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Casual Friday (also known as '''Dress-down Friday''' or simply '''Casual day''') is an American Business custom, wherein some offices celebrate a semi-reprieve from the constrictions of a Dress Code . Whereas, during the rest of the week, business Shirt s, Suit s, Tie s and dress Shoe s are the norm, on Casual Friday workers are allowed to wear Casual dress. Some companies allow Jeans , T-shirt s, and Sneakers but others require Smart Casual Dress . Some Companies and School s 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 morale in the new White-collar office environment. At that point only a few companies encouraged it, and it was not widely popular. 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 a weekly event. 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. Casual Friday along with dressing casually during the week became very prevalent during the Dot Com hey-day of the late 1990s /early 2000s . During the hey-day, some companies were so relaxed that Shorts and Sandals were permitted. After the bursting of the Dot-Com bubble, there was a backlash by many companies with the reinstatement of Dress Codes . The biggest backlash was by companies that permitted blue Jeans before and instead, required at least more formal Business Casual or even "business formal". Target after Labor Day weekend, 2004 , required "business formal" dress for all employees at their corporate office in Minneapolis, Minnesota . Many of the expensive clothiers who sold suits decided to do a marketing campaign to get companies and employees to return to the former custom of "business formal" clothing. Retail sales of suits and Dry Cleaning declined significantly because of Casual Friday. |
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