Really? Do we need to talk about how terrible flip flops are for an office environment? Common sense should tell us that flip flops are meant for the beach or maybe even a casual summer day…. not a professional office environment.
“What’s the big deal?” you might ask. Well, for me, there are a few reasons why flips flops just don’t fit into a professional environment:
- Footwear is part of your overall professional image: you may have a great summer dress and think that a pair of “dressier” flip flops would look great with your outfit. Wrong! While dress codes are generally relaxed during summer months, you still need to put forward an appearance that is professional and put-together. Flip flops say that you’re ready for the beach, not that upcoming client meeting. This goes back to the question I ask all my clients: what do you want your style to say about you?
- Too much foot for the office: simply put, flip flops show off too much foot! An easy and reliable way to tell if your footwear is a good idea is to look at how much shoe and how much foot is showing… maybe we should call it the shoe to foot ratio (shoe:foot). For a professional office, I’d suggest you make sure you have more shoe than foot showing.
- The awful sound: I just hate the sound of a flip flop slapping the bottom of a foot. It can be very distracting in an office environment. I often hear from critics who say that heels also make a loud obnoxious sound. Do they on office carpet though? Nope. Flip flops do. That’s very petty of me to argue but honestly, that slapping sound is distracting.
I found an interesting article that I’d like to share. The one line I want to draw your attention to is this:
Next time you feel like wearing flip flops to the office… just don’t.
