Is It Really the End for the Workplace Suit?

If recent reports are to be believed, we are all getting scruffier in the workplace. According to research by First Direct only one in ten of us wears a suit to work, with the same number of us strolling through the doors with tattoos on show. Jeans are now in, with thirty-eight percent donning denim at least once a week, and suits are out, with 37% only suiting up when there's an important meeting to go to.

So is this the end of traditional office chic and the start of a more modern, liberated view on workplace fashion?

Although office styles seem to be moving with the times, people still like to look good whether they're in the workplace or on a night out. The switch to a more relaxed style of fashion at work would seem to mirror the general trend towards a more liberal way of expression when it comes to what people wear, though the results do show that there is still a demand for more traditional office attire when there is an important meeting to be had.

Moving away from what people are wearing, where does that leave some of the more traditional items, specifically business gifts that have graced the desks of business people for years? Executive business gifts such as posh pens, silver business card holders and paperweights have been the preserve of the office environment for years, and tie in very closely to the "suited and booted" image of the company exec or on the road business person. So if the workplace is becoming more informal, is there still a need for such elaborate items?

In the case of the executive end of the workplace it appears that image is still everything. Where people are called on to meet clients, host meetings and liaise with directors, it is still just as important to put on a businesslike front and that often entails wearing a suit and giving off a strong first impression. Where an individual might be the face of their company, importance is still placed on wearing the right suit and making the right impression with the pen they are using and the style of their business card holder.

Even in areas where executive items are evolving, they are keeping the same sharp sense of style as the more traditional items and new products such as branded flash drives have run with the traditional theme of formal and sophisticated office chic.

For now it seems that when businesses have to put on a show for their clients, partners and investors, suited and booted is still very much the way forward, so executive business gifts will still make up a significant part of the image that the modern exec is trying to portray.

Evolutions in modern day business gifts have brought us items such as branded flash drives, but even these reflect a more traditional and formal office style, so while trends are moving away from the suited attire of old, it seems that for execs and business people there will be plenty more life in the old suit yet.