it was sent to all, no one could say they were being singled out.

Pawwed Rig

Some good advice from Ongarboy but if that doesn't work his coach/mentor/supervisor may have to take him aside and highlight it. I would be inclined to say it in an off the cuff way, something like 'Hey, don't forget we have that meeting tomorrow, make sure you are clean shaven and looking crisp'. If he doesn't get the hint at that stage brutal honesty will have to be done

Yer Aul One

I don't think its the same as the deodorant analogy. He might just not have gotten to grips with ironing yet. I really struggled at the start too.
I would say it to him in a fairly professional manner, don't try dance around it or try be a cool friend.
You can also give him advice that places wash and iron shirts for pretty cheap now. If he doesn't enjoy the ironing experience. Tell him you do it all the time because you hate ironing but you know the importance of a clean ironed shirt, in this organisation!

DazMarz

Easy iron shirts and a tumble dryer. I've been wearing shirts/ties for work for years, and never once broke out the ironing board. And I've never looked all creased or anything.

Marks and Sparks do a great line of formal shirts that are easy-iron or non-iron. Combine that with a tumble dryer and you'll be fine.

Yer Aul One

DazMarz wrote: »

Easy iron shirts and a tumble dryer. I've been wearing shirts/ties for work for years, and never once broke out the ironing board. And I've never looked all creased or anything.

Marks and Sparks do a great line of formal shirts that are easy-iron or non-iron. Combine that with a tumble dryer and you'll be fine.

I must have just been unlucky with easy iron shirts, they never worked for me.

Never had a tumble drier, maybe thats the issue.

Regardless of the solution, the OP needs to set this young man straight. At that age you are much more open to people telling you how to act, he might even appreciate it

mariaalice

Yer Aul One wrote: »

I must have just been unlucky with easy iron shirts, they never worked for me.

Never had a tumble drier, maybe thats the issue.

Regardless of the solution, the OP needs to set this young man straight. At that age you are much more open to people telling you how to act, he might even appreciate it

Its not were I work, someone was telling me about and their solution was to buy them a cheap iron and leave in on their desk. I told them that was a very bad idea and could be maybe seen as inappropriate behaviour.

DazMarz

I'm 26, I've been wearing shirts and slacks and so on for work since I was about 17 or 18, and since I started in a new position back in June, I've been wearing pretty much nothing but formal shirts and slacks ever since.

This made a complete change from my usual "uniform" of jeans, hoodie/rugby-jersey and runners/boots.

In all my years of wearing shirts and for about the last 5 years of living out of home and doing my own laundry, I think I broke out the iron and ironing board once. And that once was enough to convince me that I never wanted to iron again if I could avoid it.

I have found that a tumble dryer is the best thing ever; even non-easy-iron shirts come out grand from a dryer (most modern dryers even have a specific setting on them that allows clothes to be dried to a point where they can be hung straight into the wardrobe, sans ironing).

I find the following for when using a dryer allows clothes to be used again without ironing:

-only dry shirts and slacks together, using the appropriate settings
-avoid drying shirts/slacks with underwear and heavier garments (jeans, etc.)
-make sure you use the appropriate dryer setting
-make sure the clothes are not soaking wet, but damp when you put them in the dryer

Also, black formal shirts look the part, don't show sweat marks, don't show the wrinkles as bad and just look plain bad-ass too.

234

DazMarz wrote: »

Also, black formal shirts look the part, don't show sweat marks, don't show the wrinkles as bad and just look plain bad-ass too.

Ever since I worked as a waiter, I've found that I instantly associate black shirts with waiters, barmen and bouncers, so I tend not to wear them. Also, depending on the office environment, they might be inappropriate.

johnphillips

Don't make a big deal of it. Just tell them at the end of a discussion with them about something else entirely.

diveout

Thing is if you look messy, people translate that to dirty, and then they think you are irresponsible and won't trust you.

If this system could be pointed out to him in a non personal way, then it would be a favor to him.

Neyite

DazMarz wrote: »

-only dry shirts and slacks together, using the appropriate settings
-avoid drying shirts/slacks with underwear and heavier garments (jeans, etc.)
-make sure you use the appropriate dryer setting
-make sure the clothes are not soaking wet, but damp when you put them in the dryer

I'm a non-ironer too and can add a few more tips:
-shake the shirt vigoriously when damp to take out a lot of creases.
- if something is too wet to tumble dry, (and you are crap at wringing out stuff like me) lay it flat on a towel, roll it up in it, and dance like a mad yoke on it.
- throw in a dry clean bath towel along with your shirts into the dryer which will speed up drying time and save you money.
- hang up the shirt right out of the dryer. If you leave it to cool, it will crumple again putting in new creases.

Pat Mustard

Yer Aul One wrote: »

I must have just been unlucky with easy iron shirts, they never worked for me.

M&S Ultimate Non Iron ftw.

Look no further.

Yer Aul One

The Mustard wrote: »

M&S Ultimate Non Iron ftw.

Look no further.

Got a job at the turn of the year that is full casual. My sunday fear is considerably decreased without the onerous task of ironing shirts for the week.

It was my symbol that the weekend was over and I had to re-enter the grind!

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Ironing is a lot less hassle than some of tips given in this thread :pac:

Pawwed Rig

I iron shirts and trousers every Sunday for the week. Good time to be by myself and listen to some music. It takes me about 4 mins at the moment to do 5 trousers and 5 shorts but am getting quicker.

DazMarz

BDJW wrote: »

Ironing is a lot less hassle than some of tips given in this thread :pac:

Ironing is evil...

D'Agger

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

I iron shirts and trousers every Sunday for the week. Good time to be by myself and listen to some music. It takes me about 4 mins at the moment to do 5 trousers and 5 shorts but am getting quicker.

It'd take me 8mins per shirt I'd say....I get confused easily and I'm left handed, technically I shouldn't be allowed use an iron :pac:

I'm sure I've said it here before, but just on work clothes - I can't recommend enough Suit pants from Burton - they're relatively cheap (circa €30) last a long while and are comfortable whilst good looking.

RedXIV

Last two jobs I took were full casual after years of uniforms and shirts and slacks. I hate business wear, just never feel comfortable in it. Live working in IT where casual wear is acceptable.

But in relation to the OP. I was that young man, and my boss mentioned it to me. Straight up honesty is the best. In my head I was pushing my luck anyway so for me it was "ok time to stop taking the piss". But no hard feelings at all. Depends on the relationship with the boys though

skallywag

I think it depends on the context, I will usually come to the office in jeans / combats / t-shirts etc, but if I have a customer meeting or something else of that nature the I will wear a pants and shirt, and if really needed (depending on local custom, e.g. visiting parts of Asia, etc) will wear a suit.

kiffer

Straight and to the point is the way to go.
Not brutally honest and not wishywash hints.

"Hey Jim, just want to say it before it becomes an issue, there's talk of cracking down on the dress code, you should take more care when you iron your shirts."

Hints can be missed and/or ignored.
Bluntness is just being deliberately mean.
Giving the an iron or something funny like a pamphlet on how to iron a shirt is funny but also a rocky road ti workplace bullying. It would be funny if it was your friend but if they were your friend then you should be able to just talk with them frankly.