The advent of hot weather has renewed attention to what’s proper work attire. Even in a time when summer dress-downs and casual Fridays are common, some workers stumble on the line between what’s acceptable office wear and what’s not.
Unfortunately, that line — between summer casual and summer sloppy — is hard to define, much less police. Not even the human resources boss wants to decide whether a leather sandal, covering exactly the same part of the body as a plastic flip-flop woven interlining, is appropriate or not.
“It’s a challenge for all of us,” said Julie Wilson, chief people officer at Cerner Corp., one of Kansas City’s fastest-hiring companies. “And it’s become more challenging as the workplace has become more casual.”
Wilson said one Cerner manager recently had to have the “difficult conversation” and sent three people home to change clothes.
Most workplaces have expectations, some written and some unspoken, about what to wear.
What constitutes appropriate work clothes has opened the door for people to tweet about the summer influx of “skinterns,” a reference to young women in skimpy attire. It’s also why managers take time to huddle about whether the guy without socks offends customers.
And there aren’t just corporate culture consequences to work clothes choices Interlining Manufacturers in India. Retailers have adjusted their merchandise to fit buyers’ preferences. Sales of summer suits for men and women have paled compared with polo shirts and sundresses.
“The traditional needs of business clothing have more than evolved. They’ve dramatically changed,” said Spiro Arvanitakis, who recently explained why his longtime Kansas City professional clothing store is closing on the Country Club Plaza. “Jack Henry doesn’t meet the current needs, which are more contemporary.”
In short, a lot of workers aren’t buying the stuff that used to be considered professional clothing. The line between leisure clothes and office clothes has blurred.
That means the advice at Cerner is that “you need to dress for your day at work, not thinking about dressing for what you’re going to do after work,” Wilson said.
At Hudson & Jane, a Kansas City apparel boutique, owner Rick Brehm said he sees shoppers buying clothes to serve both their after-hours style and what they need for the office.
Instead of a “flouncy skirt that may run a little short,” women are buying long sleeveless dresses — popular for after-hours — and pairing them with lightweight sweaters to wear at work. And, Brehm said, men are aiming for lightweight shirts and no ties, and they’re rolling up long sleeves for after-hours comfort.
At Hallmark Cards, the standard is simply for employees to be “neat and professional,” said employee relations director Haylee Kelley. But those criteria differ depending on whether someone works in the distribution center — where safe and comfortable are the guidelines — or at headquarters, where business casual rules.
But even the office dress code has a squish factor. Jeans are fine for “file-clean-out day,” Kelley said.
Dress code consultants say jeans and T-shirts have proliferated in workplaces because of the influence of round-the-clock Silicon Valley, or dot-com, workplaces. Also, the ever-larger presence of the millennial generation, recently off college campuses, has dialed down workplace dressiness.
Casual is fine, of course, in many offices that have little customer or Woven Interlining client contact or are in more industrial or manufacturing environments. But human resources experts point out that clothing that’s too revealing, soiled or just plain sloppy can bother co-workers in any location, so it’s always OK for management to set some standards.
Human resources blogs frequently mention the difficulty of dealing with illustrated T-shirts or sayings on the job. What one worker finds funny or noncontroversial may be offensive or hurtful to another.
Sometimes, there’s a style sea change because of corporate leadership. Under chief executive Bill Esrey at Sprint Corp., there was a fairly specific dress code. At one time, even back-room employees who never saw clients were told they couldn’t wear Dockers or other casual-brand pants.
But when Dan Hesse took the Sprint helm in 2007, he announced that employees could wear jeans any day of the week, not just on designated Fridays. The once-formal dress code has disappeared, except for retail store employees.
Now, said Sprint spokeswoman Melinda Tiemeyer, “employees are encouraged Woven Interlining to work with the supervisor to understand appropriate attire for their role and location.”
Human resources consultants have long advised to “dress for the job you want, not the job you have.” While sound counsel, it still leaves room for interpretation.
Spokesmen for several Kansas City area companies said the most frequent difference of interpretation, especially in warm weather, involves women who wear low-cut necklines or spaghetti shoulder straps. And that’s a particularly difficult topic for male supervisors to address.
Generally, “we try to impress on people that just because it’s stylish, and even if you look good, that style may not be appropriate to wear for the office,” Cerner’s Wilson said.
Monday, June 9, 2014
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
The Best LED Light Bulbs for Vivid, Rich Colors
FINDING a light bulb that casts a crisp, flattering glow can be complicated these days. The most advanced bulbs on the market—known as LED models—are kind of like the Tesla Roadster of the lighting world: eco-friendly, high-performance and loaded with dizzying options.
