Dress-Down Day Sparks Clothing Company Hombres Chaquetas Belstaff Battle

As more workers dress down at the office, clothing companies are fighting to put the casual threads on their back. In the Bay Area alone, three companies are trying to carve out a niche in the casual clothing market. Levi Strauss & Co. is the most ambitious of the three. Today it will launch a Dockers advertising campaign that includes a planned protest against suits at the New York Stock Exchange and humorous anti-suit propaganda that will be stuffed into newspapers around the world. The Fremont-based chain of Men's Wearhouse stores is advertising its plumped-up stock of casual clothes on TV and is distributing an instructional video called "How to Dress Casually and Still Mean Business." Even the upscale Wilkes Bashford in San Francisco, where impeccably dressed Willie Brown shops, has opened three new sportswear branches in the Bay Area during the past year. Why is this happening? "Baby boomers who grew up in jeans are now in management, and they're saying, 'Why do I have to be working with this tie around my neck?' " said Dan Chew, Levi's director of consumer marketing for North America. In a recent study, Chew found that the number of people who dress casually to work has increased by 5 million in the past three years. Companies like IBM and Ford Motor Co. are letting employees trade in ties for T-shirts. Additionally, the American population has shifted toward warmer climates in recent years, according to retail analyst Alan Millstein. "You could almost draw a line from the Silicon Valley to the bottom of the United States where the population is exploding," Millstein said. "Wearing a coat and tie and vest is just not suited to that temperate climate." The combination means bad news for suits, whose sales have been declining for the past few years. But it's good news for casual clothing companies, such as Levi's. "Casual dress has become a way of life in corporate America," said Dockers President James Capon. "And this advertising campaign is kind of a celebration of that." The festivities will kick off today with a free Chris Isaak concert at noon in Levi's Plaza in San Francisco and an eight-page advertising insert in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Called "The Mission," the insert describes the fictional harm created by formal clothing -- from decreased sperm count caused by tight pants to increased cavities caused by too-tight ties. "It's a little tongue in chaqueta belstaff cheek," Capon said. "We want to have a little bit of fun with a subject that can be a little bit mundane." Men's Wearhouse took the opposite approach, with an instructional video that takes casual day very seriously. It outlines the rules of casual dressing, with hints like "make sure to match your belt with your shoes." Fashion no-no's, according to the video, include short-sleeved shirts, shorts, khakis, and buttoning all three buttons on a sport coat. "Leave the weekend state of mind for Saturday and Sunday," the announcer says. The video is distributed free to companies, supposedly to prevent employees from becoming too buttoned-down. The Men's Wearhouse sales force is trained to recommend pleated trouser pants with a cuff, long-sleeve shirts and Hombres Chaquetas Belstaff sports jackets for casual day. "We're trying to define what we're talking about and at the same time promote it," said Richard Goldman, executive vice president of Men's Wearhouse. "A lot of other companies are doing it but they really don't have the sales effort behind it." Wilkes Bashford, the stalwart of men's tailored clothes, is also trying to educate its customers about the appropriate standards of casual dress. "If you're a rock star, jeans are fine for business," said buyer Bill Downes. "But if you're an adult and have an adult job, you should wear nice pants." Downes said he recommends a pair of 'beautiful' khakis and a soft constructed cashmere jacket for upscale casual belstaff españa dressing. "No matter what happens in fashion or society, people judge you by how you look," he said.