Brenda Walton, area manager for Oxfam shops in the west of Scotland, spends one or two days a week at Oxfam in Scotland's HQ in Glasgow and the rest of the time visiting shops around the west.
"IF I'M in a shop lugging around boxes of old books, I'll wear a pair of old jeans and a T-shirt. You have to be comfortable. But last Friday I had an area meeting with shop managers and I was wearing a suit and shirt.
"Believe it or not, everything I'm wearing in this photo came from an Oxfam shop. If you're a youngster or a return-to-worker or someone who's not on a high salary, Oxfam is a good place to get work clothes. If you're not quite sure what's appropriate, it saves you from making a costly mistake - and we sell a lot of quality clothes.
"At Oxfam, we don't have a formal dress code. The boundaries are common-sense ones. We have people of different cultures coming in here and the last thing we'd want to do is cause offence. Besides, people don't want to see chipped nail varnish or their manager's bra strap. Dressing too sharply also gives out a lot of wrong messages on a lot of levels. For instance, for me to turn up at a shop in a really sharp suit could put people off: I have to be approachable.
"You have to try to get the balance right. When you put your clothes on, you're putting on your personality. I want to be open and approachable, but I also want to be taken seriously as a manager. If I was going to an important meeting, I would wear something sober. But I paint every toenail a different colour, so there's always something light-hearted, even if it's hidden."
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