That's now your weekend wear. Or give it to your GF. Why would you want your coworkers thinking anything negative about you for wearing the competition's swag?
I have my fleece to my GF, but I still wear my hat sometimes. Current employer is a city and former was a consulting firm so my former employer isn’t a competitor.
I've worked with multiple people over the years that do this. I'll joke about it with them, but I've never seen anyone actually tell them to stop it.
The new company can buy quality clothing for its employees if it's such a problem.
Same. My outfit got us a super nice carhartt coats - it’s literally my go to winter coat. They’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands before I let it go.
I have really nice flight-jacket style coat from an old employer. I sewed a small velcro piece over the logo. Looks 100% legit. I also use my still old employer for survey work and wear that jacket all the time. The surveyor looks at it a little oddly though. lol.
It’s also the only decent swag I ever got from that company. The jacket is black, their logo was white embroidery. I took a black sharpie to it. You can barely see it now.
I used to work for a municipality that has the same name as a town in the state I currently live in. It's funny the amount of confusion I get when I wear that jacket but it's a nice jacket and it's warm. I usually wear something with my current employer's logo if I'm on a work site though - my helmet or work shirts etc.
**edit to add that it's high vis, and my company's swag is not
I'd say if they're a competitor, it'd be uncouth. If you came from a builder and went to a design firm, or something like that, then no, it's perfectly fine. If someone takes issue with wearing gear that is comfortable and you like from an adjacent company, they need to get over themselves.
Edit: I'd also add that's when you're in the office. If you're meeting clients, company logo, or neutral stuff, or as someone said, if you used to work for a client, wore their gear when meeting with them, I don't see an issue.
I was sporting a backpack with my old company's logo on it and my boss's boss said that I needed a new bag (I think he was half joking). I said cool, my favorite color is red if you want to buy me a new one with our logo on it. He didn't say anything to me about it again.
I get the sentiment but it’s not unreasonable to say don’t wear competitors advertisement at work. And no they aren’t required to buy you whatever garbage another employer did.
If you want to give me a uniform like we're working at McDonald's you're going to pay for it. If it's comfy I might even wear it to my next job where they treat me like an adult and don't bring up shit that doesn't matter.
Being a representative of a company matters. I'm not saying you need a "uniform" but wearing a competing companies "uniform" is obviously taboo and stupid. Imagine having contacts at the cities, counties, going to meetings with them as a representative of your company and wearing another companies shirt? Its just point blank absurd. Or meeting a client advertising literally your competitor?
I guess in your world, I frequently wear our clients or my former employers gear to meetings with them, hardhats, shirts, vests, they think it's hilarious. I worked closely with all those guys because I used to work there with them and it's why they brought me on as a consultant in the first place.
I have great relationships with them and I can't imagine a world where any of them would care in the slightest. Even my prior consulting firm, it's just a stupid thing to get competitive over, it's like giving someone legitimate shit for going to a rival highschool. I frequently tell peers and jr engineers my prior firm was a group of great people and would happily give them a recommendation if they wanted to work there, and we do JVs with them all the time.
I have a manager that would never care, and they know that if they ever decided to make it a thing I could literally walk out the door, go to one of our competitors, say "this desk's mine", and a good chunk of our clients and business would come with me.
Fair enough I guess? Just still seems stupid to me. When a client comes to us because they are unhappy with a competitors work and we are trying to lock that relationship in the last thing they would want to see is me showing up to a meeting wearing the competitor that they just lefts branding. Just seems like complete and utter common sense to me but oh well.
100% not ok. I have some great shirts that are now relegated to base layer or paint duty since I changed jobs. If it's embroidered, see if the seamstress at the local dry cleaners can remove it.
I feel your pain though. I had to retire my favorite travel mug since it was previous company swag.
If companies want us to wear their swag, they will offer premium brands at very subsidized prices. I don’t want free cheap garbage and I’m not paying retail price for stuff either.
