My husband is a defense contractor. He was to be in Georgia this week working on a warehouse project. Most of his time there is spent in the warehouse, so he dresses for comfort. He has flat front dockers and polo shirts, along with two pairs of shoes – black rubber soled hushpuppies (very comfy) and a pair of brown slipons (those moccasin style ones with the elastic gores). Last night, he got called to a set of meetings in Florida. He will be going directly from Georgia to the meetings, he won’t come home first. The dress for the meetings, thank goodness, is business casual not suits and business casual at his company ranges from polo shirts to button-up sport shirts and from dockers to dress slacks, so the shirts and pants he has with him are within the acceptable range.
Here’s the question – he doesn’t feel that the moccasin-style shoes are appropriate, which leaves him with the hushpuppies. The hushpuppies are lace up, but with soft soles – I think he could get away with them, but he feels they are too casual. Added to this is the fact that there are two meetings and he only has one pair of navy blue pants that he usually wears with the hushpuppies. His other two pants are khaki and olive green. Can he get away with wearing the olive pants with fairly casual black shoes? Or does he need to try and find a store and buy a pair of nicer brown lace-up dress shoes? He has a 5 1/2 hour drive in front of him and 2 last-minute meetings to prepare for, so he doesn’t want to take time out for an uneccesary shopping trip, but he doesn’t want to look like a goon at the meeting either. he’s already going to feel a bit underdressed, as he wouldn’t usually wear a polo shirt to this type of meeting anyway. Also, if he does buy a pair of shoes, should he buy a new belt too? The belts he has with him are a wider style, not the narrower belts he usually wears for ‘dress.’
Try to find the brown dress shoes (and I say that only because your husband will feel uncomfortable otherwise). If the belts are a good color, no need to replace them.
How much is your blokie willing to spend in order to feel comfortable at the meeting?
I personally think it would be perfectly OK to go as-is and say ‘I came straight to this unexpected meeting from another trip, sorry if I’m a bit casual’ and let them get over it. However, if your hubby feels this would be career-limiting or that he would be distracted and feel out-of-place (not a trivial consideration, I’ve been there) then I would make a quick stop at a big store and buy either a smarter shirt or a pair of shiny shoes or both. Either should elevate the ensemble from casual to business casual without breaking the bank, and take probably 15 mins to purchase if he knows exactly what he wants.
Belt is probably an unecessary concern - I can see his concern if he is wearing a suit or something, but I wouldn’t worry about it with chinos.
At least now he knows the wisdom of always packing a non-iron dress shirt for those unexpected moments
I wish – it would take alot of cowboys to get my husband into a pair of cowboy boots. And I love cowboys!
Anyway, I just spoke with him – he’s moved on from worrying about clothes to worrying about the meetings, which he was thrown into with no preperation whatsoever. I told him to stop at a mall if he sees one on his way to Florida (it’s a 5 1/12 drive, so he ought to pass a Penneys somewhere along there!) and buy a new pair of shoes – it’ll be one less thing to worry about. He did 26 years in the Navy, so he’s rather fussy about being appropriately dressed. He knows (based on other meetings) that the polo shirts and chinos are acceptable, so the shoes were the only thing. I’ll definately take slaphead’s advice in the future, though, and slip a dressier outfit into his suitcase from now on, wherever he’s going. This is the second surprise meeting he’s had sprung on him since he started working for this company, so it’s probably going to happen again at some point. Thanks guys!
Jess I don’t know if your husband has left yet, but he’ll be traveling down I75, and there is a big outlet mall call Tangier’s just south of Atlanta on I75. He should be able to find something reasonable there.
He’s actually in Macon – well, Warner Roberts (? Warner Rogers?), to be exact. I don’t know if he’ll be on 175 or not, but when he calls back I’ll tell him to keep an eye peeled.
If he’s in Warner Robins, he’s south of all that stuff I mentioned. He’ll be on I75 headed south. There are some factory outlets on I75 at Adel. He’ll see signs for 'em. Also, just below Valdosta at Lake Park, GA there are some outlet stores. He should be able to find shoes, clothes, belts, whatever he wants at either. Hope this helps
If he’s going to be in a warehouse, surely he’ll be wearing steel-toecapped safety boots? If they’re anything like mine, a quick dab of polish and he’s set.
Nobody’s going to look at his shoes. If he wants to casually mention to the group that he just came from a warehouse trip, that might help him feel more comfortable.
I see nothing wrong whatsoever with wearing the black shoes with the blue pants or the green pants. Even if he had time to go home and repack, I think both combinations are perfectly acceptable. There ya go, two meetings. Just match the shoes with the belt. I see no reason whatsoever to buy new shoes for this meeting.
Depending on the sector he is working in, rubber-soled shoes are likely not the professional route to take. It’s not likely to be something he’ll catch heat for, but it may set him apart from where he wants to be in terms of business aesthetic.
