Tricks To Solve Office Wardrobe Malfunctions

It doesn’t matter if you’re on a video chat or sitting six feet apart with the windows open in a socially distanced meeting: buttons pop off, zippers jam, and hems rip.

These tricks to solve office wardrobe malfunctions can come to the rescue.

Your Desk Drawer Is Your Friend

Your best defense against office wardrobe malfunctions is a well-stocked drawer. Paper clips, two-sided tape, packing or duct tape, and your trusty office stapler, plus a stain-removing pen, should all be residents of your workspace drawer. This way, you’ll have remedies at hand and miss the least amount of work time fixing an office wardrobe malfunction.

Video Meetings Fix

We’ve all heard about the Zoom shirt (soon to be Zoom sweater) that many of us keep close at hand to throw on for video meetings. That’s a handy way to disguise the stained T-shirt you threw on just in time to log in, but it won’t help if your child just spilled juice all over it or slimed it with sticky jam fingers. Technology is a wondrous thing, though, and you can instantly shut off your webcam and mute your microphone while you reach for a cleaner cover-up.

Stuck Zipper

If your zipper is stuck because it has caught on the fabric or your trousers or skirt, you’ll need to take some time to gently pull the fabric out from under the zipper’s teeth. Often, however, a zipper jams because of friction, and it just needs a little lubrication. Some hand lotion, soap, or even a pencil tip rubbed along the teeth should give the zipper enough glide to zip up.

Popped Button

If you don’t have time to take a break and sew a button back on (and, between online school for the kids and video meetings for work, of course, you don’t have time!), paper clips or twist ties are your answer here. Straighten out the paper clip, and put one end through the buttonhole on your blouse, up through one hole in the button and down the other, and back through the blouse buttonhole. Then twist the ends together and bend them flat against you. If you don’t have a thin enough paper clip, and twist tie works well, too.

Split Seam

While tape can handle a ripped hem, a split seam is another matter. Enter your office stapler. A quick step to the restroom (at home or the office) with a stapler in hand can mend the problem until you have time to get to the sewing machine or a dry cleaner that provides tailoring services. Turn the garment inside out, flatten it so that the two sides of the seam sit together as they did when the seam was whole, and staple along the line where the stitches used to be.

A wardrobe malfunction is an inconvenience, but it’s a temporary one. Be ready with your office supplies, a sewing kit, some spare buttons, and an alternate outfit hanging on the back of a door within reach, just in case.