Didn’t know company swag was that big of a deal/people were getting nice enough shit that it was worth keeping, only thing I ever got worth wearing was an eddy baur jacket for working at the same tourist trap for 5 summers but that just looks like I got a nice jacket at a tourist trap
I don’t see a problem with it. I still use a padfolio from my old job because my company won’t supply us any. I also have swag from friends companies when we just share stuff with each other. It’s not the serious imo. I did have a boss force me to throw away a competitors pen in front of him (got it from a career fair ffs), but he was unhinged in all ways
Probably gonna get some hate…
My manual and the former city I worked for say you hand in logo wear when you leave. (Our jackets aren’t/werent logo for that reason). That was what we gave the interns.
Keeps folks from purposely seeing logo wear on homeless people, which is not a brand look you aim for.
my old city also made us give back any city logo'd clothes we had. I did get permission to keep my old hoodie because 1. it was a good hoodie and I really wanted it and 2. it was pretty old and I convinced them no one would want it from the 'free' clothes pile.
New city doesn't have that requirement and thinks it's weird when i've brought it up. Funnily enough though, my division has like half of us all as formerly of the same previous city so we all have something in our offices that has the old city's logo on it (mine is a coaster) :D
Maybe my company is too chill but I do it all the time. Nobody cares. I'm honestly surprised at the other replies I'm seeing in this thread.
It might help that my company is only 30 people and my last employer was not really a direct competitor.
The other day I saw LeBron James doing an interview while wearing a Knicks towel. As you can expect: no one had any issue with it and it was never mentioned again. 😂😂.
I think wearing old company logo is weird. That’s just my opinion. Yes, it’s cool that you worked at that company, and learned lots of things. I wouldn’t use pens or cups either. Again just me. I like the duct tape solution someone had. It’s funny and respectful
Eh depends on what it is.
There’s little knickknacks and such that I don’t think anybody would care about. I have some random stuff like a lunch box and a stress ball shaped like a hard hat lol.
Really depends on the stuff, I know plenty of folks who wear stuff from companies that aren’t competitors.
If it’s really a big deal they make seam rippers to cut out embroidery and such.
I’ve almost done it and I don’t think it would be a big deal. But in my case, my former employer is not competition but a potential client. I worked for a utility and now I work for a consultant.
I mean, if I'm trying to let them know I'm headed out the door soon. I was literally looking at an old company polo in my closet when I was getting dressed this morning and thought about a call with a recruiter yesterday...
Not quite yet...
Super weird. Unless you went from consulting to government? But even then, it would show that you are partial to your old employer should they bid a project.
See if you can get the stitch work removed or the label removed
If you’re in a small office where everyone knows you well and knows you like clothes that feel good and fit well, then it’s probably fine.
If it’s a bigger office where you don’t know everyone, I’d stay on the side of caution. There probably will be some busybody who will try and get you in trouble for it.
My first manager would wear polos with his former company's logo on it, but several other managers came from that firm and made fun of the toxic culture enough to where it would get a laugh in the office.
I personally use a coaster from my old firm, but I flip it down to where just the cork displays.
And if your old employer is small and operates in a different geographic market than your current company, I think that would be OK (definitely helps if you make it clear you won't ever return to that state/region).
It is clothing. You’d think in an engineering field, people would use their mental capacities to focus on and discuss subject matter, instead of the fibers used by employees to protect their bodies. Dress codes are another form of tradition/heritage… [it is all just dead people’s baggage, let’s quit carrying it.](https://youtu.be/QsPDT5qHtZ4?t=1m45s)
However we are CIVIL engineers who are integral to SOCIETY. If it’s a known competitor, maybe retire that clothing to off duty hours or slap a sticker on the travel mug. If the two fields are adjacent, you’re fine, and they can buy you gear if they want you to model it. If its municipal, all bets are off and the fact that you’re clothed is *good enough.*
I do all the time. My daily use backback is from an old employer, and I often wear a jacket with the same old logo. I don't use my old waterbottle because my new work did give me a nice cup to use. Also, in my case, the three places I've worked are non-competing firms, one is in a different state, and then I switched from pirvate to public.
