In a similar vein:
The airline I worked for got bought by a larger competitor. So along the way we all got their uniforms. And once we were all dressed like them we began working together as one big blended group.
At the old airline there was one just set of ties & pocket squares for the male flight attendants ("MFA"s). At the new airline there were 3: red, yellow, and blue. Each MFA was free to choose whichever color(s) he preferred. Officially there was no difference between them.
UNofficially, these colors had taken on meanings. Red was “I’m a gay swinger; fly me”, yellow was “I’m gay in an LTR or at least gay-friendly; We can talk fashions, but hands off”, and blue was “I’m straight; you pervos keep your distance.”
Which color code TPTB were unable or unwilling to tell our folks about.
Much consternation ensued when *hundreds *of our MFAs showed up for work wearing the wrong gang colors. Several awkward incidents occurred on layovers before the word got around.