Shorts for work in summer ?

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It’s anecdotal and inconclusive, our own experience is that both our kids went to a local comprehensive which had a pretty liberal uniform policy but a very strong and capable head, both achieved very good GCSE and A level results (9’s at GCSE’s and plenty of A*’s at A level) wearing polo shirts, sweatshirts and trainers!, School uniform seems to be a very British phenomenon in Western Europe, most other countries seem to manage without it. I’m not convinced, it’s expensive and poorer families struggle to afford it, especially when there is a very closely controlled cartel of suppliers.

I taught at 2 secondary school

First one was in Denbigh and the only shop that sold teh school uniform was in Manchester
and it cost a fortune

and was rubbish quality

for example the summer dress was so thin you could see what the girl was wearing underneath so they all felt they had to weart-shirt and short under it
and the seams kept coming loose so the textile teacher was often busy at lunchtimes sewing up dresses for kids

and this was a girl's school with an even higher percentage of female staff than even normals schools!!!


second school was in a "less well off" area
school put a lot of effort into making sure the uniform was as cheap as possible, as functional as possible and was good enough quality to last

they even had a shop where you could buy used uniform and families that were know to have serious financial problems that were not their fault often ended up accidentally not being charged for stuff from it

Massive difference in the 2 schools
in the first one the cost of the uniform was effectively used - in my opinion - as an unofficial way of discouraging poorer familes from sending their children there
 

Webbo2

Über Member
I am led to believe by Mrs W that at my grandsons school in Malton, shorts for the boys were School uniform for the summer term.
 

Electric_Andy

Heavy Metal Fan
Location
Plymouth
there was no dress code for women
This has been my experience in my last 5 or 6 offices, and still is to a large extent.

I just ensure that I wear smart navy blue shorts, short-sleeved shirt, and leather boat shoes (or other light shoes that are leather and let your feet breathe). It helps if your clothes are ironed, so even a semi-casual short can pass as smart.

There is a dress code at my place which is only enforced for men i.e you'd get pulled up if you wore a t-shirt, cargo shorts, sandals etc. But women can wear billowing summer dresses and sandals. I even experienced a senior manager take her shoes off in the office because it was so hot. And then 2 days later had a go at our junior admin (male) for doing the same
 

Dogtrousers

Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
Really depends on what/where the job is. Some blokes come into my office in shorts. I don't think there's a dress code and it's OK. In other offices where I've worked it would just look stupid.

Not something I'd do. But I'm an old fuddy duddy.
 
It is shoes that always confuse me with shorts and offices

clearly you don;t want people wearing the same shoes and socks
but do you wear shoes with those short socks that don;t come over the side of the shoe
or no socks and make the shoes sweaty?

or should you wear sandals

they just don;t make smart shoes for men to wear when their legs are visible in the same way as they do for women
 

Electric_Andy

Heavy Metal Fan
Location
Plymouth
It is shoes that always confuse me with shorts and offices

clearly you don;t want people wearing the same shoes and socks
but do you wear shoes with those short socks that don;t come over the side of the shoe
or no socks and make the shoes sweaty?

or should you wear sandals

they just don;t make smart shoes for men to wear when their legs are visible in the same way as they do for women

I always go with a boat shoe, with trainer socks. Bare feet are a no-go with me as they make the soes sweaty and slippery and horrible. I don't actually care what colour socks I wear, as they don't come up much above the shoe. But any sort of brogue or slip-on with shorts just makes you look like you're wearing clown shoes.

Edit: I have also worn smart trainers (i.e. sketchers that are plain/bland looking). More comfortable but can only be worn when no managers are in the office
 

biggs682

Itching to get back on my bike's
Location
Northamptonshire
I work from home so yes I can wear shorts and the last time I worked in an office we were allowed as long as they were smart and nothing hung out 😁
 
As a kid growing up in SA in the 70s a Safari Suit was a work wear thing, often with long socks with a comb tucked in and desert boots. It was a look I rocked as a 7 year old.
This was also a thing. See, shorts of different lengths.

what-all-the-foxy-guys-were-wearing-in-the-70s-v0-pnq95xselajb1.jpg


Bring it back I say!
 

Mike_P

Legendary Member
Location
Harrogate
Reminds me of a Hong Kong based TV series from years ago where everyone it seemed wore shorts irrelevant of job
 
Not exactly sure about the point in replacing loose trousers over your legs with sock that end up a few inches above your shoes

with short then only a couple of inches gap before starting ticker socks that almost reach you knees

I thought the idea of wearing shorts was to provide more air circulation over bare skin of your legs to cool you down

not sure that will work with long shorts and long socks!!
 
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