Ever since business casual became an accepted standard of dress in the workplace, employees have had endless questions about what actually constitutes business casual. In reality, the guidelines are different for each company. Generally speaking, business suits are much too formal to fit the style. Exercise clothes, short shorts, ripped jeans and tank tops are much too casual to be business casual. Apart from those rather extreme guidelines, everything else is based on interpretation.

For many businesses, business casual is very structured. It means that you wear dress pants, skirts, polo shirts, button down shirts and sweaters. Jeans, sneakers and flip-flops are a no-no. T-shirts are fine if they are under something or have nothing printed on them. Many of these businesses are helping employees avoid the expense of traditional business wear, but still want to maintain a very professional, serious tone at work. They may even allow clean, well-maintained jeans and T-shirts on casual Fridays. Some businesses like this will occasionally do a charity fundraiser, by charging their employees a small fee to partake in jeans and T-shirt days.

For many other businesses, T-shirts are perfectly fine for business casual wear, as long as they are clean and in good repair. Most businesses however, will enforce common sense rules about what can be printed on a T-shirt. Text on a business casual T-shirt should never be offensive, rude, contain bad language, be sexually explicit, be political or promote a competitor of the business you work for. There are very few workplaces where you can actually wear anything you choose.

So, in short, a T-shirt can be considered business casual, depending on the T-shirt and depending on what the company’s policies are. If you absolutely want to wear a T-shirt that does not meet your company’s guideline, layering is always a good solution. Put your favorite tee under another T-shirt, button down shirt or sweater for a neat layered look. You’ll have the satisfaction of wearing the shirt of your choice, without getting in trouble for it.

Custom-made T-shirts can be the solution to your problems if you find that your T-shirts are not suitable for business casual. Thanks to custom printing you can have a T-shirt made in the color, design and style you want, saying whatever you want it to say. You can still make a statement, have a unique look, but follow the business casual guidelines of your office with a custom-made T-shirt.

If your company is on the more relaxed spectrum of business casual or you know that you have a casual Friday coming up, you can have some fun with a customized T-shirt. You can have a line like one of these printed on a tee:
•    This IS business casual
•    I love business casual
•    Business casual rocks
•    Peace, Love, Business Casual
•    I’ll take business casual any day
•    Business casual works
•    Casual Friday rocks

Get your T-shirt wardrobe up to par for business casual with brand new custom-made tees just for work!