Does the Team think?

[Peter Sweeney]

When I started work in the Conservation workshop at The London Museum in Kensington Palace in 1963. The other lad Bob and I turned up in Jeans, polo shirts and desert boots. As Civil servant Boy learners on £25 a month no way we were buying fancy dress to work in. Any clothing we would buy was for our selves. Asked why we didn't come in flannels shirts and ties we said you supply them and we might. Esta code the Civil service bible had no answer. So for the rest of my working life I pleased myself. Only at the end did regulations for H&S come in and equipment was supplied.

[jpsmit]

When I started work in the Conservation workshop at The London Museum in Kensington Palace in 1963. The other lad Bob and I turned up in Jeans, polo shirts and desert boots. As Civil servant Boy learners on £25 a month no way we were buying fancy dress to work in. Any clothing we would buy was for our selves. Asked why we didn't come in flannels shirts and ties we said you supply them and we might. Esta code the Civil service bible had no answer. So for the rest of my working life I pleased myself. Only at the end did regulations for H&S come in and equipment was supplied.

slightly OT but when I was in Basic training (Canadian Navy Reserves) one of the other officer cadets refused to wear a bra. When her CO told her to - she likewise replied 'you issue it and I will wear it.' Took two days of looking they found that NATO did issue bras - therefore she had to wear one even if not issued. (Can't recall that it made our days any worse - I don't recall even noticing - not much to be seen under a set of fatigues   )

[Erich]

This doesn't relate to factory work. However, up through the early 1990's in my work as a director/cinematographer, I did a few corporate films for Safeco Insurance. Sport coats, trousers and ties were frowned upon...it was suits and ties. And not just a dress shirt, it had to be a white shirt. And the tie had to be something like a regimental stripe one. On one shoot, I showed up with a blue dress shirt. The client took me aside and said that on the next day, we were interviewing the CFO and my shirt had better be white. It is likely still the same there.

Erich in Mukilteo

[Greig Smith]

I'm the youngster here at 52, when I entered corporate 30 years ago we had to wear collar & ties. I managed to build up a collection of the loudest & brightest ties I could possibly find. The crazier & wilder the better. It started a trend amongst the younger staff and competition was fierce. Management did away with the tie requirement about 2 years later. Mission accomplished.

Aye
Greig

[Russlin]

The photo is consistent with those taken at technical training schools for dealers and service personnel - during tea break?

[Duncan Grimmond]

I'm always amazed that few in fitting shops wore boots. Shoes were much more common, even in steam engine building shops. I recall seeing the same in my teens in the 1960s on building sites where I used to get summer holiday work as a labourer, shoes or wellingtons(with the tops turned down) were the standard wear, very few wore boots.
I saved up and bought myself some Tuff boots for about 39/11d, a whole penny short of two quid!

[Howard Wright]

I'm always amazed that few in fitting shops wore boots. Shoes were much more common, even in steam engine building shops. I recall seeing the same in my teens in the 1960s on building sites where I used to get summer holiday work as a labourer, shoes or wellingtons(with the tops turned down) were the standard wear, very few wore boots.
I saved up and bought myself some Tuff boots for about 39/11d, a whole penny short of two quid!

Hi Duncan

I was fortunate (?) to visit Bahir dar in Northern Ethiopia in the late nineties.  As part of the visit I was taken to see a new (and very controversial) power plant that was being constructed as part of the damming of the Blue Nile.  It has a British managing team and Chinese workforce.  The chief engineer was exasperated with the workers who refused the safety equipment provided and worked in flip flops. The only concession to safety was the occasional hard hat perched on top of the traditional straw hat.

When I first started teaching in Universities in the early eighties there were still a sizeable proportion of staff who wore gowns to lecture in!

Cheers

Howard

[andrew34ruby]

I'm always amazed that few in fitting shops wore boots. Shoes were much more common, even in steam engine building shops. I recall seeing the same in my teens in the 1960s on building sites where I used to get summer holiday work as a labourer, shoes or wellingtons(with the tops turned down) were the standard wear, very few wore boots.
I saved up and bought myself some Tuff boots for about 39/11d, a whole penny short of two quid!

I think it depended on the company Duncan. At this apprentice school we were told we must wear steel toecapped boots. We were even told what overalls to buy, and from which shop.


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[A G Wood]

I'm always amazed that few in fitting shops wore boots. Shoes were much more common, even in steam engine building shops. I recall seeing the same in my teens in the 1960s on building sites where I used to get summer holiday work as a labourer, shoes or wellingtons(with the tops turned down) were the standard wear, very few wore boots.
I think it depended on the company Duncan. At this apprentice school we were told we must wear steel toecapped boots. We were even told what overalls to buy, and from which shop.

Same on building sites here Duncan, except Red Band brand gumboots ilo Wellies. When I transferred to demolition the second thing I bought was a pair of proper steel cap boots (first purchase was the obligatory denim jacket) as I considered un-armoured toes would have little chance of survival on that job.
Likewise Andrew34, if you showed up at Tech for a block course without clean overalls and safety footwear, you'd  be marked absent and  sent away to get them. And the boss would get a heads up.
If you showed up for night school without the textbooks, you'd be marked absent and sent away to get them. And the boss would get a heads up.
Dress code was less strict for night school though, apart from  "T- shirts, if worn, must not display offensive words or images" street clothes were fine.

[David Stepney]

When I first started work as a clerk in a solicitors office now more years ago than I care to remember,dark suits (preferably 3 piece) were 'de rigeur'. A blazer and grey trousers might be worn occasionally in the summer but were considered a bit racy. Brown shoes were absolutely forbidden.

The other week, I had occasion to visit a large firm of solicitors in Birmingham and met the head of litigation there, who was dressed in 'distressed' (i.e. fashionably holey jeans) and T shirt. How times have changed!