To save power, Bangladesh bans suits and ties

[The Straight Story]

To save power, Bangladesh bans suits and ties



In an inspiring display of sensibility, the prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, has ordered male government employees to stop wearing suits, jackets, and neckties.

In addition to eliminating pointless and uncomfortable decorative elements from men’s clothing, the move will help minimize the need for air conditioning. Accompanying the government’s laudable decision was an order not to turn air conditioners in government buildings below 75 degrees F.

According to the BBC, Bangladesh has been suffering from a major energy shortage, with daily blackouts as the state-owned power plants are unable to meet demand. The British news service reports that the plants’ output has not been able to keep up with the country’s economy, which has been growing 6 percent annually for the past five years.

Additionally, the energy sector has been plagued by allegations of corruption, which, if true, could possibly be exacerbated by the low morale that inevitably results from forcing workers to tie useless strips of fabric around their necks every day.

Under the new dress code – which applies even to the highest levels of government – men may also wear their shirts untucked, instead of stuffing the bottom portion into their pants for no good reason other than to conform to some arbitrary display of professionalism.

...

Wearing suits and stuffing our necks with a tie, in spite of ourselves, is a sartorial fashion we have borrowed from the British who were our colonial rulers. Our ancestors enjoyed punishing themselves by mimicking the British style and fashion, which was seen as synonymous with being chic and modern. They wanted in vain to be ‘brown sahibs’! So, as a legacy our office executives-the fashion victims-now find it prestigious to chill their car and office chamber to <64 degrees F.> so that they and their guests can wear pinstripe suits and silk ties wrapped over the designer shirts when the weather outside is extremely hot and humid and when the general people are sweating and panting due to power outage.

http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/09/05/to-save-power-bangladesh-bans-suits-and-ties/

[Chulanowa]

1. Makes sense to me!

I mean local dress styles develop for a reason, after all!

[sui generis]

2. hell I'd wear a selwar kameez here if it wouldn't get me arrested

SADLY, the real meat of this story is the italics paragraph.

There are cultural "purists" who want to force everyone to reject sinful western habits, starting with western clothing. The bullshit argument about sartorial fashion borrowed from the Brits is retarded - nobody is wearing waistcoats, vests, stovepipe hats and wool stockings.

"Banning" a form of dress has nothing to do with any of the so-called reasons given, not to mention that those reasons are stupid. The energy sector has corruption due to low morale from wearing ties? Oh and drinking tea made from cow patties will cure bad breath.

[PDJane]

3. I'd happily wear a selwar kameez or a sari

If I could get one big enough....that's a problem. They're a lovely garment, though, and cool. I'm not into ruffles and buckles and furbelows.....and I frankly think that neckties strangle free thought.

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. Selwar Kameeze

[PDJane]

7. I know what they look like...........

they're also usually made of cotton, and beautiful cotton.....although silk is a possibility too. They have to be more comfortable and more practical, even with the shawl, than the polyester stuff that I've seen almost everywhere this year.

[PDJane]

8. sorry........dupe.

[Sebastian Doyle]

5. Corporate America should pay attention to this idea.

Most of the reasons given above from the "green" aspects, to the ridiculous extension of British colonialism would apply in the US as well. (I'd also add less dry cleaning to the "green" part, though I'm not sure if that's what they do in Bangladesh)

[malaise]

6. We did that in the 70s under Michael Manley

and jackass Seaga brought them back. Most of the people in the Eastern Caribbean do not wear suits to work. It's damn madness.