Business Casual for Men: Dress Code Guide (+ Outfit Examples)

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What Is Business Casual Attire for a Man?

Business casual is dressing down from business attire; NOT dressing up a casual outfit. The idea behind business casual is to project a professional image while enjoying more casual attire. You must appear neat, groomed and work-appropriate, and yet, relaxed at the same time. But never too relaxed.

Appropriate business casual attire includes the following clothes:

• Dress shirt
• Blazer or sports jacket
• Suit
• Dress pants
• Chinos
• Sweater or cardigan
• Accessories such as a tie, pocket square and a watch

Business Casual VS Smart Casual: What’s the Difference?

Business casual and smart casual are often confused with each other. But smart casual is a dress style meant for casual wear, while business casual is a dress code meant for business purposes. If business casual is dressing down from a professional suit, smart casual is dressing up your casual clothes.

That said, if you’re attending an event with a smart casual dress code, you should expect to dress up more. Chances are they are themselves confused and mean for their attendees to wear business casual attire.

Below, we’ll dive into more detail on how to dress business casual. Here’s an overview of all the topics we’ll cover:

Your Basic Guidelines for the Business Casual Dress Code

So business casual men should dress down from a suit, but what exactly does that mean?

What is considered business casual in men’s fashion?

Well, your business casual wardrobe should always include a suit or sports coat, a dress shirt, slacks or chinos, an optional tie, and dress shoes.

Now, let’s go over some rules.

3 Essential Rules When Wearing Business Casual Attire

These are just the basics:

1. Your business casual wear should always be clean, unwrinkled and have at least some formal elements. You should, at the very least, wear a collar.
2. Your clothes should always fit you properly. This is something the well-dressed man should always ensure, even with casual attire, but it becomes even more important when dressing for business purposes. After all, you don’t want to make a sloppy impression on a potential client or employer. It could hurt your career.
3. If you are just starting to build a business casual wardrobe, stick to neutral colors such as white, black, grey, tan, navy, and brown for your business casual shirts and pants. This way, your business casual wear will never go out of fashion and will be easy to mix and match.

Business Casual Do’s and Don’ts

If you want a simple overview of what you should or shouldn’t wear for a modern business casual look, these are some quick do’s and don’ts:

• Do wear a collared shirt, sweater, cardigan, and/or tailored jacket.
• Don’t wear sneakers or t-shirts.
• Do wear a tailored blazer of sport coat with a tie.
• Don’t wear a tie with a suit. (You can, but it’s not business casual.)
• Do wear dress pants or chino pants.
• Don’t wear shorts, sandals or slippers.
• Do wear dress shoes, dress socks, watches and pocket squares.
• Don’t wear loud patterns or colors.
• Do wear clothes that fit properly.
• Don’t just dress up your casual outfit.
• Do dress down your business outfit.
• Do project a professional image, even if you’re wearing more casual attire
• Do check the dress standard of the other employees at your company and aim to take it up a notch.

There are also situations in which you definitely should NOT dress business casual:

• Don’t dress business casual for important meetings with clients, managers or executives.
• Don’t dress business casual when representing your company in the media, at a conference, or at an event.
• Don’t dress business casual for important job interviews (unless you’re 100% sure they have a casual dress code, in which case, I’d still suggest wearing a suit sans tie).

Building the Wardrobe: The Essential Business Casual Clothes for Men

So by now you should have a clearer idea of what business casual clothing looks like, and you have some basic guidelines to follow.

So let’s dig a little deeper and go through all clothes that belong in a man’s business casual wardrobe and how to get the look right.

Note: You may also like my article on how to dress business casual on a budget.

1. Dress Shirts

Dress shirts are the quintessential business casual shirts. Every outfit we’ll cover in this article will involve one of these.

You may find offices that will allow a tucked in polo shirt in summer, but for a true business casual look, stick to dress shirts. (You can always go for linen when the temperatures are high. )

Start off your wardrobe with dress shirts in traditional colors like white and light blue. A white button-down oxford is a classic go-to shirt for business casual attire. You might also opt for alternatives like light pink, mint green or lavender.

You might consider subtle patterns like gingham or pinstripes. But avoid business casual shirts that are too bold or trendy in design. Remember that you want to err on the conservative side when selecting your professional attire.

Fit is essential, so try out the three main types of dress shirts: slim fit, regular fit, and relaxed fit to see which goes best with your body type.

While current fashion trends seem to prefer a slim fit, select it only if it compliments your body type and you feel comfortable. Whenever in doubt, choose long-sleeved shirts in a regular fit.

What about button-down vs. button-up? What’s the difference?

A button-down shirt has buttons that fasten the collar to the body of the shirt. A button-up shirt, on the other hand, has a stiffer collar and may use a plastic shirt stay to keep the collar in place.

Both are fine for business casual attire.

