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Work clothes

Work clothes

Work clothes

(OP)
Well Black Friday is coming up and I am thinking and I am thinking it would be the perfect time to buy some sets of work clothes. I am a reliability engineer, so I am looking for some clothes that are both business professional but can also hold up to inspecting equipment. Something in-between the office and the shop. Any suggestions. Jeans are fine for my job.

I've got a PHD is Broscience

RE: Work clothes

I like Dickies for jobs where I need to get dirty but don't want to wear Jeans. Fashion-wise, maybe not the best look for office setting (have been good enough for me), but actually adds a small touch of shop cred with the shop folk.

My brother is a tradesman. He says Levi's Dockers are actually quite durable and suitable for light grunt work.

RE: Work clothes

About to go do field measurements in an old boiler building, rocking Dickies as we speak. I do a large amount of limited notice work in heavy industrial areas I would be asked where the funeral was if I came to work in a suit. My usual work outfit is Dickies or cargo pants with polo shirts.

Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.

RE: Work clothes

You don't need to think twice about Black Friday. winky smile

I have worn both Dickies and Dockers in both shop environments. The Dickies seem to hold up the best in the shop.

Chris, CSWA
SolidWorks 14
SolidWorks Legion

RE: Work clothes

A fishing vest with all those pockets is ideal for carrying all that crap you need in the field, tapes, field books, thousands of pens, etc. Mine even has a pocket in back that will carry a couple of job files. Easy to put on over a jacket. Keeps all your field gear in one place.

I had a company logo sewed on mine so it doesn't look too dorky. A lot of people ask me who pays me to go fishing.

RE: Work clothes

personally I prefer Carheartt pants. For shirts I prefer a dark colored polo that is less likely to show stains. The best place to spend your cash in my opinion is in a good pair of steel toed boots. If you go to a redwing dealer they will normally fit the boots for you. I was surprised to find I had been wearing the wrong size of shoes for most of my life.

RE: Work clothes

Most of my field clothes are Brooks Brothers shirts & chinos - the shirts stand up well to outdoor wear at tear, and the pants are good, thick material that won't tear like your run of the mill dress trousers.

They are a little on the pricy side - but work well if you are in a formal office and need to go out to the field on a moment's notice. In-office only clothing is your run of the mill suit pants & collard shirts from anywhere in general.

If you don't mind looking like a dork the best thing you can get is a pair of steel toed boots with a long cuff (almost like a rubber boot). They save your pants in mud & water.

RE: Work clothes

I feel weird these days wearing anything other than my steel toed boots.

Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.

RE: Work clothes

(OP)
Thanks everyone, I am already use to wearing steel toes everyday being I work at a plant. Redwings are the only way to go for steel toes I say. What I was looking for was suggestions on jeans and long sleeve cotton polos. Dickies seems to be a favorite here.

I've got a PHD is Broscience

RE: Work clothes

I prefer Carhartts when I have to go in the field. For steel toes, I love my Keen's. Never heard of them until I went to buy a new pair of boots this past spring. Most comfortable steel toes I've ever had. Stylish, too. They look more like hiking boots than steel toes.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWE
My Blog

RE: Work clothes

Having worked both in the field and the office I would recommend Dickies
They have the widest sets of uniforms with pants in all colors from polyester to cotton twill, from airline captains uniforms with white oxford shirts with epaulettes and dark blue polyester slacks, to nurses uniforms to boiler suits, and everything in between.
For steel tipped shoes or boots I strongly endorse Redwing.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

RE: Work clothes

If you do have to go out in the mud, slip a pair of bicycle clips into your pocket. They will keep your trouser cuffs out of the mud.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

RE: Work clothes

I wear Wrangler jeans ($16.99 at Target) and long sleeve, dress shirts of reasonably good quality, either oxford or twill (my favorite color is plaid!), when in the field. Since I'm rarely in my office and when I am I'm usually alone, same "uniform" applies. When I'm teaching, I wear whatever the rest of my day dictates, since I usually don't have time to change clothes.

I've found jeans to be more durable than khakis or chinos of any brand and they don't show stains as badly.

My meeting clothes are usually upscale khakis or lightweight wool in khaki or dark gray, dress shirt and blazer. Same usually for client presentations. For video depositions I usually wear a dark suit, white shirt and subtle tie. Same for court testimony. For non-video depositions, I usually just wear khakis and a dress shirt.

As for shoes, if I'm doing destructive observation where there is heavy stuff involved, standard work boots. Otherwise, I'm partial to Timberland Boat shoes....the ones with an extra lacing eyelet so they don't slide off your feet when climbing around on stuff. Dress shoes are standard engineering stereotype....tassel loafers. I only wear socks when I have to!