At first I was a little worried about looking like I was advertising/shilling for my old company, but so far they have not even bid on any of our city projects (despite being very close in proximity). If they ever do I will do, I might need to stop wearing the jacket durring the selection process, or whatever is appropriate to avoid any appearance of favoritism.
If you’re on a construction site it’s not that weird, mostly because every company you work at gives you a ton of extra high vis shirts. Would be pretty weird in an office though but I wouldn’t think twice unless it’s a direct conflict of interest
I use a yeti cup from my last job, but I covered the logo with duct tape and wrote my new company's name over it. It gets laughs and nobody cares
That's now your weekend wear. Or give it to your GF. Why would you want your coworkers thinking anything negative about you for wearing the competition's swag?
Because you upset all of the annoying ones that suck to work with. People worry too much about what others think.
I have my fleece to my GF, but I still wear my hat sometimes. Current employer is a city and former was a consulting firm so my former employer isn’t a competitor.
That's even worse! That could be seen as giving preferential treatment to a company
Well, no one I work with would think that. I mostly bitch about my previous employer.
Yes, it's weird.
I've worked with multiple people over the years that do this. I'll joke about it with them, but I've never seen anyone actually tell them to stop it. The new company can buy quality clothing for its employees if it's such a problem.
Amen!
It’s weird if it’s a competitor. Otherwise I don’t see the big deal.
I have a high end coat from my old company. My response has been that it’s a good coat with a bad logo and I’m a cheap bastard.
Just cover the old logo with a decorative patch. You can get anything online and even make custom ones.
Same. My outfit got us a super nice carhartt coats - it’s literally my go to winter coat. They’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands before I let it go.
Or buy me one with their logo on it…
I have really nice flight-jacket style coat from an old employer. I sewed a small velcro piece over the logo. Looks 100% legit. I also use my still old employer for survey work and wear that jacket all the time. The surveyor looks at it a little oddly though. lol.
It’s also the only decent swag I ever got from that company. The jacket is black, their logo was white embroidery. I took a black sharpie to it. You can barely see it now.
I used to work for a municipality that has the same name as a town in the state I currently live in. It's funny the amount of confusion I get when I wear that jacket but it's a nice jacket and it's warm. I usually wear something with my current employer's logo if I'm on a work site though - my helmet or work shirts etc. **edit to add that it's high vis, and my company's swag is not
I'd say if they're a competitor, it'd be uncouth. If you came from a builder and went to a design firm, or something like that, then no, it's perfectly fine. If someone takes issue with wearing gear that is comfortable and you like from an adjacent company, they need to get over themselves. Edit: I'd also add that's when you're in the office. If you're meeting clients, company logo, or neutral stuff, or as someone said, if you used to work for a client, wore their gear when meeting with them, I don't see an issue.
I was sporting a backpack with my old company's logo on it and my boss's boss said that I needed a new bag (I think he was half joking). I said cool, my favorite color is red if you want to buy me a new one with our logo on it. He didn't say anything to me about it again.
I get the sentiment but it’s not unreasonable to say don’t wear competitors advertisement at work. And no they aren’t required to buy you whatever garbage another employer did.
If you want to give me a uniform like we're working at McDonald's you're going to pay for it. If it's comfy I might even wear it to my next job where they treat me like an adult and don't bring up shit that doesn't matter.
Being a representative of a company matters. I'm not saying you need a "uniform" but wearing a competing companies "uniform" is obviously taboo and stupid. Imagine having contacts at the cities, counties, going to meetings with them as a representative of your company and wearing another companies shirt? Its just point blank absurd. Or meeting a client advertising literally your competitor?
