By Rupveen Arora (Mademoiselle Wanderlust), Head of Lifestyle.
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In an internal memo, Goldman Sachs Group announced that it is moving forward with a “flexible dress code” for all its employees, this week; likely to shake up well buttoned Wall Street.
Bespoke suit and tie makers are beginning to quiver a bit as we’re seeing a lot more companies following suit from Silicon Valley’s tech giants and starting to shy away from their stuffy, booted up dress code guidelines.
Goldman stated this was a result of "the changing nature of workplaces generally in favor of a more casual environment". Following on the heels of General Motors 10-page dress code policy last April, to simply “dress appropriately”. The memo did not specify which clothes are or are not appropriate. However, Goldman said to dress “in a manner that is consistent with clients’ expectations”.
“Historically, employees of the Wall Street firm were required to wear formal business attire, but since 2017 the storied financial house has slowly begun to relax its rules, especially for employees in its technology division.”
Hoping to modernize the bank’s traditional policies for its younger workforce as more than 75 percent of Goldman employees are members of the Millennial and Z Generations (those born after 1981).
This memo marks the end of an era for the firm as well as the well-recognized designer loafers aptly named “Deal Sleds”.
Deal Sleds; for those not in the know, are expensive slip-on shoes. Usually, these are some type of loafer made from leather, satin, or other plush material traditionally adorned by bankers who are “closing deals”. Historically, Gucci and Ferragamo produce the most sought-after editions and are considered to be the standard for these confidence trotters. While these used to be personal hype devices for high-class bankers in the early 2000’s to early 2010’s, now the secret is out and the entire consulting world is raving about deal sleds. Consultants across all industries, including the top-tier firms are wearing deal sleds to client meetings and to the home office to signal they are “crushing it”. Deal sleds have hit a tipping point of evolving into a wider trend that is sure to end in some form of harakiri once clients start to catch on.
Here are some companies that don't follow dress codes:
GOOGLE
IMG
NETFLIX
TWITTER
VIACOM
ZAPPOS
IAC (DAILY BEAST, DAILY BURN, ASK.COM, COLLEGE HUMOR, VIMEO AND MATCH GROUP)
