Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, while speaking at a press conference this week, stated that office workers should get rid of their neckties in order to stay comfortable amidst steamy temperatures. He went on to say that if we ditch the hot and uncomfortable suit and tie combo in the office, there will be less need for so much energy usage keeping offices cool. Is saving energy the best way to argue the need to ditch traditional men’s formalwear?
No matter where you stand on the subject, the question of “how much energy can be saved from changing what you wear” is an interesting one. At Cheegs, we love that Pedro Sánchez is bringing attention to the discomfort and overheating that comes with the traditional men’s formalwear.
Let's look at the energy usage associated with ties because we can all agree that this summer has brought some crazy hot weather with it. We do in fact see a steep increase in energy usage from air conditioning of homes and office spaces during really hot months. If people stopped wearing ties and sport coats, would there be a substantial decrease in energy usage?
The average American household in 2021 spent $122 on electricity bills per month. This ends up being $1,464 per year. According to SRP and APS, 13 percent of this is attributed to air conditioning costs. They also stated that by raising your thermostat just three degrees in the summer you will cut your cooling costs by 4%. To put this in perspective, if every household in the United States raised their thermostat by 3 degrees the cost savings would be $929,892,000. That seems like a substantial amount to me.
At Cheegs, we have always prioritized comfort for our customers. We would not be selling collarless dress shirts if we didn’t think that collars and ties truly caused discomfort to men across the world. Additionally, when we created our collarfree future fabric, we incorporated some of the world’s most advanced fabric technology so that men would sweat 48% less when wearing our shirts. We think that this is an incredible advancement for the comfort of business professionals worldwide. If we can keep people comfortable at a temperature 3 degrees higher than the average shirt can (which we can), then we are doing much more than just keeping men comfortable.
