Americans have mixed views on what is appropriate professional office clothing for men
Washington DC, July 14, 2023--New Wall Street Journal/Ipsos polling finds that most Americans feel that jewelry and sneakers are appropriate for men to wear in a professional office setting some of the time. Though, many find that other articles of clothing, like shorts, graphic t-shirts, or open-toed sandals, are never appropriate. There are significant differences by generation when it comes to what is appropriate professional office-wear for men. Read the story on the Wall Street Journal here.
Detailed findings:
For most Americans, jewelry and sneakers are appropriate for men to wear in a professional office setting, at least sometimes.
- Most Americans think men can wear any ring (92%), including a signet ring (92%), a bracelet (91%), a chain necklace (87%), dressier sneakers (87%), an earring or earrings (76%), or running sneakers (73%) at least some of the time in a professional office environment.
- But, around half of Americans think shorts (41%), graphic t-shirts (47%), or open-toed sandals (54%) are never appropriate for men to wear to the office.
There are some notable differences by age, with baseball caps, shorts, and graphic t-shirts the most divisive pieces for men to wear in a professional office environment.
- Americans over 50 (54%) are more likely to say that it is not appropriate for men to wear a branded baseball cap to the office. Not many people under 50 agree (38% between 35-49 and 34% under 35). The same trend holds up for unbranded baseball caps too.
- Similarly, half of Americans between 50 to 64 (50%) and 58% of those 65 and over feel it is never appropriate for a man to wear shorts in a professional office setting. Few Americans under 50 agree (31% between 35-49, and 27% under 35).
- Graphic t-shirts produce similarly divisive results, with over twice as many Americans 65 and over (69%) as those under 35 (30%) feeling that graphic t-shirts are never appropriate for men to wear in a professional office setting.
About the Study
This Wall Street Journal/Ipsos poll was conducted by Ipsos from June 30 to July 2, 2023, using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,020 adults age 18 or older.
The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult U.S. population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the U.S. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Those selected who do not already have internet access are provided a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population.
The study was conducted in English. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, Census region, metropolitan status, and household income. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2022 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS). Party ID benchmarks are from recent ABC News/Washington Post telephone polls. The weighting categories were as follows:
- Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45–59 and 60+)
- Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other, Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, 2+ Races, Non-Hispanic)
- Education (Less than High School, High School, Some College, Bachelor or higher)
- Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
- Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
- Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
- Party ID (Democrat, Republican, Independent, Something else)
The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.19. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. Sampling error is only one potential source of error. There may be other unmeasured non-sampling error in this or any poll. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
About Ipsos
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Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. We serve more than 5000 clients across the world with 75 business solutions.
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