Bankers Are Selling Off Their Suits, So What’s the Future of Tailoring?

It was a scoop to chill the blood of tailors everywhere, especially in Italy. For according an internal memo obtained by the Wall Street Journal last month, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has decreed that its over 235,000 employees are no longer obliged to wear suits. Yes, suits are still de rigueur at the bank when doing business with those who expect to see a perfectly pressed notch lapel: “If you’re seeing a client you should dress for that client,” it warned. Apart from that, though, the bankers are free to wear slacks, casual shirting, and who knows what else that lurks in their wardrobes. The Journal revealed the effect was galvanizing: “Employees wore more casual pants after seeing the memo Thursday night.” Here, laid bare, was immediate evidence that the hitherto suit-bound staff among J.P. Morgan’s workforce were fired up to dress down. Read more at Vogue.