Ugly Office Sweaters

Like us, the Raleigh News & Observer cares deeply about your office sweater. Unlike us, they think that ugly just ain’t gonna cut it.

While I think a ruffled short sleeved sweater is adorable, I don’t think it’s practical as your office sweater. It’s not really going to keep you warm and, more importantly, it’s just too cute to keep in your cubicle over the weekend. Let’s face it - the office drawer is no place for attractive clothing. Nobody puts baby in a corner.

What do you think? Should you try to make a fashion statement with your office sweater or is it okay to just give up fashion for function? Better yet, don’t just tell us what you think - show us!

We’re so excited for the first ever Ugly Office Sweaters Bar Crawl! The Bar Crawl will take place this Friday (October 10, 2008) in downtown Madison, Wisconsin. Anyone is welcome to attend. If you’re not in Madison, we hope you’ll consider hosting your own Ugly Office Sweaters Bar Crawl. This should be an international extravaganza, right?

Anyway, the idea of the Ugly Office Sweaters Bar Crawl is that you should wear an especially attractive outfit, but you should partially cover it up with your trusty Ugly Office Sweater. For those of you without Ugly Office Sweaters, this is also a great excuse to get one. I found some promising prospects at the St. Vincent de Paul’s on Willy St. today for both men and women and all for under $5. So, put on your threads and let the celebration begin!

The schedule for the Bar Crawl is:

5:30 Genna’s Lounge (note that Genna’s has a great happy hour until 6:30 that includes 40% off rails and select taps and free food).
6:30 Brocach
7:30 Local Tavern
8:30 The Old Fashioned
9:30 Great Dane (downtown)
After 10:30, we’ll let the party go where the Ugly Office Sweaters’ spirit moves us, but possible destinations include Natt Spil, Icon, Paul’s Club, Madisons, the Shamrock and Johnny O’s (for Brett ;-).

If you can’t make it for the beginning of the Bar Crawl, just refer to the schedule above and join the Ugly Office Sweater-clad set wherever we’ll be.

We hope to see you all out and about!

A recent Today Show segment revealed that chilly offices are the #1 working conditions complaint. While that comes as no surprise to us here, what was enlightening was the fact that these cold temperatures lead not only to the adoption of Ugly Office Sweaters, but also lower employees’ productivity.

Wow. We always knew that Ugly Office Sweaters, no matter how necessary, ruin otherwise cute outfits. But, on the bright side, perhaps they’re responsible for saving the American economy. Think about it, workers constantly complain about cold offices. Cold offices can lower productivity. Yet, American workers still outpace the rest of the world when it comes to productivity. Could it be that the humble Ugly Office Sweater is what enables Americans to work harder and smarter than their counterparts around the globe? We sure think so!