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&lt;p&gt;Today is Friday. It&amp;rsquo;s also Wear Sneakers at Work Day.  If you didn&#39;t know it was such a special day, don&#39;t worry: no one I talked to knew either;  in fact, they&#39;d never even heard of it.  Sneakers@Work Day was established only two years ago by the American Prostate Cancer Initiative in an effort to raise awareness about prostate cancer.  On its website, Sneakers@Work invites employers to register to host the event at their office, as many professionals are not able to (or would simply be too out of place to) wear sneakers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://content.screencast.com/users/cwisevault/folders/Default/media/2dd663a9-fc52-489b-9143-e14222d0155c/SneakersatWorkRight.png&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;Senior executives wearing sneakers at work&quot; width=&quot;396&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;I asked a number of professionals in different industries their thoughts on the special day.  All said they could not be the only one wearing sneakers in the office.  &quot;I might wear them to work but would change out of them at work,&quot; says an associate at a Manhattan law firm.  Since his firm doesn&#39;t have casual Fridays, &quot;wearing sneakers would not be acceptable... I wouldn&#39;t want legal advice or business advice from anyone who lacked the judgment not to wear sneakers with a suit.&quot;  Because of the formality of their service, the firm doesn&#39;t have casual Fridays.  And as the associate points out, participants would &quot;look foolish in a suit with sneakers.&quot;  Would having casual Fridays make any difference?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I asked an investment banker at a boutique Manhattan firm about casual Fridays and he broke it down.  &quot;We are business formal Monday through Thursday and either business formal with no tie, or slacks and a sport coat on Friday.  If there is a client in the office, we remain business formal, regardless of the day.&quot;  What about sneakers?  &quot;It would be unacceptable in our office.&quot;  Even for charity?  &quot;I would be surprised.  There will probably not be anyone participating in our office.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://content.screencast.com/users/cwisevault/folders/Default/media/73c73e44-4c98-49e3-bd1f-bd6b5bba35aa/SneakersatWorkPollRight.png&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;Would you wear sneaker to work on Friday poll&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; height=&quot;261&quot; align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;Let&#39;s go even more casual.  In a recent Vault poll, 32 percent of respondents said they regularly work in sneakers; and 22 percent said sneakers are always welcome on Fridays, whether or not they themselves sport the sporty shoe.  Lots of online companies (networks, start-ups, blogs, etc.) have a much more relaxed dress code.  According to a recent , Facebook.com founder Mark Zuckerberg&#39;s usual garb is a &quot;gray T-shirt, bluejeans, and sneakers.&quot;  &quot;Every day is casual Friday,&quot; says the director of business development at an online advertising network.  &quot;Our CEO and president wear jeans and sneaks to the office every day.&quot;  Sometimes, just because the head honchos do it, it doesn&#39;t mean it&#39;s OK for everyone.  Here, &quot;as long as they get the job done, they can wear whatever they want within reason.&quot;  In fact, she says, &quot;business formal is regarded with suspicion.  If you&#39;re dressed nicer than usual, management worries you&#39;re interviewing elsewhere!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Many people&amp;mdash;including the director of business development&amp;mdash;prefer not to wear sneakers to work, not because they wouldn&#39;t be acceptable but because sneakers don&#39;t feel right for work to them.  &quot;I don&#39;t feel like I am dressed for work in sneakers.  I feel like I am going to play sport or go out dancing,&quot; says a product manager at a start-up.  That said, &quot;there is a huge variation between one pair of sneakers and the next.  There are Chucks, which say hipster; Vans, which say skater; Pumas, which say EuroTrash; high tops, etc., etc., or running shoes.  I think if you can rock a sneaker type that reflects your personality and are in decent shape, that is really cool.&quot;  Will the product manager be wearing sneakers on Friday?  No.  What if your employer is a registered participant?  Almost 20 percent of Vault&#39;s poll respondents said they would participate&amp;mdash;but only because it&#39;s for charity.  &quot;If the event is for charity, I will still give money... Then again, maybe I would wear my pale pink Chucks to work.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://content.screencast.com/users/cwisevault/folders/Default/media/65482764-8f2c-48cf-b6f4-73496eaaee71/SneakersatWorkLeft.png&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;Graphic designers wear sneakers at the office&quot; width=&quot;376&quot; height=&quot;255&quot; align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Wearing sneakers to work is a personal choice&amp;mdash;assuming it&#39;s kosher at the office.  Says the director of business development at the uber-casual online ad network, &quot;I only wear sneakers to the gym&amp;mdash;I don&#39;t wear sneakers anywhere else, but that&#39;s my personal style.&quot;  Would she wear sneakers if her office were participating in Sneakers@Work together?  &quot;For a good cause, sure!&quot;  What if you do feel comfortable wearing sneakers to work?  Says an economic research fellow at an environmental nonprofit, where people often wear sneakers: &quot;I&#39;ve worn sneakers to work a couple times ... They&#39;re decent-looking and non-flashy.&quot;  Will he be wearing them on Friday?  &quot;If the whole office ever decided to wear sneakers one day, I&#39;d be happy to join in.  I don&#39;t think that&#39;ll happen anytime soon unless someone comes up with a &#39;Wear Sneakers to Work to Show Your Support for Federal Climate Change Legislation!&#39; event.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;-- Carolyn Wise, Vault.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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