Reaction to 140stitches

I just finished reading the content at 140stitches, and I want to share my thoughts.

So first off. Cool concept. We geeks are probably not so good at fashion. The clever t-shirt, jeans and sneakers look may not be the best fashion, but it does serve a useful function. I’d like to share what some of those are.

Self expression

Many geeks are really passionate about different topics. Actually, that’s a pretty good definition of a geek, someone who is really passionate about something. This passion leaks into different areas, and often comes out in style of clothing and stickers affixed to laptops and vehicles. Think of a geeky t-shirt like a tattoo that you can change everyday.

Standing out in a crowd

When I go to a restaurant and the person at the booth behind me is wearing a ‘code monkey’ t-shirt (with jeans and sneakers), I perk up. This person likely does what I do. I introduce myself. We strike up a short conversation about what we’re working on. We might trade cards. Who knows, I could make a friend this way.

It’s kind of the equivalent of wearing a shirt with your favorite sports team. In line at the supermarket, you’re likely to get asked if you 'watched the game’, 'what did you think of the refs’ or even 'are we going to the finals this year’. It’s a way of signaling that you belong to a certain tribe. For better or worse, this is the dress code that’s been adopted by the indie-developer.

Standing out from peers

Not all developers are alike. Many developers work in very corporate environments where a colar on your shirt is required, denim is not allowed, and you have to wear shoes that can be shined. Other developers work in more relaxed environments wear the rule is pretty much don’t be offensive and keep the private bits covered, and it’d be cool if you didn’t smell bad.

The developers that work in the relaxed environment likely have worked in the more corporate one, so they are taking advantage of the flexibility that the new rules provide. This can come in handy. For example, when I go out to lunch, and a group of guys wearing faded polos, with wrinkled colors and wrinkled khaki’s, it’s pretty safe for me to assume that they work in IT, but they wished they could dress like I do.

There are other correlations between the jobs that care how you dress and the ones that don’t. I typically notice that the jobs that permit IT staff to express themselves by wearing clever t-shirts, are more interested in having happy employees and value quality work over fashion sense. I have a choice in where I work, and I prefer to work for places that let me express myself. I doubt that I’m alone.

Full disclosure

My entire wardrobe is built on top of the geeky t-shirt, matching color undershirt, jeans, sneakers and the occasional thrift store sports coat. I have enough geeky t-shirts to wear a different one every day for over a month. I’m obviously biased on this topic, but I have not made this decision lightly. There is logic behind this choice. Hopefully, I’ve outlined some of those here.

Final thoughts

Geeks are a strange group. We don’t always look all that fashionable, but we are attempting to stand out in a world in which we would otherwise blend in. And if we just blend in, then we’ll have more difficulty finding each other in a crowd. I hope that 140stitches can keep that in mind when making fashion recommendations.