Casual Friday

Casual Friday (also known as Dress-down Friday or simply Casual day) is a semi-reprieve from the constrictions of a dress code that some offices celebrate. Whereas, during the rest of the week, business shirts, suits, ties and dress shoes are the norm, on Casual Friday workers are allowed to wear casual dress. Some companies allow jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers but others require smart casual dress.

Related Topics:
Dress code - Shirt - Suit - Tie - Shoe - Friday - Casual dress - Jeans - T-shirt - Sneakers - Smart casual dress

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Some companies and schools operate an occasional "dress down" day, where employees pay a small fee to be allowed to wear casual clothes (or even fancy dress); the money being donated to charity.

Related Topics:
Companies - School - Dress down - Fancy dress - Charity

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Casual Friday began in the late 1950s originally as an attempt to raise worker morale in the new white-collar office environment. At this point only as few companies encouraged it and it was still widely unpopular. In the late 1970s when the production of cheap clothing outside the United States became more widespread there was a massive campaign by large clothing producers to make casual Friday something that happens every week. It was the hope of these companies that they could undermine the formal clothing industries in Europe and create more of a market for their goods produced in cheap third world factories. Today casual Friday is observed all across the United States.

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The popular flash cartoon Homestar Runner parodied it by using the term "Business Casual Friday", shortened to "Biz Ca Fri", and have created a series of puppet shorts regarding this subject.

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