Wearing a tie makes you warm — and on a warming planet, it’s probably best to set them aside. At least, that’s what the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, tells his country, according to a Bloomberg report.
“I don’t wear a tie and I have asked my ministers not to,” the Spanish leader said. The idea, he continued, is to conserve energy needed to cool the office by not wearing a stuffy tie.
“I would also ask the private sector, if they haven’t already done so, that they don’t wear a tie if it’s not necessary,” he added. video from the European outlet The Local.
Sanchez said this amid increased pressure from the government to reduce energy consumption in Spain, according to the BBC.
European countries have suffered hundreds of deaths from a major heat wave. In addition, the EU is trying to reduce the bloc’s reliance on Russian energy after it invaded Ukraine, the BBC added.
The formal wear category had already gone through tough times during the pandemic due to office closures. Famed suit supplier Brooks Brothers, founded in 1818, filed for bankruptcy in July 2020. Bloombergbut suits and ties may struggle to make a comeback in hybrid work environments.
Kastle, a security firm that uses swipe-ins from 10 major US cities to calculate a weekly average office occupancy rate, reported a rate of 44.7% last week. That was the highest since the start of the pandemic, Kastle said, but not close to pre-pandemic numbers.