Communist China’s younger workers are rebelling against what they say are low-paying employers with “gross” work attire as part of a viral “get ready with me” protest.
The youth are coming to work in slippers, pajamas, and sweatpants as part of the protest and showing their outfits off online, according to a report.
Hashtags such as #grossoutfitforwork, #ootd [outfit of the day], and #uglyclothesshouldbeforwork are among the popular searches on the Chinese version of Tiktok, Douyin.
#Grossoutfitforwork has garnered millions of views and launched thousands of new posts and discussions on the social media platform Weibo, the report noted.
One series of posts on Douyin shows a young woman, identified as Kendou S, detailing how her employer scolded her for her outfit, which consists of a gray balaclava, red gloves, a puffer coat, a pink quilted jacket, plaid pajama bottoms, furry slippers, and a fluffy hat, among other mismatching items.
Her post was shared over 1.4 million times, according to the report.
“My coworker says I dress like a wild man,” another woman posted while showing off knee-length shorts and a neon yellow jacket. “My boss gave me 50 yuan to wash my clothes, and I was forbidden to shake hands with clients ever again.”
“Earning such little salary, with ugly coworkers, what else do you expect from my outfit?” another protester wrote.
The sentiment behind the protest appears to stem from the “tang pang” or “lying flat” philosophy, which encourages followers to rebel against the rat race of the Chinese job market, where workers between the ages of 16 and 24 faced a 14.9% jobless rate in December, according to the report.
“They’re kind of like, why bother when your work and future life prospect is not looking that bright,” 29-year-old Bohan Qiu, the founder of a Seoul- and Shanghai-based consultancy firm for fashion brands, said.
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“Before, they saw [working] as chasing a dream … and [companies] motivated everyone to fight for the [economic] pie,” Qiu said. “Now people are, like, ‘No, that doesn’t exist, or it could be a lie.'”
Casual wear isn’t new to the Chinese workplace, according to Qiu, and working long hours in front of a computer for little pay during the COVID-19 pandemic made it even more of a norm.