Casual Friday
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Casual Friday or Dress-down Friday 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.
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.
Casual Friday began in the late 1950s originally as an attempt to raise worker moral 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.
External links
- Where Friday Got Its Name (http://www.indepthinfo.com/weekdays/friday.shtml)