I sometimes wonder if I am just amongst the really, really small minority that's aghast at how people in professional roles (in places without formal dress code) dress in NZ. And I'm talking about the men especially. It also seems that the dress sense gets worse the further north of 35 or so one is.

When I was in traditional legal practice, full suit and tie was obviously compulsory for going to court and for the bigger, more traditional firms. You might get away with no tie on a Friday and during summer. Aside from the formal nature of the dress code, the thing that always struck me was that everyone's shirts were always tidy, the proper size for their bodies, ironed properly, and never looks excessively garish. Certainly nobody wore anything with frayed cuffs, stained collars and the like. Once I moved on to risk/compliance in the financial sector, I went to work in mostly a dress shirt, leather shoes and a blazer or bomber jacket (the latter is more towards the serious end). My clothes were always the correct size, new/newish, tidy and so were my team's. We are/were all under 35. But we (mostly ex-lawyers/accountants) would notice how some people seem to interpret smart casual as meaning really casual jeans and there were many people who seemingly hadn't bought a new shirt for 10 plus years. And quite a few people would wear print shirts that are much more suited for Loud Shirt days to meet with external people.

I've recently moved into a role with a listed entity in another sector and the dress standards there are even worse. Many people (all in non-field roles) come in with dirty shoes that have never seen a bit of polish, shirts are often barely tucked in, and the odd person who wears a tie to meet external parties don't bother to tie up the top button because the shirt doesn't fit.

I am personally not a huge stickler for how people dress but the sort of stuff I described doesn't seem to me to be very professional. And despite my generally pretty relaxed attitude over the years I have excluded people from client meetings and so on because I deemed their dress standards unacceptable. It's often been a source of conflict as a younger manager. Ironically, some of the younger guys who "down dress" a bit are actually far more tidy and professional in appearance. Their t-shirts are clean, in good condition, and their jeans don't look like the sort that tradies wear but I have seen people pulled up just because they are wearing a t-shirt despite otherwise looking far better than older colleagues.

How do other people see this issue?