One of the many outgrowths of Americans working from home—which, according to Gallup, is as many as 62%—is the wild popularity of schlubby attire.
If nobody’s going to see you pecking at your laptop (or if your colleagues via Zoom will only see you from the waist up), what would be the point of donning an oxford shirt and blazer, much less a necktie? The rise of what some have termed “business comfortable” isn’t only anecdotal, either. Surveying the work from home population, NPD has found that 48% of Americans are regularly wearing sweatpants and only slightly fewer of them (46%) are spending the day in pajamas. A recent study by Adobe Analytics charted a 143% rise in pajama sales and a 13% dip in the purchase of pants.
This trend, coupled with the well-documented travails of retailoverall, would seem to suggest that a men’s apparel company might want to hold off on any major branding initiatives that don’t involve …