Over the years I've ruined many clothes from suits on down....trying to make my "uniform" fit all applications....won't work.

RE: Work clothes

I wear jeans all of the time, I rarely wear suit and tie - when it happens I feel very uncomfortable and productivity drops;
only with a jean I give my utmost intellectual performance. strange situation but thats the way it has always been for me.

"If you want to acquire a knowledge or skill, read a book and practice the skill".

RE: Work clothes

For clarification....that's $16.99 USD and Target is a retail chain in the US and Canada. Should have put that in the first reply. Sorry.

RE: Work clothes

The easiest way to discredit yourself in my business is to show up in a suit and tie.

I wear jeans and a cotton shirt with a collar, every day, meetings or no meetings. The only time you'll see me in a suit IS at a wedding or a funeral- or at the Christmas party.

RE: Work clothes

Ron: Man, that description of your wardrobe has brought a new level of color to my understanding of what you do.

I wear Blundstone boots, black skinny Levis jeans, white business shirt, and a navy jacket practically no matter what. This includes site visits where I am crawling around scaffolding, charettes at an architect's studio, lab tests, presentations to billionaire clients, and of course office time. For me this projects the right mix of creativity, boots on the ground practicality, executive strength, and approachability. Perhaps these things a a little bit aspirational in my case, but you dress for the job you want!

moltenmetal: I consider the title "manager" to be a demotion from "engineer", so would not be caught dead in a tie.

RE: Work clothes

moltenmetal

Do you also feel that your productivity would drop if you wear suit and tie for regular work?

Just wanted to know if it is just me.

"If you want to acquire a knowledge or skill, read a book and practice the skill".

RE: Work clothes

If I wore a suit, I would never kneel down much less lay down on the floor to inspect something or observe something that one of the guys is asking me about,, which I feel totally free to do the way I'm normally dressed. I'd be worried about getting pipe thread sealant (aka "bird sh*t") or antisieze grease on my clothes just by getting up against something. And a suit with a hard hat and steel toed boots seriously isn't a great look anyway- who're you kidding?!

The reality is, if you dress well, you're not going to spend as much time in the shop- and in my business, that actually makes you less competent and WAY less useful to the company.

As to why I don't dress up for meetings with clients, if they're coming here they need to see that even the senior people aren't afraid to get their hands dirty, and that our engineers aren't just CAD station jockeys or pencil-pushers- we're selling finished units, not paper drawings and specs. When I visit clients, they see me the same way they'd see me if they came to visit, although perhaps without quite so much dirt on the knees. Our work day here can't be compartmentalized into "office days" and "shop days"- I'm in the shop every day, whether clients are here or not.

My clients aren't in suits either- they almost never are. If they were, I'd probably have to dress better and put on a boiler suit every time I went into the shop, which would suck in the summer. One of my clients has hundreds of millions in personal wealth and I've never seen him in a tie much less a suit on the job.

RE: Work clothes

Ya, Ya..., the other week I wore a double ruffle tutu and ballet slippers. I was dancing around a particularly difficult issue on the job, with the owner and several contractors. I wore the steel toed slippers so I could dance and kick ass at the same time, and the second set of ruffles so they knew I meant business. Be clean and neat and comfortable, and know when a suit or blazer is required, sometimes they are. Know what the norm is in your area and at your level of the profession and dress and act accordingly. Otherwise, the quality of your work, your knowledge of the area of practice and your demeanor are what really counts.

RE: Work clothes

I learned the hard way some years ago to put feelers out and find out what the dress code is on a job. Before you get there.

I showed up the first day on a contract drafting job in a Golf shirt and Dockers blue jeans.
After a couple of hours on the job I was invited to the managers office, and given a copy of their dress code which required Oxford shirts and polyester pants of " Subdued" colors.
The office manager apologized to me saying that "quite obviously" my contract manager had failed to pass on the dress code , would I please read the paper and come to work properly dressed in future, and to "please" let my manager know what was required of contract hires.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

RE: Work clothes

I learned that it was always better to overdress than under-dress if you don't know the rules. So I showed up for my first day of my first co-op engineering job in a suit. And promptly got silicone RTV on it- the only suit I owned. And learned my lesson.

RE: Work clothes

I dress local...Aloha shirt and flip flops...all-year-round...board shorts too, if I can be home office bound!

