Casual Impressions Employers Adjust To Society’s Urge For Informality

Funeral director Skip Rossey remembers when his clients donned $500 suits and impeccably buffed shoes as final resting wear.

But lately an increasing number of the deceased at Cheney Funeral Chapel are sporting T-shirts, sneakers and baseball caps. One family even chose cleats to adorn a deceased softball lover’s feet for the next millennium.

“Nothing’s like it used to be,” Rossey said with a chuckle. “Tradition is going out the window.”

While unorthodox requests bemuse Rossey, other business people find a societal shift toward more casual clothing to be a serious issue that affects employee morale and productivity. In the workplace, dress can become a source of gossip, customer complaints, even lawsuits.

IBM, for decades the prototypical corporate machine with employees clad in navy suits and power ties, announced six months ago that it had toned down the dress code for 800 top-level executives. IBM’s casual ethic has become the most visible example of a trend Newsweek magazine estimated to affect half of all U.S. office workers.

Just as Mr. Rogers loosened his tie and slipped into a well-worn sweater before singing “Won’t you be my neighbor,” corporate America is foregoing suits in favor of khakis and polos. Spokane is following suit.

Law firms, travel agencies, retailers, car dealers, libraries, brokers and banks are among the local companies that designate a day for less-formal attire - often dubbed casual Friday.

At least one local business, LeMaster & Daniels, has given casual day a creative twist. The accounting firm charges employees $1 each to wear casual clothes on Fridays during the summer. The collected loot - more than $300 so far this summer - goes to local charities.

Company officials say this gives employees the privilege of dress-down day while providing a warmhearted excuse to clients who may not think casual clothes are professional.

“It’s a way employees can dress down and justify it to the clientele. The clients won’t think we’re shirking our professional responsibility, because we’re benefitting charities,” said Don Schelling, director of business development at the accounting firm.

Although no one has statistics on how many Spokane businesses have casual Friday, people who watch corporate couture here say the number of office workers reveling in jeans and Birkenstocks is on the rise.

So is productivity, casual-day proponents say.

“If regular office clothes are a type of uniform, then casual day lets employees be more creative, relaxed, loose,” said Terrance Brown, chief executive officer of Community Colleges of Spokane. “It’s a pick-me-up day, a morale booster.”

Brown, who specializes in building corporate teamwork, said casual Friday helps enhance employee bonding. When people get a chance to see co-workers in their everyday clothes, they learn more about how they look and act outside of the office.

“It’s nice to not have to fix up in the morning and just be able to pull on a nice sweat shirt. It’s more honest than getting all dressed up,” Brown said.

Diana Peckham, a legal assistant at Stiley & Associates, is one of many Spokane employees who hail the virtues of casual day. Peckham noted that office stress melts when workers shed starched collars and pinching panty hose.

“People are happier, as silly as that may sound,” she said. “It’s like when you’re a kid, and on the last day of school you get play day. It’s a reward for a week well done.”

Employees aren’t the only ones to be rewarded; retailers fueling the dress-down phenomenon are relishing the trend’s recent popularity.

The cotton industry, which for years took a beating to synthetic favorites such as polyester and rayon, is in the midst of a healthy boom fueled partially by comfy casual wear. Eddie Bauer, whose River Park Square outlet attracts rugged-wear bargain hunters, is starting two new lines of clothing this year to meet the “business alternative” demand.

The Moose Lake Co., a Kalispell, Mont.-based outfitter with a new store in Crescent Court, appeals primarily to downtown business people looking to casualize their wardrobes, employees said.

“We get a lot of customers who say, ‘I have a new job that’s more casual. What do I wear?”’ said assistant manager Kevin Beatty said.

“Suits are easy. You buy a suit or two, a few shirts and a couple of ties for accent. With casual clothes, you have a lot more combinations,” Beatty proclaimed in his dapper khakis and vest.

The store features upscale dress-down wear such as Timberland, Duck Head, Ruff Hewn, Woolrich and the new H.S. Trask buffalo-hide footwear from Bozeman.

But let the would-be dress-downer beware: The new rage is not necessarily easier on the wallet than the traditional suit and tie. One of Moose Lake’s more popular women’s outfits (hanging pre-matched for the dress-down ignorant), costs about $200 including Ruff Hewn pants, white shirt and vest. Men’s Duck Head pants start at $30, and some men’s oxford shoes - Nike, Rockport or Timberland - cost more than $120.

Although it’s becoming increasingly common, casual Friday is not ubiquitous, even in the grunged-out Northwest. Among the anti-dress-downers is Gov. Mike Lowry, who refuses employees the weekly privilege. Lowry occasionally sports J. Garcia ties, but that’s the extent of his sartorial rebellion, co-workers say.

Although the governor did not have time to comment, Lowry’s press secretary explained why Olympia employees dress traditionally.

“We think it’s important to have professional attire when we’re at work, so we do that,” Jordan Dey said half-heartedly.

Dey, himself in favor of a casual Friday, was bolstered by news of dress-down gubernatorial precedent set by Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber. Kitzhaber keeps regular media and political appointments on Fridays dressed in faded Levi’s.

“We’ll have to see how Gov. Kitzhaber looks, then maybe we’ll give it a try,” Dey joked.

Other organizations - including several local banks - nix the very mention of casual day. Officials at Sterling Savings Association said that many conservative establishments would forfeit reputation if they adopted a relaxed dress code.

“If we were dressed sloppy, customers might think we do business in a sloppy way, too,” said Heidi Stanley, senior vice president of administration and operations at Sterling Savings.

Perhaps a dicier issue, Stanley added, is the line distinguishing casual from unkempt. Once a company opens the door to casual day, she noted, it’s difficult to control the level of casualization: Will some employees sport Dockers and loafers while others don cut-offs and flip-flops?

“A T-shirt may be acceptable to one person but not to the company code,” Stanley said. “What about shorts? Gym shoes? What’s an acceptable level of casualization? We’d rather not have to deal with that.”

Officials at the Spokane County planning department learned just how far such disagreements can go in 1992. Two women alleged discrimination based on an implied dress code. One woman said she was harassed for wearing a dress with a high slit up the back; the other said she was reprimanded for wearing leggings and a sweater that were too casual for casual Friday.

“A Current Affair” aired the women’s complaints and millions of viewers tuned in. The incident, which planning department seniors admitted was a supreme embarrassment, resulted in a rigid dress code for all affected personnel.

Stanley, who shudders at the thought of such a debacle, admits that she would sometimes like to slump into Sterling Savings in jeans and a sweat shirt. But that’s unlikely given the nature of her work.

“Banking historically has been extremely conservative and traditional,” said Stanley, a 10-year veteran of IBM who’s been wearing suits and pumps since college graduation. “We’re fairly boring people. Our dress code isn’t going to change.”

The Cheney funeral director observes some of these same sociological and generational patterns. Casually clad corpses may be in vogue right now, but only with a specific clientele, Rossey said.

Young people are in the vanguard of dressing down. But most people 55 or older - the vast bulk of Rossey’s business - cling to suits and ties or dresses.

“The older crowd is still pretty traditional,” Rossey said. “I don’t think they will change very soon.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Two color photos