Can What We Wear Change How We Work?

“For the apparel oft proclaims the man.”

This line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet is spoken by Polonius, a high-ranking lord, as he sends his son off to university with an unmistakable message: You are what you wear.

More than four hundred years later, this observation still resonates. And today’s research suggests that clothing may do more than influence how others perceive us. It may also shape our own mindset, attention and behavior.

In 2012, social psychologists Hajo Adam and Adam D. Galinsky introduced the concept of enclothed cognition following an experiment involving white lab coats.

Participants completed a task requiring sustained attention. One group wore a white coat described as a doctor’s coat, another wore the same coat described as a painter’s coat, and a third group simply observed a doctor’s coat. Those who wore the coat identified as a doctor’s performed better on the attention task, making fewer errors than the other groups.

The researchers concluded that clothing can influence cognitive performance when two factors come together: the physical experience of wearing a garment and the symbolic meaning associated with it. In this case, the perceived connection between doctors and carefulness helped sharpen attention.

The implications extend to hospitality. Specialized uniforms may reinforce the qualities associated with particular roles, helping employees focus on the standards their work demands. Consider a housekeeper putting on a crisp white tunic. The uniform evokes cleanliness, precision and order, potentially encouraging greater attention to detail. A misaligned bed ruffle or a speck of lint on a lampshade may be more likely to catch the eye when the wearer is mentally attuned to those standards.

“Anecdotally, we hear about this connection all the time from our hospitality customers,” notes JA Uniforms founder Alex Arencibia. “A well-designed uniform can help employees mentally step into their professional roles and reinforce service standards.”

Shakespeare was onto something. What we wear may proclaim who we are; but it may also help shape how we work. And when we dress for the role, we may be a little more inclined to rise to it.