RE: Work clothes

I also dressed with a suit and tie on my first day at a big company, reason is I was not sure..until the coatch/ engineer told me to stop doing what I was doing... I said thank you but with a tear in my eye because inside I was experiencing an intense moment of relief...

"If you want to acquire a knowledge or skill, read a book and practice the skill".

RE: Work clothes

After working for one company for many months, the director of engineering e-mailed me the company dress code. First I'd heard of it from him. Since the e-mail went out during christmas holidays, I didn't see it until I got back in January. Jeans, and denim of any kind, were definitely out. Rushed out after work to buy dress slacks and get with the program. Next day I was better dressed, but he wasn't around to see the result, since my allotment of vacation time was pretty short, back then. The director returned a week or so later, and didn't mention the dress code. But I did notice that he was wearing jeans.
Lesson learned.

STF

RE: Work clothes

Quote (dhengr)

Otherwise, the quality of your work, your knowledge of the area of practice and your demeanor are what really counts.

Exactly dh....that's why I get to wear what I want. Most of my clients don't give a damn what I wear...they want me to solve problems and issues. It's a lost cause for me to look pretty! The only reason I dress so for testimony is to respect the norms of the court system.

RE: Work clothes

Remember to always wear cotton when around electric substations. You don't want 480 kv melting your polyesters.

RE: Work clothes

you want to make sure that the cotton shirt, around what remains from the body after a 480kv discharge, is safe and sound ?
I think I see your point...

"If you want to acquire a knowledge or skill, read a book and practice the skill".

RE: Work clothes

Skipped the last few replies sorry but in time for cyber Monday nonsense...

At my current job most days it's DARK blue jeans (mostly Levi's 569 for the last few years if you care) and button shirt with collar. Used to be mostly short sleeve but I've started adding in long sleeves more often as I seem to be at more meetings with management etc. (and today happen to be wearing my long sleeve Eng-Tips shirt). I haven't yet emulated Jeremy Clarkson with the infamous 'Jacket & Jeans'.

Jeans come in handy when I do have to crawl around on the floor running cables & hoses etc.

(First day here I wore same as at my interview but my then manager pulled me aside and told me to remove the tie I was wearing and not to put one on again!)

At my first job it was suit & tie everyday regardless of if I had to crawl around on the shop floor or not. After a couple of year I cut back to black heavy cotton pseudo dress pants, shirt with collar and a tie in my top draw in case it was required. I still wore a suit if I knew we had a customer visit or similar.

What do your more senior colleagues wear, if you follow the paradigm of dressing for the job you want not the job you have then you may want to emulate them. (I gave up on this nonsense long ago when people laughed at me for coming in wearing a flight suit. I'll skip any 'bikini inspector' jokes along the same lines due to danger of causing offense.)

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RE: Work clothes

Jeans, and more Jeans. You can get them in different colors besides blue. Cotton shirts for safety under that safety equipment. Follow your safety gear training.

RE: Work clothes

I really don't like jeans. Never wear them anymore, even on weekends. They restrict movement and soak up too much water in damp conditions.

RE: Work clothes

I wear cords and a nicer shirt, usually one of my logo polos, if I'm going to an official meeting. If I'm in the field, I wear jeans and a logo polo or my logo jacket. I also have a coverall with my logo embroidered on it. If I'm just in the office, like today, it's whatever I happen to throw on in the morning. Perks of working from home.

I know it's past Black Friday but the analysts have been saying that the best deals are actually closer to Christmas!

Please remember: we're not all guys!

RE: Work clothes

Right now, I am in casual pants, a short sleeved dress shirt and a fleece. I have a Gore-Tex jacket for going outside, but I have recently purchased a trench coat. This all works really well when it is 0°C (32°F) outside.

--
JHG

RE: Work clothes

I worked around a lot of hydraulics at one company, got tired of buying new cloths due to stains from the fluid or lubricants. I bought 6 sets of matching grey Dickie pants and generic black polo shirts with chest pocket. Best thing I ever did, and never had to worry about what I was going to wear to work. Now I'm mostly stuck behind a desk, so button-up camp shirts and jeans for me.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

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RE: Work clothes

Long sleeve shirts to cover up my def leopard tats all up and down my arms. But I think the boss suspects.

RE: Work clothes

Used to work at a pump factory that had Cintas uniforms as an option. I got just the pants, flat front dress pants, khaki and dark grey. They were great for yard work, working on the car, and the best part was that you just turned them in every week and they were washed and returned. Something like $7 a week, definitely worth it.

Steel toes, polo or button up. Jeans on Friday, but then I would come home and change into work pants to tackle some projects around the house.

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