Free the knee
Shorts at the office. Appropriate or not?
It’s a heated and long-running debate across much of corporate America, one that Instagram boss Adam Mosseri recently planted his flag in. He said he was “pro” shorts in the workplace, with caveats.
“Not all shorts are created equal,” he said. Somewhat dangerously, he added that not everyone can “pull them off.”
We decided to test how summer shorts look in our own office. On Friday, 10 Business Insider journalists, myself included, wore shorts to our New York headquarters — much to the chagrin of Editor in Chief Jamie Heller.
“I would never,” Jamie said, explaining that she works better in business attire. “The one time I wore black jeans to the office, on Christmas Eve, I immediately regretted it,” she said.
This newsletter’s weekday writer, Dan DeFrancesco, refused to partake in Friday’s leg-baring festivities. “I like wearing shorts as much as the next guy, but we live in a society with rules,” he said. “Imagine being on a deadline, and you look over and catch a glimpse of my hairy man thighs. It’s a lose-lose situation.” (TMI, we know.)
We wanted a larger sample size on this hot-button issue. So we posed the question on LinkedIn. More than 7,000 people have voted so far in our poll, and the knees are losing.
As of Friday afternoon, 55% said shorts weren’t appropriate, versus 20% who said they were. Another 25% went with the less definitive option: It depends.
This is, of course, a LinkedIn poll, and not peer-reviewed research. But the comments featured lively insights into what readers consider suitable office attire in 2026.
Some proposed a shorts hierarchy. Chinos? Sure. Basketball shorts? Absolutely not. Then there are skirts, which are already acceptable, so why shouldn’t appropriately tailored shorts get the same treatment?
Where you work matters, too. Shorts at a startup or fashion company may barely register. Somewhere more buttoned-up? That’s a different story.
One reader suggested a 90-degree rule. When the temperature rises above 90 degrees, shorts are fair game, he says. Though anyone who’s shivered under frigid office air conditioning in the summer knows the irony there.
I’ve found many of the Gen Zers in our newsroom are jazzed by shorts in the office. Personally, as an elder millennial, I can’t get on board. I tried it. I wrote this newsletter in the office while wearing shorts and felt woefully underdressed in a way I have only ever felt once before.
Don’t worry, Jamie, it won’t happen again.
