ADVERTISEMENT

Walmart just made a change that employees have been demanding for years (WMT)

Walmart is testing a new dress code that allows employees to wear blue denim and shirts of any solid color.

  • Employees were previously barred from wearing blue denim, and shirt colors were restricted to blue or white.
  • "I personally love the new dress code — especially that we can wear any color," Angel Hernandez, an employee of a Walmart store in Springdale, Arkansas, told Business Insider.
  • The company
ADVERTISEMENT

Walmart is testing a new employee dress code designed to give workers more freedom over their clothing choices.

The updated clothing guidelines, which were implemented in several stores last week, allow employees to wear blue "jeggings" and blue jeans — which were previously forbidden for most Walmart workers — and shirts of any solid color, according to a Walmart manual reviewed by Business Insider.

For these stores, until last week, solid white and solid blue were the only acceptable shirt colors in Walmart's dress code.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I personally love the new dress code — especially that we can wear any color," Angel Hernandez, an employee of a Walmart store in Springdale, Arkansas, told Business Insider.

Kory Lundberg, a Walmart spokesman, said in an emailed statement that the company "won't know next steps on this test until we've had a chance to learn what works and what could work better."

Walmart employees have for years been asking for a more flexible dress code.

The company faced backlash four years ago when it enforced a new dress code requiring white or navy collared shirts with khaki or black pants, close-toed shoes, and an updated royal-blue Walmart-branded vest.

ADVERTISEMENT

Walmart later loosened the requirements to allow employees to wear black or khaki-colored denim, as well as enable those working in the back of the store and doing more physical labor, like unloading trucks, to wear blue jeans.

According to the Walmart manual, the dress code bans leggings, yoga pants, windsuits, sweatpants, scrubs, spandex pants, overalls, or long pant legs that drag on the floor.

Leather, prints, distressed materials, patches, white stitching, and bedazzled clothing are also all prohibited.

Facial tattoos are not permitted, but those elsewhere are allowed as long as they don't contain obscene, racist, sexual, or other offensive words or imagery.

Overall, the company requires employees to wear clothes that fit properly and are free of holes, fraying, and stains.

ADVERTISEMENT

"Good personal hygiene is expected when you report for work," the manual says. "Your hair must be clean and well groomed. Beards and mustaches must be neat and trimmed."

FOLLOW BUSINESS INSIDER AFRICA

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Recommended articles

The US and Uganda partner to combat a deadly enemy

The US and Uganda partner to combat a deadly enemy

See why ice is now pricier than bread and milk in this African country

See why ice is now pricier than bread and milk in this African country

8 ingenious tips to merge PDF files more efficiently

8 ingenious tips to merge PDF files more efficiently

10 most powerful African passports in 2024

10 most powerful African passports in 2024

UK sends first voluntary asylum seeker to Rwanda

UK sends first voluntary asylum seeker to Rwanda

FCMB Group records 186% profit growth, proposes 50k dividend

FCMB Group records 186% profit growth, proposes 50k dividend

Accounting with a Purpose - Moracle Ghana CEO has simplified accounting for small businesses and nonprofits

Accounting with a Purpose - Moracle Ghana CEO has simplified accounting for small businesses and nonprofits

10 African countries with the lightest debt burden in 2024

10 African countries with the lightest debt burden in 2024

Sale of African skulls in a British museum comes to light

Sale of African skulls in a British museum comes to light

ADVERTISEMENT