The Importance of a Professional Wardrobe

In a competitive business environment, perception is often as important as fact. If a client perceives a broker to be careless, then the broker is forever tainted as careless in that client’s mind. The actual attention to detail that the broker pays to trades on the client’s behalf may be overshadowed by a personal checkbook left open on a desk or a circular stain from a coffee cup on the jacket of a book. Trivial observations, made in fractions of a second, can linger submerged in a client’s mind for days, months, or perhaps even years. They remain of no consequence until a trade loses value. At that point, the client will attribute a normal market occurrence to careless handling of an account.

Professionals in all walks of business face this issue with their customers. For politicians, who routinely ride the coattails of fickle public opinion, the importance of perception and appearance are ratcheted up to nearly destructive levels. Young business professionals would do well to wholeheartedly accept a maxim that every male politician knows to the marrow in his bones: The clothes make the man, in the public’s eye.

When considering the importance of clothing, consider that men’s neckwear draws the eye even more than polished shoes or a bespoke suit. A professional wardrobe with appropriate men’s neckwear can open a door at a critical point and allow a conversation to take place that might otherwise have never occurred. Before the big client becomes a client, before the ideal job is offered, and before the career-making sales is written up, a conversation has to occur. Anything that facilitates that conversation is a tool to be used to the fullest advantage.

Men’s neckwear alone will not be enough, but the proper tie, tied in the proper knot, adds to the client’s perception that he or she is dealing with a sharp individual. The right cut of suit adds to that impression, as do clean and polished shoes. A bright smile and a firm handshake later, truly sharp individuals have parlayed perception into opportunity.

The width of men’s neckwear fluctuates with seasonal trends, but it should always approximate the width of the jacket’s lapels. This creates a symmetry that the human eye finds pleasing. The color of men’s neckwear also follows predictable fashion trends, and any reputable clothier will know which colors are coming into vogue and which are preparing to gather dust in the back of a wardrobe.