While the light from early-gen LED bulbs could be pallid, the latest models from major manufacturers—like Cree, CREE -0.26% GE, Lighting Science (often sold under Home Depot's EcoSmart brand), Philips and Sylvania—are indistinguishable from a standard incandescent. They've also gotten brighter: You can now find models comparable to 100-watt incandescent bulbs
Prices have plummeted, too. Although at roughly $10 to $20 each, the average LED bulb is more expensive than an incandescent, you can get superlative light for that premium.
The only problem is, you can rarely tell what kind of light a bulb will emit just by looking at the box. "We're still in the wild West," said Mark Rea, director of the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "You almost need to be a lighting nerd to know what to buy." The only sure way to assess a bulb's performance is to test it at home. Dr. Rea recommends buying from a retailer with a good return policy.
Here are five things picky lighting consumers should know before hitting the hardware store.
1. CHECK THE SPECS
The industry uses two standard metrics to describe a bulb's light quality. "Color temperature" indicates whether the white light will skew warm (orangy) or cool (blue). For an incandescent-like glow, choose a color temp of 2,700K or 2,900K. The higher the temperature, the cooler the glow.
The second number is "color rendering index," or CRI, which indicates how accurately the light renders colors. According to conventional LED wisdom, a CRI of 80 (out of 100) is fine, but lighting aficionados will want to opt for 90.
2. TRUST YOUR EYES
These specs can be misleading, however. We found that bulbs with the same CRI could make the objects in a room look markedly different. According to Dr. Rea, that's because CRI doesn't indicate how vividly a bulb will render colors, whether hues will pop or appear more muted. Again, the best way to tell is an at-home test. "Look at the colors you care about—the faces of people in the room," said Dr. Rea. "Do they look as you expect?" Color temp can be an imperfect guide, too. Bulbs that we tested with the exact same color temperature (2,700K) varied in appearance from yellow-tinged to cooler, pure white.
3. PICK THE RIGHT SHAPE
LED light in china bulbs are available in a standard bulb shape, which casts light all around, as well as a floodlight-style shape that shines in a specific direction. In general, we found the light quality from the floodlight-style bulb to be superior. Use these in lamps that direct light in one direction—like a task lamp or a recessed ceiling fixture. For the latter, Dr. Rea recommends running new bulbs continuously for 24 to 48 hours to make sure they don't fail prematurely. "Heat will kill these things," he said.
4. MAKE SURE IT DIMS PROPERLY
If an LED is dimmable, it'll say so clearly on the label. Just know that a compatible dimmer may be required, and that, unlike with incandescents, 9w LED downlight suppliers don't warm in color as you dim them. Sylvania's Ultra "Sunset Effects" bulb offers a clever hack: It shines warm white at full brightness but shifts to an amber-colored 12w LED downlight suppliers as you dim the bulb. (We found the effect to be convincing at the dimmest setting only.) Philips's DimTone bulbs have a similar feature.
5. PUT AWAY YOUR HAZMAT SUIT
Unlike compact-fluorescent bulbs, LEDs do not contain mercury. "LEDs are much safer than fluorescent because they're not likely to release vapors," said Oladele Ogunseitan, a professor of social ecology at the University of California, Irvine. A study he co-authored found that a sample 15w LED downlight suppliers contained toxic materials, but he clarified that "if the case [of an LED bulb] cracks, it poses no risk to individuals." Still, LEDs are small electronics and should be recycled like a cellphone or computer, he said.
While the light from early-gen LED bulbs could be pallid, the latest models from major manufacturers—like Cree, CREE -0.26% GE, Lighting Science (often sold under Home Depot's EcoSmart brand), Philips and Sylvania—are indistinguishable from a standard incandescent. They've also gotten brighter: You can now find models comparable to 100-watt incandescent bulbs
Prices have plummeted, too. Although at roughly $10 to $20 each, the average LED bulb is more expensive than an incandescent, you can get superlative light for that premium.
The only problem is, you can rarely tell what kind of light a bulb will emit just by looking at the box. "We're still in the wild West," said Mark Rea, director of the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "You almost need to be a lighting nerd to know what to buy." The only sure way to assess a bulb's performance is to test it at home. Dr. Rea recommends buying from a retailer with a good return policy.
Here are five things picky lighting consumers should know before hitting the hardware store.
1. CHECK THE SPECS
The industry uses two standard metrics to describe a bulb's light quality. "Color temperature" indicates whether the white light will skew warm (orangy) or cool (blue). For an incandescent-like glow, choose a color temp of 2,700K or 2,900K. The higher the temperature, the cooler the glow.
The second number is "color rendering index," or CRI, which indicates how accurately the light renders colors. According to conventional LED wisdom, a CRI of 80 (out of 100) is fine, but lighting aficionados will want to opt for 90.
