How to capitalize on confusion and make a fortune

In the early 90s, a rule that banned lingerie-style clothing in the office was introduced.

Casual Fridays were already a thing but the concept was confusing. People were improvising and experimenting with how "casual" they could go. According to anecdotes you would walk into an office on a Friday and see sweat stains, wrinkled clothes and nipple-revealing bras. There was even a term coined: "Casual Confusion Syndrome". It turns out that this confusion was a business opportunity.

Casual Fridays were introduced in the 50s by Hewlett Packard. Not exactly a ground-breaking change. A slight relaxation from the formal suit. However, It never really picked up. It took the Hawaiians getting involved to start shaking things up.

In the late 60s, the Hawaiian garment industry wanted to sell more shirts. They lobbied businesses to encourage employees to wear Hawaiian shirts once a week. The movement was branded as Aloha Friday and it kindled the fire for the thinking of 'Relax- take it easy.' The practice stayed and started to spread.

By the 90s the office relaxation was becoming too much and people were not sure what to wear. Too many Hawaiian shirts, too many mini skirts, and too many sandals. Levi's identified the problem and offered a solution.

At the time, Levi's had just acquired the brand Dockers, an elevated casual clothing company focused on people who play golf. They saw the business casual confusion as an opportunity to sell more Dockers. 

They created a guide with suggestions and also set some rules on what not to wear. In the guide there were photos with examples and, of course, a lot of Dockers clothing. They sent the guide to thousands of HR offices and created a hotline for people to call whenever they had questions. They sorted out the confusion and became the authority on the subject. 

Not ground-breaking stuff, but looking back, pretty amazing that they managed to introduce cultural change into the office space.