Dress-up with a dash of dress-down: the new office chic
Both in our menswear and our womenswear brands there has been an increased demand for suiting in the last three months Stuart Baird
Retail director at TFG
● Tired of working from home in tracksuit pants and leisure wear, some South Africans are itching to smarten up with a more formal wardrobe, especially as companies around SA are starting to encourage employees to return to the office.
But nearly two years of lockdown restrictions and working from home have caused a habit shift, with retailers expecting consumers to continue mixing casual, comfortable clothing with more formal outfits.
A renewed interest in dressing smartly would be good news for retailers, whose office-wear sales have taken a hit since the pandemic arrived in March 2020. With office nodes turned into ghost towns there was no reason to dress up.
But with the national vaccination programme and lighter lockdown restrictions, the drive to get staff to return to the office is expected to gain momentum in 2022.
Lawrence Pillay, head of sourcing at Woolworths, says the group is “broadly seeing an increase in smart wear, suggesting that customers are starting to dress up more formally with a move away from the relaxed leisure wear that we have seen trending previously”.
“This could be a result of the return to office that appears to be playing out with many employers.”
Pillay says Woolworths doesn’t believe formal-wear sales will return to pre-Covid levels soon, but that the shift from leisure to smart will continue.
His colleague, Sonia Battista, general manager of women’s outerwear, footwear and accessories, says the retailer is “seeing a shift towards versatile smart separates” such as its woven tunic tops.
Wardrobe-building items such as trousers and tops continue to be popular as they can be “dressed up and down for all occasions”, she adds.
Stuart Baird, group director of retail at Foschini owner TFG, says that after the global trend of casual workwear during the pandemic there has “certainly been a swing back to a more dressed-up demand from our customers”.
“Both in our menswear and our women’s wear brands there has been an increased demand for suiting in the last three months.”
Baird says a big trend this summer is for women, particularly, to wear sneakers or sandals with soft tailoring. “Dresses, too, have been a key trend for summer, and a return to ‘dressed-up’ partywear is more prevalent than the office suit. Both trend research and customer feedback clearly indicate that customers are tired of slouchy track pants as well as the sweatshirts and loungewear they have been living in through the various lockdown periods.” Swedish group H&M’s South African office says it believes customers “are ready to fall in love with fashion again and to dress up after such a long time at home in casual clothing”.
However, the group says South
Africans have become used to the “comfort of loungewear, which will be hard to let go of completely”. At the same time, customers want “to look a bit more pulled together”.
“The line between smart and casual is blurring and tailoring is getting more relaxed with features from sportswear. Loungewear will also get a makeover, becoming more refined and fashionable.”
The group expects to see an increase in sales of blazers, formal trousers, shirts and blouses in the new year.
Melina Lambrakis, director and fashion buyer of Europa Art Group, says suits are going to be more popular in 2022 but are expected to become looser and more colourful. She says there is no doubt the suit is being revived in a slightly more casual way, judging by recent red carpets and fashion weeks, “or even by looking at what some world-famous influencers are sporting lately”.
“Suits can be styled with sneakers or chunky sandals for a more street-style chic look. The fit has gone looser and colours are bolder. The suit look is set to be hotter than ever in 2022.”