Which reminds me — tuck your shirt in! An untucked shirt has no business being in a business casual outfit. And unless you’re wearing a tie, leave your top two buttons of your shirt undone (unless that shows too much skin or chest-hair; then just leave the top one undone).

Business-Casual Shirts

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2. Pants

What type of pants are business casual?

On your bottom half, you want to wear either dress pants or business casual chinos. Make sure your pants fit well and don’t crease too much around the ankles. Go for a no-break to half-break.

What’s the “break”?

The break is the fold or creasing of the fabric where your pant leg meets your shoe.

There’s a thin difference between a no-break, well-fitting pair of trousers and pants that are too short. So ensure you have a good tailor at hand to alter your dress slacks.

And again, start with more conservative colors like navy, grey or camel. If you do wear more colored pants, make sure they’re appropriately muted.

Business Casual Pants

Business Casual Chinos

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3. Shoes

When you’re dressing business casual, the only footwear you want to look at is sneakers.

I kid, of course. Sneakers have as little business being in a business-casual outfit as tennis shoes or flip-flops.

As I explain in my post on business casual shoes for men, you can choose from the following seven options:

• Oxfords
• Derbies
• Brogues
• Monk Straps
• Chelsea Boots
• Dress Boots
• Loafers (in suede or leather)

Get a pair of dress shoes in black and brown, so you have a couple of appropriate lace-up shoes to wear with any color of your pants.

Chukka boots tend to bend more towards the casual, so avoid them in a business casual outfit.

Keep socks in neutral colors of brown, black, grey, or beige. Or, if you want to play matchy, find socks with subtle patterns that include both the color of your pants and shoes.

Business Casual Dress Shoes

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4. Suits

Some business-casual offices still expect you to wear a suit to work. They just allow you to leave the tie at home.

But even when you don’t have to wear a suit to work, doesn’t mean you never should. It still looks most professional (and handsome as well, so the ladies tell me).

Having a suit (or a few) in your wardrobe will also come in handy when you need to step your personal presentation up a notch. What if you’re meeting an important client or have to give a presentation for upper management?

Wearing a suit gives you the most professional image, even if you forego the tie.

Business-Casual Suits

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5. Jackets

While some business casual offices still expect you to wear a suit, others are fine as long as you wear a jacket.

If that’s your situation, navy or grey blazers, tweed sports coats, corduroy jackets and quilted jacket are your basic go-to’s.

A dark blazer worn over a long-sleeved shirt with a tie and leather shoes is classic business casual attire that always looks smart.

Business-Casual Jackets

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6. Sweaters/Cardigans

Sweaters and cardigans also make fine layering pieces for a business-casual outfit.

In some offices, you may only wear them during winter, as a middle layer between your shirt and jacket. But other offices allow you to wear them as a substitute for your jacket.

But don’t think you can just wear that chunky Christmas sweater your grandma knit for you. A v-neck sweater in merino wool works very well as a substitute for a jacket.

Keep your v-neck sweater or cardigan lightweight and solid. Leave the chunky knits and bold patterns for more casual occasions.

You can be a bit bolder when it comes to color though, so don’t be afraid to lighten your office up with a pop of red or yellow. But if you do wear bright colors, pair it with a neutral-colored shirt like a white button-down.

Business-Casual Sweaters & Cardigans

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7. Business Casual Accessories

Accessories are essential in any men’s fashion wardrobe when you want to take your fashion quotient up a notch.

Let’s go over a few business casual accessories.

Ties

Business casual doesn’t have to include a tie. In fact, the business-casual craze started with just leaving the tie at home.

But especially when your outfit leans more casual — say, when you’re wearing a cardigan and chinos instead of a suit — a tie can slide your outfit back toward the business side a bit more. You’ could opt for a more casual tie such as a knit tie. ‘d wat to avoid overly shiny silk tie, but consider a matte or knitted tie instead.

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Bags

When it comes to sporting a business casual look, a backpack has no place. You want to go for something classier.

Instead, opt for a leather bag or canvas-leather bag in brown or black. An all-canvas bag or a portfolio may also work for you but stick to neutral colors and classic, clean, functional designs.

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Belts & Watches

Most people don’t consider belts and watches as necessary accessories. But a smart, stylish man would.

The classiest business casual style for the belt would be plain or braided leather in brown or black. When it comes to watches, nothing beats a brown leather strap style.

You want to make sure your leather belt and watch match your leather shoe.

What this means is – if you are wearing brown leather shoes, your leather belt should also be brown as should be the leather strap of your watch.

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Pocket Squares

Pocket squares can bring a dash of color to your business casual attire. If you are wearing a blazer or a jacket, team it with a contrasting pocket square. When worn with a tie, try and have your pocket square complement rather than match the tie. One easy way to do so is by having one color in the pocket square pattern match the tie (or vice versa).

