From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Casual Friday along with dressing casually during the week became very prevalent during the
Dot-com bubble of the late 1990s and early 2000s rooted in a relaxed California-based business culture. The day (also known as
Dress-down Friday, or simply
Casual day) is an
American and
Canadian trend which has spread to other parts of the world, wherein some offices may celebrate a semi-reprieve from the constrictions of a formal
dress code. Whereas, during the rest of the week, business
shirts,
suits,
ties, trousers, and dress
shoes would be the norm, on Casual Friday workers might be allowed to wear more
casual dress. Some companies might allow
jeans, casual blouses or
T-shirts, hoodies, track jackets, and
sneakers/
running shoes or even stocking feet, but others require
business casual or
smart casual dress. Some offices allow a themed dress down day. On this day, even managers in such workplaces are allowed to dress down.
The tropical roots of Casual Friday go back to at least 1947 in Hawaii, when the city of Honolulu allowed workers to wear the Aloha shirt part of the year. The term Aloha Friday dates from the 1960s, when the shirts were worn on Fridays instead of normal business attire. It may be seen as a corporate response attempting to raise worker morale in a sometimes stifling white-collar office environment. 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.[citation needed]