Comfortable Changes to Office Wear

As Americans slowly return to the office, they are rethinking their clothing choices at work.
随着美国人慢慢回到办公室上班,他们开始重新考虑自己在工作中的着装选择。

After two years of working from home in exercise clothes, many people now want to be comfortable while looking professional in the office. Some people are experimenting with new looks. And companies are trying to keep up with the demand for "business comfort" clothing.
在身穿运动服居家工作两年后,许多人现在想要在办公室看起来专业的同时保持舒适。有些人开始尝试新形象。各公司也在努力跟上“商务舒适”的服装需求。

Kay Martin-Pence works for a drug company in Indianapolis. The 58-year-old used to wear structured business clothes, like dress pants and blazers, and high-heel shoes to work before the pandemic. Now she wears comfortable clothes, including stylish jeans and flowing shirts, along with lower-heel shoes.
凯·马丁-彭斯在印第安纳波利斯的一家制药企业工作。这位58岁的老人在大流行前习惯穿着精心搭配的商务服饰,像是正装裤和西装外套以及高跟鞋去上班。现在她穿着舒适的衣服,包括时尚的牛仔裤和飘逸的衬衣,外加低跟鞋。

"Being comfortable is more important than being super structured," said Martin-Pence. She added that she will never wear dress pants to the office again.
马丁-彭斯表示:“穿着舒适比精心搭配更重要。”她还表示,她再也不会穿着正装裤去办公室了。

Adam Galinsky is a social psychologist at Columbia Business School. He studies the connection between what people wear and how they think. Galinsky said that people will knowingly think about what they will wear to the office. They may compare themselves to others and think about the situation they are in.
亚当·加林斯基是哥伦比亚商学院的社会心理学家。他研究了人们的穿着和想法之间的联系。加林斯基表示,人们会有意地考虑他们的办公室着装。他们可能会将自己与他人进行比较,并考虑他们所处的位置。

He said that back-to-work clothes are still a social experiment and the decision of what to wear could go either way. "My guess is that it will go more casual, but maybe it doesn't," Galinsky said.
他说,重返工作岗位的服装仍然是一项社会实验,决定怎么穿可能两面都说得通。加林斯基表示:“我猜它会变得更加随意,但也许不会。”

Clothing companies are also seeing the changing demand.
服装公司也看到了不断变化的需求。

The market research NPD Group reported that wire-free bras, a type of women's support wear, are more than 50 percent of the total non-sports bra market in the U.S. This is a big change from prior years.
市场研究NPD集团报告称,无肩带内衣是一种女性辅助服饰,占到了美国非运动内衣市场总量的50%以上。这与去年相比发生了很大变化。

The most common kind of shoe for the workplace is sneakers. And even though sales of dress shoes have increased slightly, sales are still 34 percent lower than in 2019. The increase is likely to come from more social gatherings and not workplaces.
工作场所最常见的鞋子是运动鞋。尽管正装鞋的销售额略有增长,但是销售额仍然比2019年低34%。这种增长可能来自于更多的社交聚会,而不是工作场所。

Rent the Runway, a rental clothing company, said that rentals of blazers are two times higher than last year because people are returning to work. But people are choosing more colorful and lightweight clothes. Traditional business wear rentals are still down by about 50 percent compared to pre-pandemic rentals.
服装租赁公司Rent the Runway表示,西装外套的租金是去年的两倍,因为人们正在重返工作岗位。但是人们开始选择更多色艳鲜艳和轻便的服饰。与大流行前的租金相比,传统商务服装的租金仍下降了50%左右。

For men, there is an increase in sports pants for office wear, the personal shopping company Stitch Fix said. From January to March of 2022, money from sales of those styles increased three times. There is a high demand for comfortable shirts and pull-on pants. Now there are more pants with stretchy waistbands on the Stitch Fix website than buttons or zippers.
个人购物公司Stitch Fix表示,对于男性来说,办公室穿着的运动裤有所增加。从2022年1月到3月,这些款式的销售额增长了3倍。对舒适衬衣和松紧带长裤的需求量很大。现在,在Stitch Fix网站上,有弹力腰带的裤子比有纽扣或拉链的还要多。

Brooks Brothers produced few casual clothes before the pandemic. Now the 200-year-old company has 45 percent of its offerings in casual sportswear.
布鲁克斯兄弟在大流行前很少生产休闲服装。现在,这家拥有200年历史的公司拥有45%的休闲运动装产品。

Ken Ohashi is the new owner of Brook Brothers. He says that colorful and comfortable clothes are here to stay for men.
大桥肯是布鲁克斯兄弟的新老板。他说,那些色彩鲜艳、舒适的衣服是专为男士设计的。

As more workers want to feel comfortable in their work clothes, some are excited to dress up again.
随着越来越多员工希望在工作服装上感到舒适,一些人对再次盛装打扮感到兴奋。

One such worker is 42-year-old Emily Kirchner of Stevensville, Michigan. She said she is spending money on new clothes that include blue jeans, shirts, and even blazers. As a mother of a young child, she wants to feel her best when she leaves the house.
密歇根州史蒂文斯维尔42岁的艾米莉·基什内尔就是其中一位。她说她正在花钱买新衣服,包括蓝色牛仔裤、衬衣、甚至西装外套。作为一个年幼孩子的妈妈,她希望在离开家时感觉最好。

"It's kind of fun to dress up," Kirchner said. "It's kind of like that back-to-school feeling."
基什内尔表示:“盛装打扮很有趣,这有点像回到学校的感觉。”