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4 Business Casual Examples of Men’s Outfits

Now that you know what clothes are essential for dressing business casual, let’s cover a few examples of business casual outfits you could put together.

Different professions have different standards of what is the appropriate business casual look. As a banker or lawyer, you likely need to dress in more formal attire than someone who works at a startup.

(When starting a new job, it is better to be overdressed for the first day in office. You can also discuss with the HR or a colleague to understand what business casual means at your new office.)

I’ve ranked these men’s business casual examples from most formal to least formal attire, and as I’ve said before, which one’s most suitable depends on your office. But if you’re unsure, start with the top one, and dress yourself down from there.

Better to be overdressed on the first meeting than underdressed, remember?

1. The Suit Sans Tie

Is a suit without a tie business casual?

Yes, it’s the most formal of business casual outfits and is a great choice for when you’re not sure how casual the office or event expects you to be. It’s a safe choice.

The suit without tie — which means a matching suit jacket and suit pants worn with a button-down shirt — this look is just one step down from business-formal and still looks the most professional.

Also make sure to wear a nice watch that’s not too blingy. A leather strap with a subtle silver or gold face is fine. Avoid silver or gold straps.

And consider sprucing the outfit up a bit with a pocket square. You’re going without a tie, which frees up the neck, but also diminishes the visual interest some. Adding a pocket square will fix that.

This outfit is actually quite safe when it comes to dressing business casual. When you arrive at an office that’s one rung down on the dressy ladder (i.e. look #2), you wouldn’t stick out too much in a suit sans tie. And if you arrive at an office where the dress code is more casual (i.e. look #4), you can just take off your jacket to fit right in.

Simple, right?

2. The Odd Jacket

The term odd jacket isn’t used much anymore, but it means a jacket that wasn’t made with a matching pair of pants. Whenever you wear a jacket with pants that don’t match the color and fabric of the jacket, you’re wearing an odd jacket.

So that means your navy blazer, tweed spots coat or corduroy jacket.

You can pull this look off in two ways: With dress pants or with chinos. The dress pants will give you a dressier look whereas the chinos are a tad more casual.

Both looks will probably be fine if your office has this standard of business-casual, but the dress pants will give you a more professional edge.

3. The Dressed-Up Knit

The dressed-up knit outfit has you wearing a sweater or cardigan over your business casual shirt instead of a jacket.

This look leans far more towards casual than the previous two, so I’d recommend pairing the knitwear with dress pants, rather than chinos. The latter works too, but dress pants will slide the look back towards business a bit.

And as I mentioned earlier, pairing a tie with your knitwear will have the same effect.

4. The Shirt & Slacks

This is the most casual of the business-casual looks. It leaves both the jacket and tie at home.

Like with the previous look, go with dress pants rather than chinos to avoid venturing too far into the casual wardrobe territory.

However, unlike the previous look, don’t try to elevate this by adding a tie. Wearing a tie without a jacket makes you look boyish. It’s the outfit your mom made your younger self reluctantly wear to a wedding.

And that’s exactly the impression you’ll make, except now your boss makes you wear the tie and you refuse to go all the way with a jacket. Not a professional look, my friend.

So either wear a jacket and tie or wear neither. You can take the jacket off as you sit down to work, or even carry it on your arm as you move from your office to a client’s. Just having it around will make the tie look deliberate.

Are Jeans Business Casual for a Man?

Jeans are traditionally not considered business casual, but many modern offices allow them as part of the dress code. Business casual jeans should look fitted, clean and undamaged. The best jeans for business casual are dark blue denim or black jeans. Avoid ripped, faded and/or frayed jeans. 

Jeans can be business casual if your office allows them and if you wear them appropriately. They are casual attire, but if you pair them with dressier items like a dress shirt and/or a blazer, you’ll maintain a more professional appearance.

With that said, even if your office allows them, you’ll still look more professional when you wear dress pants or chinos. I recommend taking look at your co-workers and dress (at least) one notch up from how they’re dressing.

Why Is Being Overdressed Better?

Once you’ve been to an office, you can just gauge the room and see what everyone else is wearing. (I’d still recommend taking it up one notch). But if you haven’t been there before and you’re unsure how they expect you to dress, then remember that overdressed is better than underdressed.

At least when you’re overdressed, you still present yourself as a professional. When you’re underdressed though, your potential client or boss might just think you don’t take your job seriously enough.

And that’s the last thing you want, right?

So always keep professionalism in mind, and when in doubt, dress up.

Wear the right clothes and wear them the right way…

A Fun History of Business Casual Clothing!

Ever wondered where this concept of business casual came from?

It all started with Aloha Friday!

Till the mid-60s, businesses had a very strict professional dress code for men’s clothing. Men had to wear business formal attire at all times, meaning a suit with a dress shirt and tie.

Period.