2. TRUST YOUR EYES
These specs can be misleading, however. We found that bulbs with the same CRI could make the objects in a room look markedly different. According to Dr. Rea, that's because CRI doesn't indicate how vividly a bulb will render colors, whether hues will pop or appear more muted. Again, the best way to tell is an at-home test. "Look at the colors you care about—the faces of people in the room," said Dr. Rea. "Do they look as you expect?" Color temp can be an imperfect guide, too. Bulbs that we tested with the exact same color temperature (2,700K) varied in appearance from yellow-tinged to cooler, pure white.
3. PICK THE RIGHT SHAPE
LED light in china bulbs are available in a standard bulb shape, which casts light all around, as well as a floodlight-style shape that shines in a specific direction. In general, we found the light quality from the floodlight-style bulb to be superior. Use these in lamps that direct light in one direction—like a task lamp or a recessed ceiling fixture. For the latter, Dr. Rea recommends running new bulbs continuously for 24 to 48 hours to make sure they don't fail prematurely. "Heat will kill these things," he said.
4. MAKE SURE IT DIMS PROPERLY
If an LED is dimmable, it'll say so clearly on the label. Just know that a compatible dimmer may be required, and that, unlike with incandescents, 9w LED downlight suppliers don't warm in color as you dim them. Sylvania's Ultra "Sunset Effects" bulb offers a clever hack: It shines warm white at full brightness but shifts to an amber-colored 12w LED downlight suppliers as you dim the bulb. (We found the effect to be convincing at the dimmest setting only.) Philips's DimTone bulbs have a similar feature.
5. PUT AWAY YOUR HAZMAT SUIT
Unlike compact-fluorescent bulbs, LEDs do not contain mercury. "LEDs are much safer than fluorescent because they're not likely to release vapors," said Oladele Ogunseitan, a professor of social ecology at the University of California, Irvine. A study he co-authored found that a sample 15w LED downlight suppliers contained toxic materials, but he clarified that "if the case [of an LED bulb] cracks, it poses no risk to individuals." Still, LEDs are small electronics and should be recycled like a cellphone or computer, he said.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Delicate Diamond Watch for Men
In the Europe, diamonds is the symbol of the highest right. Nearly all the kings have crazed about the diamonds. Their crowns have never missed a diamond. And diamond is also a major role of watch, especially Swiss watch. And till 21 century, the men’s diamonds watches have been symbol of the identity and state of men. Now I introduced several kinds of mens diamond watches. Let’s see which one is more luxury.
Big bang
Big bang is utterly a real diamond watch. There is only one in the world. If you can touch the diamond watch, you will conquered by the watch. Every detail of the watch is shining and it glows from any angles. The official price is 5000000 dollars. The process of making the watch is such a long time. Every procedure took many experts 14 months’ full work time. Including 12 cutters’ 7months’ detailed cutting, five inlayers’ 7 months’ work. The weight of the diamonds has exceeded 100 karats. They have showed jewelry’s power. Every diamond is selected by the makers. They shined to each other.
Cartier tank Anglaise wrist watch
Cartier tank Anglasia is a kind of English tank type watch. It is also an extreme luxury and shining watch. The dense diamonds shows the lines clearly. The generous designation has all the traits of tank type watch: the integral type watch case and watch band with Rome numbers on it. The hour-marks furnished with blue sword hands. The integral designation of the watch is symmetrical. See the side face of the watch, the band seems a deep meaning of a tank thread.
Blancepain LéMAN
The Blancepain LéMAN series watch is a unforgettable masterpiece for its shining designation and perfect functional. The watch is made in complex technique. The watch is furnished with Blancepain Caliber 25A movement. It is showed by the hollowed-out cut watch dial. The white gold watch dial is inlaid with 164 square diamonds.
Big bang
Big bang is utterly a real diamond watch. There is only one in the world. If you can touch the diamond watch, you will conquered by the watch. Every detail of the watch is shining and it glows from any angles. The official price is 5000000 dollars. The process of making the watch is such a long time. Every procedure took many experts 14 months’ full work time. Including 12 cutters’ 7months’ detailed cutting, five inlayers’ 7 months’ work. The weight of the diamonds has exceeded 100 karats. They have showed jewelry’s power. Every diamond is selected by the makers. They shined to each other.
Cartier tank Anglaise wrist watch
Cartier tank Anglasia is a kind of English tank type watch. It is also an extreme luxury and shining watch. The dense diamonds shows the lines clearly. The generous designation has all the traits of tank type watch: the integral type watch case and watch band with Rome numbers on it. The hour-marks furnished with blue sword hands. The integral designation of the watch is symmetrical. See the side face of the watch, the band seems a deep meaning of a tank thread.
Blancepain LéMAN
The Blancepain LéMAN series watch is a unforgettable masterpiece for its shining designation and perfect functional. The watch is made in complex technique. The watch is furnished with Blancepain Caliber 25A movement. It is showed by the hollowed-out cut watch dial. The white gold watch dial is inlaid with 164 square diamonds.
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