Social IssuesOCT 20, 2021

Hooters Backtracks After Employees Go Viral For Complaining About ‘Disturbing’ And ‘Sexist’ New Uniforms

Saulė Tolstych and Jurgita Dominauskaitė

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For a lot of people, their clothes are an extension of their personality and not just a piece of cloth to keep them warm and cover their decency. It’s great when they can show what kind of person they are with what they are wearing, but there are places where you have to follow a dress code.

At school, you have a uniform, whereas if you have an office job, they might ask you to look more formal. Doctors have their white coats and you’ll always spot policemen in their uniforms. A lot of companies in the service industry also require their employees to wear uniforms. Usually it’s because of safety and practical reasons as well as for representative purposes. But companies like Hooters seem to care only about how to earn more using women’s bodies.

The restaurant chain Hooters recently updated their employees' uniforms and they were not happy about them, so the company made them optional

Image credits: Phillip Pessar

Hooters is a restaurant chain that originated in the United States and was first opened in 1983. Since then, it has become really popular and now the chain consists of 420 Hooters restaurants in 42 states and 29 countries.

The main selling feature and why the restaurant is so well known is because of the Hooters Girls. That is what they call their waitresses who serve clients wearing a white tank top with the "Hootie the Owl" logo and a pair of revealing shorts.

Image credits: Anthony Acosta

Quite a lot of Hooters Girls were showing the shorts of the new uniform on TikTok and those videos were going viral

Image credits: theflathootersgirl

Recently, Hooters updated their staff’s uniforms and made the shorts even shorter, which no one thought could be possible. Girls who are working at Hooters called out the restaurant’s decision on TikTok and they got so much attention that the chain had to adjust the uniform policy and announced that the new shorts will be optional.

Bored Panda reached out to one of the TikTokers who goes by the name LexiusXOXO to learn more how the situation looks like from an insider's perspective. The TikTokers real name is Lexi and she just graduated from Valdosta State with a Bachelors of Arts in psychology and sociology. She told us that she's "been wanting to be a hooters girl since she was in high school, to pay off her student loans quickly, and fund her business." Lexi also added that she was inspired by her cousin who got to "compete in pageants and just have a lot of opportunities open up because of hooters and Lexi wanted to do the same."

Image credits: theflathootersgirl

As the Hooters uniform was always a ontroversial part about the restaurant, we asked Lexi if she ever felt uncomfortable wearing it and turns out, that she only get nervous when families with children come in but overall she feels good in it: "I was self conscious at first since I have a smaller chest and don’t look like the average hooters girl but what I lack in the front I make up for in the back."

Most of the girls were not happy about the changes and weren't fans of the idea of wearing what they called 'underwear' to work

Image credits: gracie.herrick

In an Image Policy Statement, the company declared, “As we continue to listen and update the image of the Hooters Girls, we are clarifying that they have the option to choose from traditional uniforms or the new ones. They can determine which style of shorts best fits their body style and personal image.”

They also claim that the uniform changes were made in collaboration with their employees and received positive feedback in restaurants that are located in Texas. They also added, “Our Hooters Girls are providing input at every stage including future clothing items and accessories.”

Image credits: lexiusxoxo

Luckily, the company heard their employees and made a statement saying that the women will be able to choose to wear the uniform that makes them more comfortable

Image credits: ggnguyen

While some girls truly like their new uniform and admit that they are earning significantly more now, not all of them feel so happy. Many of them are comparing the new shorts to underwear as they don’t entirely cover their bottoms and they don't think it is appropriate attire for working at a restaurant.

Hooters Girls are showing their new shorts on camera with fright and disgust on their faces. One of them wrote in her video caption, “Love my job but don’t love wearing undies to work.” Another said, “Soooo hooters got new panties. I mean shorts.”

Image credits: sick.abt.it

Lexi told us more how the staff found out about the change and what their reactions were: "I felt like hooters girls actually had a voice in what they wanted to wear. A lot of people believe that the girls already knew what the shorts looked like but actually they didn’t. We were just informed that we were getting new shorts that’s all. We were all surprised when the package came in and we saw the shorts. I also feel like if it wasn’t for all the TikTok’s then the policy wouldn’t have changed but hey shout out to hooters for listening to how their hooters girls felt and for making the change."

If you would like to hear more about work at Hooters and how the girls see heir jobs, you can follow Lexie on TikTok where she has 30k followers on Instagram where over 5k people follow her or you can check out her Youtube channel.

Hooters were always criticized for having their employees wear overly revealing outfits, but this time, it seems they crossed the line

Image credits: eastenciera

Hooters were always criticized for their staff uniforms and this is not the first controversy they've been in regarding their Hooters Girls’ image.

For example, in 2010, an employee filed a lawsuit against the company claiming that they gave her a gym membership to lose weight as her shirt and short size could have used some improvement. If after a month, nothing would change, she was threatened with termination. Hooters denied the accusations and the case was settled out of court.

Image credits: k..aates

It seems that the company really took into consideration what their employees were saying. After all, they clearly defined what their values are in the statement, mentioned previously: “We remain committed to empowering our most valuable asset, the Hooters Girls, and working together to provide the best Hooters experience for our guests and employees.”

But what do you think of the new Hooters uniforms? Would it make you quit if you were forced to wear them? How do you feel about the company making the new shorts optional after the backlash? Leave your reactions in the comments!