I was quite interested to read Mark Cuban’s latest post in which he explains why he doesn’t wear a suit. I suppose this could have been on my five things post, but I have to admit, I don’t like wearing a suit either. I wear one when it is “appropriate” obviously, but I’ve never quite gotten it. As Mark says:

Exactly what purpose does a suit serve ? Why in the world are so many people required to wear a suit to work ? Do the clothes make the man or woman in the western world today ? Does wearing a tie make us work harder or smarter ? Is this a conspiracy by the clothing, fabric or dry cleaning industry to take our money ?

Or are we all just lemmings following a standard we all know makes zero sense, but we follow because we are afraid not to ?

There are two things I don’t like about suits. First, they aren’t exactly the most comfortable things to wear. Second, the only purpose they seem to serve is to make everyone look the same. And that kinda sucks. As a society, I think it’s safe to say we’re beyond the need for assimilation, and we now value individuality. Where does a suit fit into that? It doesn’t.

Of course Mark has an advantage over the rest of us. If he doesn’t wear a suit, it doesn’t matter, he’s still rich, no one is going to fire him. What if I hadn’t worn a suit to the business plan competitions? We probably would not have won, that’s what.

Perhaps the only thing I like about wearing a suit is that it makes me look older.

Read: Mark Cuban