Spain’s Prime Minister Wants His Country to Stop Wearing Ties

Wearing a tie makes you hot — and on a warming planet, it’s probably best to put them aside. At least, that’s what the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, is telling his country, according to a report from Bloomberg.

“I’m not wearing a tie, and I have asked my ministers not to,” Spain’s leader said. The idea, he continued, is to save the energy spent cooling the office by not wearing a stuffy tie.

“I would also like to ask the private sector if they have not done it already, that when it is not necessary, they do not wear a tie,” he added, per a video from European outlet The Local.

Sanchez said this during a larger government push to reduce energy usage in Spain, according to the BBC.

European countries have faced hundreds of deaths from a large heatwave. Plus, the EU is trying to reduce the bloc’s reliance on Russian energy after it invaded Ukraine, the BBC added.

The formalwear category had already experienced tough times during the pandemic due to office closures. Famed suit provider Brooks Brothers, which was founded in 1818, filed for bankruptcy in July 2020. It’s attempting a post-pandemic image pivot, per Bloomberg, but suits and ties could struggle to make a comeback in hybrid work environments.

Kastle, a security firm that uses swipe-ins from 10 major US cities to tabulate a weekly average office occupancy rate, reported last week’s rate at 44.7%. That was the highest it’s been since the pandemic started, Kastle said but not close to pre-pandemic numbers.