On uniforms

It is widely stated that the late Steve Jobs had a uniform: mock turtleneck, Levis jeans, and New Balance sneakers. He did this because he didn’t want to think about what to wear daily and there was a sense of everyone being in a uniform. It didn’t catch on at Apple, but I’m sure the many fanboys do dress like him.

I’m totally with Jobs on this. In school I had a uniform. I never thought about what to wear. My last uniform at high school was a short-sleeved white shirt (long-sleeved only on Mondays afaik), blue pants, and a pair of white-ish sneakers. Oh and a blue tie. There was not much thinking, and it took a load off for me.

Nowadays, I don’t have a uniform. For most part of the 2000’s, I was just wearing free t-shirts from the various opensource projects I was involved in. After meeting Sara in 2008, I learned about the Polo tee. I’d still have to pick what shoes to wear, what pants to wear (be it shorts or long pants or jeans). I usually just ended up with cargo pants due to the many pockets that come with it.

So, my uniform lately is that I usually have a Polo t-shirt on. I’ve not figured out how to ease the pants problem — sometimes its shorts, sometimes its jeans, sometimes its pants. I very rarely need to wear a suit. I’ve also not figured out footwear.

All that aside, the idea of a uniform makes sense. I’m still figuring out what’s useful for me. Here’s to cracking the uniform code!

One Comment

  1. Anonymous says:

    Interesting view – I think having some kind of uniform-like clothings really make life a lot simpler… :)


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