“It’s so convenient for both work and home. I have essentially reached a state where the office and my home have become one,” she said.
This is what happens when companies expect you to live and breath for their bottom line.
If a business wants a particular outfit to be worn then they should provide the uniforms in their dollar.
Dress codes have always been prohibitively expensive. When I was a young man getting my occupational feet wet in the nineties it was pretty much, “We’re gonna pay you three dollars an hour and we require three piece suits at all times.”
For those who don’t know, it’s not quite new (except for the word that describes it, Ban Wei 班味). Because of the long working time, a lot of Chinese companies (especially in the tech sector) allow very casual dressing, plushies, even folding beds in the office. Sounds good but is actually horrifying.
At least read the article before commenting. They’re dressing this way on purpose against the wishes of their employers.
Another woman said the best part of wearing her fluffy sweater to work is that she can head straight to bed once she gets home.
“It’s so convenient for both work and home. I have essentially reached a state where the office and my home have become one,” she said.
It is not protest for the sake of protest, but mostly “convenience”.
You have completely flipped the context of the quote. It’s not just comfort for comforts sake, it’s also a way of protesting the 996 work culture of China.
The article is definitely stating that this is a protest, your quote is about a fringe benefit.
Social media users have joked that if you wear your favorite outfit to work, it’ll be contaminated by the “Ban Wei” as the office vibe creeps into your personal life.
The remaining option: wear your gross clothes to the office.
Candise Lin who creates content on TikTok exploring cultural trends in China, broke down this viral trend in a recent video.
She used an example of one blogger who said that they only wears clothes with holes in them to work to reflect their “crappy job and shabby pay.”
Clearly stated like 2 paragraphs after your quote.
It is definitely protest. But they choose these outfit to protest because they are comfortable, as oppose to vampires costume, which would also violate the dress code.
This is related to what OP is saying. These outfit already exists because of toxic work culture, they are taking it to the extreme.
Pick a position and stick with it for more than a single comment:
It is not protest for the sake of protest, but mostly “convenience”.
It is a protest using existing social expectations of dress code, it’s not just about comfort.
“Protest for the sake of protest” is nonsense. By definition they’re doing it for the sake of something. That something is not convenience, it’s the 996 work culture like the subject of the article.
