Do people wear suits in Taiwan?

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

:face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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2

I mean mostly people are very relaxed and wear casual clothes rather than formal suits. Especially foreigners I would say

3

I think that’s due to the weather now than anything.
:ponder:

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4

Loads of suits in business :slight_smile: even with the hot weather. such people often shuttle between AC boxes in a mobile AC box, heat isnt a big issue for said folks. If your products are good and competitive there are lots of customers in Taiwan for suits and other professional ware.

5

I gave away all my suits when I moved to Taiwan, and haven’t needed one ever since! Good riddance!

6

Is this any different from the west?

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7

We used to wear suits at work in Taiwan but only put on a tie when visitors came

Later found out that mostly xerox repairmen wear suits

Taiwans probably changed now

Suits are ok for nice dinners I think but pain in the ass other times

Too hot in Taiwan summers and too cold in the cold fronts

8

Maybe it’s a north vs. south thing, but I went to a fine dining restaurant in Kaohsiung this past winter and I was the only one in the whole restaurant wearing a jacket. It wasn’t even a suit.

Everyone else had buttoned shirts or polos.

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9

Suit and tie occasions:

  • Ministerial meetings
  • “Serious” TV interviews
  • Fancy dinners
  • Applying for a new product at a bank branch

Other work occasions:

  • Slacks and shirt

Taiwanese friends say:

  • Only salespeople wear a tie
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10

Says the guy who is perpetually taking his suit off.

image

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11

10 years of suit wearing in Taiwan…now the suits are retired. Didn’t mind suit wearing so much…but hated ironing shirts. Now if you see a slobby foreigner might be me. Now I wear old clothes with holes and only buy clothes at Carrefore.

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12

Oops, I didn’t noticed the OP was in Forumosafields
:flushed:

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13

Yeah def a north thing

14

Carrefour ? That’s pretty slick
I get mine at Ross where the GF used to say is not shopping it’s rummaging. Pretty true

15

I’d say as a general rule, people in the west dress up based on the occasion. Here in Taiwan, the majority of population don’t care about what they wear and especially where they wear those things. If you ever noticed guys wearing flip flops with casual shirts with shorts in fancy restaurants, or during the meetings, you know what I’m talking about. Even during my time in college here professors used to come to lectures wearing crocs with socks and sport pants with polo t-shirts, simply because it is comfortable as they say.

16

In my experience, there is some North/South split on this but I’ve also noticed two industries where you’re likely to see suits anywhere on the island: insurance and freight forwarding. Outside of these two, it seems to heavily depend on the company’s specific culture but in general I’d say suits are not required in most business settings.

17

I dunno… I think the difference is negligible. There are more than enough suits running around the city centre. But the general trend worldwide is a more casual workplace to begin with.

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18

In Taichung if I go to a fancy restaurant and hotel and see somebody in a suit my first thought is that they work there.

Only person that I can recall visiting our company with a suit is the UPS sales guy.

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19

Plenty of business people wear suits.
Insurance
Real-estate
Management
Hotels
Finance
Legislators
School Principals and Deans
High-end Retail
etc

Foreigners for the most part = no

My first teaching interview here I wore a suit. They looked at me like I was very unusual. Got the job though. That was the last time I ever wore a suit besides my wedding.

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People who wear suits drive cars, hence, out of sight from us the masses.

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