Then in 1966, the Hawaiian shirt industry came up with a brilliant marketing plan to increase shirt sales. They encouraged local businesses to allow their employees to wear their most colorful Hawaiian casual shirt once a week.

They called it Aloha Friday.

The message was not to take yourself too seriously and not to get caught up too much in the rat race. have a little fun in life.

Aloha Friday: Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously

“Aloha Friday” was hugely popular and soon after drifted to the mainland, becoming known as Casual Friday. Before long, the rest of corporate America was wearing clothing like slacks, t-shirts, and dark denim to their workplace every day.

But, then people took it too far, started wearing shorts and flip flops to work. People in upper management started to feel people were having a bit too much fun with Casual Fridays.

The time was ripe for another shift in the formal dress code trend, and it happened with a little nudge from Levi Strauss & Co.

In the early ‘90s, Levi’s launched a series of marketing campaigns to boost sales of Dockers — its new brand — to the corporate world. They printed a brochure called “A Guide to Casual Businesswear,” that showed different business casual looks and sent it to HR departments across the country.

The business casual men’s style prominently featured Dockers paired with a button-up shirt and loafers, or with a long-sleeved shirt and jacket.

Their timing worked well. Companies struggling to keep their employees’ dress code geared towards the formal, directed their employees to refer to Levi’s brochure when dressing up in professional attire.

Other brands, like Ralph Lauren, Jos A. Bank, Brooks Brothers and J.Crew also jumped into the fray with their line of men’s style casual office wear.

And the business casual dress code was born.

FAQ about Men’s Business Casual Attire

What is the difference between business casual and business professional?

Business professional attire is always composed of a suit and tie. Business casual is the dressed down version of business professional, which means you can keep the suit but lose the tie, wear dress pants with a blazer, or wear a wider variety of more casual clothes, such as chinos, sweaters and cardigans.

What should I wear on the first day of business casual?

On your first day, if you’re unsure of how casual or formal the office expects you to dress, the safest choice is to wear a suit without tie. Alternatively, wearing a sports coat with a dress shirt and dress pants should also be fine in most cases.

What is the best business casual interview outfit for men?

The safest choice is to wear a grey or navy suit and a dress shirt with a leather belt and leather dress shoes. But if you’re unsure, the best thing you can do is call ahead, tell the receptionist you have a job interview, and ask her what the most appropriate office attire is.

What is business casual for men in summer?

Even when the temperature rises, you can still pull off a business casual look by picking light-weight, breathable fabrics. For instance, you can wear a linen or seersucker suit or blazer instead of wool. Instead of dark navy or grey, you can chose lighter colors like light brown, light blue or light grey.

Of course, if you go without a jacket, sticking with just the shirt and slacks is also option. You can wear a linen shirt and choose chino pants in a lighter, more breathable cotton. Some offices may even allow you to wear a short sleeve shirt or polo shirt.

If you want more advice, check out my guide on how to dress in summer.

How do you dress business casual in the winter?

The beauty of winter is that you can put your layers to full effect to keep yourself warm. For example, you can layer an undershirt and dress shirt with a sweater and jacket, and of course a winter coat when you’re outside. Of course, You also want to opt for warmer fabrics like wool, especially for your top layers.

If you want more advice, check out my guide on how to dress for winter.

Are polo shirts business casual?

Some offices also allow polo-shirts in summer, but those belong more in a casual wardrobe than as professional attire. Go there only when the heat is otherwise unbearable (and you know your office allows it). And if you do wear a polo, make sure you tuck it in.

Do you have to tuck in your shirt for business casual?

Yes, for a business casual look, you have to tuck in your shirt. An untucked shirt is far too casual for the business casual dress code. You always want to tuck in your shirt to create a more professional, put-together image.

Are boots business casual for men?

Yes, certain men’s boots are fine to wear in a business casual outfit. Specifically, you should feel free to wear chelsea boots and dress boots, as well as dressier looking chukka boots.

Are khaki pants business casual?

Yes, khaki pants are a classic choice for business casual. You can wear either khaki dress pants or khaki chinos, and you’ll be fine.

Are black jeans business casual?

Black jeans are a good option for business casual wear. Wear them with black dress shoes and a black belt and with a crisp white dress shirt. To top it off, you might also wear a light gray blazer.

Can you wear sneakers in business casual?

Sneakers are not appropriate for business casual outfits. Just like with jeans though, certain offices will accept them. If your office allows them, make sure you go for a pair of clean classic-looking white sneakers and nothing too extravagant.

Now You Can Join the Business Casual Men Who Get it Right

You know now what business casual means for men, and how to make it work. So don’t be the guy that emphasizes the casual when you have to dress business casual. Be the guy that gets it right.

Even if the rest of your office is wearing jeans,  just hold yourself to a higher standard. Take it one step up. Be the guy that look professional, even if you’re the only one. You’ll stand out in the right way.

The people who matter will notice.