Let me establish my prejudice: I really, really like jeans. As pants go, they are, as the kids say, teh win. Sure, I like my cords, and have been a fan of cargo pants since about the time they went out of style. And yes, there is even something to be said for slacks, of which I own several pair; but what slacks I own are a statement of compromise, a concession to a business world to which I have only obligatory financial ties.

I mention it because, where I work, the permissibility of jeans-wearing on Fridays is a contentious issue. We have, on occasion, Jeans Friday, but barring that occasional exception they are, within our department at least, verboten. This came up in an email exchange today — someone asked, sort of in context, after the possibility of adopting the same general Friday Jeans Day policy held by some other departments — and the response was not affirmative.

A quote, from The Man:

“Let’s be clear, the majority of this company follows a dress code where jeans are not permitted. The only areas that should be using jeans days as a perk are those areas that have issues with attracting and retaining quality talent, which we don’t.”

It’s a position. It’s not one I agree with, but, well, see above; I’m enough of a slacker and para-aesthete that I am almost bound by honor to be contrary to an anti-jeans policy.

But stating the position as above requires the direct statement that some (minority) portion of the company can’t attract and retain talent. And that while names are not being named, one can damned well identify the talentless (or soon-departing) members of said portions by the blue denim in which they are on Fridays clad.

Harsh.