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I knew Washington D.C. was called a swamp for a reason but I didn’t fully grasp it until I actually moved down there. If you’re a high-ranking official working on the hill, wearing a suit to work every day is not that big of a deal.
You walk from your insanely expensive air conditioned home or apartment to your air-conditioned, chauffeur-driven Tahoe and then finally into your air conditioned office in Rayburn, Longworth, or Cannon.
When you’re as low on the totem pole as I was, things are a little bit different.
It’s 6:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning in mid-June and I can tell just by looking out of my window that it’s going to be a fucking scorcher today. The air conditioning in the apartment I rented isn’t doing its job.
I’m cooler than I would be without an A.C. unit altogether, but the one that’s been placed in the apartment I’m staying in appears to be around ten years old.
Cold air comes in spurts and I silently curse the unit and the landlord simultaneously as I begin the day. For me, Tuesday morning means a shit, shower, and a shave before completely skipping breakfast because I need to allot five to ten minutes to put on a full suit.
I walk from my apartment to a train stop three blocks away. By the time I board the train with what feels like a million other people I am sweating from every pore in my body.
I can hardly move in the death trap that is a D.C. Metro train but that is the least of my worries right now. The hair gel I’ve put in is dripping down my forehead and the shower I took just thirty minutes ago is rendered completely worthless.
I can remember a period of time when I was living in D.C. and arriving at work every day in a pool – nay, a lake – of sweat. My dry cleaning bill during the months that I lived there was astronomical.
At one point during the summer, it got so bad that I was bringing an extra dress shirt with me to change into around lunch time because of the sweating.
This, of course, didn’t really help because I’d step outside to grab lunch or smoke a cigarette, naturally start sweating again, and then I’d have to go back into the A.C. and cringe as all of that sweat just dried onto my body.
This sob story brings me to an issue that for too long has flown totally under the radar. I know that in D.C. men are always going to have to wear suits to work because that’s just how it is there. But the rest of the country? I think we need to take a cold, hard look at what we make men with corporate jobs wear during the summer.
Antiquated fashion rules for men working in corporate America just need to fall by the wayside during the summer. I don’t care where you live. You could cut, paste, and insert that same story I just told into any city in America during the summer.
Every guy who has to wear a suit during May, June, July, and August is perpetually perspiring. Why are men forced to wear suits during these god awful months? How about a little leeway? A polo and khakis would be a step up from the two piece suits WITH A LONG SLEEVE SHIRT underneath.
I’ll hear the counterargument all of the time that you can simply buy a linen or seersucker suit to counteract the heat.
But even those suits are still pretty goddamn hot. You’re still wearing pants and a jacket. It’s not like you’re swapping the suit for shorts and a t-shirt so don’t pretend like a “summer” suit is going to save you from sweating.
If you work an office job that requires formal work attire every day you are not held to the same standards that women are. Think about how insane it is for men to have to wear a jacket, shirt, tie, and pants to work during the hottest, most humid days of the summer while the fairer sex is free to wear free flowing dresses and skirts.
Global warming is real and showing up to work dripping in sweat is not ideal, but every day millions of men get on public transportation or into their 2010 Toyota Camrys and drive to work completely drenched in sweat. Somethings got to give because it’s been 90 degrees in Chicago every day this week and I’m dying.
I’m getting one wear out of a suit before I have to take it to the dry cleaners due to sweat. Please, corporate America – for the love of God – ease up on the formal attire rule during the dog days of summer. My ass, armpits, forehead, and wallet will thank you. .
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jduda@grandex.co
I just don’t see why full suits are necessary unless you are directly interacting with clients. It shouldn’t matter what you wear in your desk.
I used to work for a company that made us wear everything but a tie to sit at a desk and talk on the phone all day. It’s not the 60’s anymore, man. Let your people live.
I interviewed as a recruiter at a Staffing company for a first job after college. Every person was wearing one and starting pay was 30k, no thanks.
A friend of mine worked as a bank teller for a while. He had to wear a suit every day, and wasn’t even allowed to take his jacket off unless he was on break. I never understood it.
My office just went full jeans, but all of my coworkers don’t get why I still wear lightweight khakis. Ball sweat, guys, that’s why.
That’s why I free ball no matter what I wear.
So ball sweat runs down your legs? no thanks.
@PGP_Engineer your comment reminded me of the chorus to Get Low by Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz..
I guess ‘Crunk Ain’t Dead’ after all.
Skeet Skeet
If you have ball sweat running down your legs, maybe you should consult a doctor. Might have serious health issues if you sweat that much.
I am a member of the free ball clan as well. Don’t bother trying to explain it to anyone. I got you though man.
Try wearing steel-toe boots (disposable booties on top), jeans, hard hat, safety glasses, gloves, and a full tyvek suit in the middle of summer.
Nomex onsies at refineries will be the death of me
You calling it a “metro train” distracted me from the rest of the article..subtract the train part.
Obviously a Summer Intern mistake.
On the Hill Sear Sucker and poplin suits were the way to go.
Also WMATA hot cars are the death of me
I’ve had too many long commutes on a hot car.
Absolutely the best way to start a morning ya know?
In my industry, I honestly trust a person less if they’re wearing a suit. At my job I bitch for having to wear pants in the summer while my female colleagues get away with torn jeans and chokers at work.
They wear choker to work? That’s fucking hot.
Yea, because it is the summer.
Cue the compression shorts
There’s a few smoke shows that definitely surprise
Username doesn’t check out.
My office has no dress code and I’ve worn shorts to work and I still feel like I’m getting away with some terrible crime every time I do it.
Outside of client facing jobs or politics, who still wears a suit every day to work? We do business casual at my job and even that is stricter than most places.
I have to wear a suit when I go to court, which isn’t every day, but that’s because the local rules for the courthouse require attorneys to wear suits. As soon as I get back to the office, the jacket goes off.
Yep. I’m only suiting up for in court appearances or meeting with clients. Otherwise, no jacket or tie needed.
I work at a somewhat conservative private operating foundation so its a suit and tie Monday-Thursday for me (coats don’t have to be worn while inside the building), which isn’t ideal since I work in an extremely swampy part of Texas. However, each individual office in our building has its own thermostat (#humblebrag) so I keep mine on 70, and we have covered parking (#humblebrag) so I’m pretty comfortable throughout the day.
Keep 2010 Toyota Camrys outta your mouth
You’re fucked if you live somewhere humid. Gotta love the feeling of sweat forming on the back of your dress shirt, and not being able to guess how soaked it actually looks.