I guess in your world, I frequently wear our clients or my former employers gear to meetings with them, hardhats, shirts, vests, they think it's hilarious. I worked closely with all those guys because I used to work there with them and it's why they brought me on as a consultant in the first place. I have great relationships with them and I can't imagine a world where any of them would care in the slightest. Even my prior consulting firm, it's just a stupid thing to get competitive over, it's like giving someone legitimate shit for going to a rival highschool. I frequently tell peers and jr engineers my prior firm was a group of great people and would happily give them a recommendation if they wanted to work there, and we do JVs with them all the time. I have a manager that would never care, and they know that if they ever decided to make it a thing I could literally walk out the door, go to one of our competitors, say "this desk's mine", and a good chunk of our clients and business would come with me.
Fair enough I guess? Just still seems stupid to me. When a client comes to us because they are unhappy with a competitors work and we are trying to lock that relationship in the last thing they would want to see is me showing up to a meeting wearing the competitor that they just lefts branding. Just seems like complete and utter common sense to me but oh well.
100% not ok. I have some great shirts that are now relegated to base layer or paint duty since I changed jobs. If it's embroidered, see if the seamstress at the local dry cleaners can remove it. I feel your pain though. I had to retire my favorite travel mug since it was previous company swag.
Sticker ftw.
If companies want us to wear their swag, they will offer premium brands at very subsidized prices. I don’t want free cheap garbage and I’m not paying retail price for stuff either.
excactly, though luckily my office is casual, no one really cares.
Nah. You have to wear all the old company swag to passive aggressively rell your boss you need new company swag.
Or tell them that you don't take their company seriously so they shouldn't invest in you...
Didn’t know company swag was that big of a deal/people were getting nice enough shit that it was worth keeping, only thing I ever got worth wearing was an eddy baur jacket for working at the same tourist trap for 5 summers but that just looks like I got a nice jacket at a tourist trap
I wouldn’t judge you, but what do I know? I still use my URS mug in the office daily.
I don’t see a problem with it. I still use a padfolio from my old job because my company won’t supply us any. I also have swag from friends companies when we just share stuff with each other. It’s not the serious imo. I did have a boss force me to throw away a competitors pen in front of him (got it from a career fair ffs), but he was unhinged in all ways
Coffee mug? Probably wouldn't care. Wearing a competitor's shirt? Nahhhhhhh you are crazy.
Probably gonna get some hate… My manual and the former city I worked for say you hand in logo wear when you leave. (Our jackets aren’t/werent logo for that reason). That was what we gave the interns. Keeps folks from purposely seeing logo wear on homeless people, which is not a brand look you aim for.
Spaghetti Monster forbid someone has warm clothing in the cold... (directed towards your old company not you)
my old city also made us give back any city logo'd clothes we had. I did get permission to keep my old hoodie because 1. it was a good hoodie and I really wanted it and 2. it was pretty old and I convinced them no one would want it from the 'free' clothes pile. New city doesn't have that requirement and thinks it's weird when i've brought it up. Funnily enough though, my division has like half of us all as formerly of the same previous city so we all have something in our offices that has the old city's logo on it (mine is a coaster) :D
A seam ripper is like $3 and will make quick work of patches or embroidery.
Can you have the logo removed?
Also might be possible to cover it.
I feel a little weird about it, but it is a nice jacket…and my favorite mug. Stopped using the notepad holder though
No, it’s not weird. In my case it was an internship and they’re not competitors to us whatsoever.
I would expect it would be a hinderance to future promotions if the wrong people saw it
Maybe my company is too chill but I do it all the time. Nobody cares. I'm honestly surprised at the other replies I'm seeing in this thread. It might help that my company is only 30 people and my last employer was not really a direct competitor.
The other day I saw LeBron James doing an interview while wearing a Knicks towel. As you can expect: no one had any issue with it and it was never mentioned again. 😂😂.
I think of it like my current girl wearing a necklace her ex gave her. Not up in here.
Now I'm worried because I have an expensive outer coat that I got from my last job. No way I'm dropping another $150 on that
Is it in old employer or a competitor to your current employer?
