system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: A suit and tie is not necessary (and should even be discouraged) to wear to work.

First, just to get this out of the way: If you love wearing a suit &tie because it makes you feel confident, helps you focus, it's comfortable to you, or any other reason that benefits you: that's great. Not saying you should be banned from wearing something that looks good on you and makes you feel good. Second, my personal perspective is that of a gay, lower middle class, white man who works as a social worker, but who has also worked in oil and gas, architecture, and other "corporate" environments as well as service industries. 

Certain professions require specific clothing for safety (examples: construction workers may need a hard hat, surgeons should wear gowns/gloves/masks, etc.). Besides this, requiring that certain items of clothing be worn in order to appear "work appropriate" is an outdated, uncomfortable, disrespectful, and even oppressive idea. Why should anyone be required to wear something like a suit and tie to work? If you have to sit at a desk all day and are required to wear something with a collar, tucked into slacks, and leather shoes, what is the benefit to this uniform? 

These types of clothing are typically uncomfortable. Wear a pair of leather oxfords for 10-12 hours without taking them off one day and then wear a pair of sneakers for the same time the next; what do you think will feel better? And if you don't think comfort should be considered,  what do you think is better for your feet? I understand the idea is that businesses want to maintain the appearance of "professionalism". But is the current standard of what is "professional" still necessary? Many wildly successful tech companies are notorious for having casual attire as a standard for its employees. The lack of employees wearing a silk noose did not get in the way of their exponential successes. 

Beyond that, and this is where I feel I might lose some of you, I don't believe I'm the only person who can make a connection between the "ideal" of a suit & tie, and the influence of classism, sexism, colonialism, and other outdated ideals such as meritocracy and conspicuous consumption. 

We can already see some movement in what women wear to work. Women aren't necessarily expected wear leather heels, a wool-blend jacket, or a blouse buttoned to the neck anymore. Women can wear clothing that is best suited to the weather if the want. In comparison, even at a not-for-profit where my clients were typically very low-income, I've been told that wearing navy dress shorts was not appropriate for work in 30+ degree weather (Celsius).  

Finally - I am not advocating for wearing pajamas, sweatpants, or slippers to the office. But one thing working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic has confirmed is that wearing these types of clothing while working doesn't prohibit someone from doing a good job when their job is just sitting at a computer. I get that there's got to be some minimum requirement. But I believe we have a lot of room between that minimum and the suit and tie.
gpt
The issue is that you’re centering the argument around the employee (his comfort and his ability to produce the same quality of work in another attire) while neglecting the holistic view and the broader picture. 

Companies can only be successful if their consumers enjoy their products and therefore adopting a customer-centric approach. You used the example of tech companies adopting a more lenient approach when it comes to attire, and that’s true, but what’s important to point out is that tech companies don’t need a lot of in-person meetings with clients when it comes to delivering customer success since their products are mainly digital. Google just needs to make digital tweaks on their platforms based on consumer feedbacks (obtained digitally) for their customers to enjoy their products even more. And more importantly, tech companies are rather “recent” (most were founded in the 21st century where millennials were already challenging the whole suit/tie approach). 

More traditional companies such as finance and law firms are way older and thus it’s more difficult to instil change in workflows that have been persisting for several decades. Secondly, their success relies on in-person meetings with their clients (to the contrary of tech companies who don’t necessarily need physical presence to produce platforms that are enjoyed by consumers). As such, the in-person meetings are crucial to exhibit credibility and trust, and of course one’s look isn’t the sole factor taken into consideration to cement that trust, but it will be whether subconsciously or not, factored in the prospective customers opinion.