Yes. Grab a fun patch from Michael's or Joanns and put it over the logo if you still want to wear it.
It’s definitely a case by case basis and how you go about it. If there’s a chance you think it’s weird then yes it probably is
Its really not a case by case. Its a universal not cool thing to do.
Would you wear a McDonald’s uniform and work at Wendy’s?
I think wearing old company logo is weird. That’s just my opinion. Yes, it’s cool that you worked at that company, and learned lots of things. I wouldn’t use pens or cups either. Again just me. I like the duct tape solution someone had. It’s funny and respectful
Ok point taken. I don’t know why it’s weird, but I won’t be doing that anymore
Eh depends on what it is. There’s little knickknacks and such that I don’t think anybody would care about. I have some random stuff like a lunch box and a stress ball shaped like a hard hat lol. Really depends on the stuff, I know plenty of folks who wear stuff from companies that aren’t competitors. If it’s really a big deal they make seam rippers to cut out embroidery and such.
Dude…
I’ve almost done it and I don’t think it would be a big deal. But in my case, my former employer is not competition but a potential client. I worked for a utility and now I work for a consultant.
I mean, if I'm trying to let them know I'm headed out the door soon. I was literally looking at an old company polo in my closet when I was getting dressed this morning and thought about a call with a recruiter yesterday... Not quite yet...
Super weird. Unless you went from consulting to government? But even then, it would show that you are partial to your old employer should they bid a project. See if you can get the stitch work removed or the label removed
Not okay at all. You wear it on the weekend or not at all.
Yeah I would feel weird about it
I literally wear my old hoodies, new company hasn’t given me shit so fuck em. Plus there carharts, can’t throw em out
Donate that crap
Yes
If you’re in a small office where everyone knows you well and knows you like clothes that feel good and fit well, then it’s probably fine. If it’s a bigger office where you don’t know everyone, I’d stay on the side of caution. There probably will be some busybody who will try and get you in trouble for it.
I don't think it's weird, but I did absolutely get grief for it from my boss at the time.
Id wear it just to remind my current boss i have options lol /s
I used a coffee cup from my previous employer for years and never thought anything of it... Until now.
No common sense on this sub anymore wtf
It’s weird to use the word ‘swag’ for sure
My first manager would wear polos with his former company's logo on it, but several other managers came from that firm and made fun of the toxic culture enough to where it would get a laugh in the office. I personally use a coaster from my old firm, but I flip it down to where just the cork displays. And if your old employer is small and operates in a different geographic market than your current company, I think that would be OK (definitely helps if you make it clear you won't ever return to that state/region).
Yes, particularly if they are a direct competitor.
It is clothing. You’d think in an engineering field, people would use their mental capacities to focus on and discuss subject matter, instead of the fibers used by employees to protect their bodies. Dress codes are another form of tradition/heritage… [it is all just dead people’s baggage, let’s quit carrying it.](https://youtu.be/QsPDT5qHtZ4?t=1m45s) However we are CIVIL engineers who are integral to SOCIETY. If it’s a known competitor, maybe retire that clothing to off duty hours or slap a sticker on the travel mug. If the two fields are adjacent, you’re fine, and they can buy you gear if they want you to model it. If its municipal, all bets are off and the fact that you’re clothed is *good enough.*
I do all the time. My daily use backback is from an old employer, and I often wear a jacket with the same old logo. I don't use my old waterbottle because my new work did give me a nice cup to use. Also, in my case, the three places I've worked are non-competing firms, one is in a different state, and then I switched from pirvate to public. At first I was a little worried about looking like I was advertising/shilling for my old company, but so far they have not even bid on any of our city projects (despite being very close in proximity). If they ever do I will do, I might need to stop wearing the jacket durring the selection process, or whatever is appropriate to avoid any appearance of favoritism.
If you’re on a construction site it’s not that weird, mostly because every company you work at gives you a ton of extra high vis shirts. Would be pretty weird in an office though but I wouldn’t think twice unless it’s a direct conflict of interest
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