Working in a 9-to-5 job is never easy; you have to dress work-appropriately and you have to make sure your dress code is in line with that of your company’s culture/coworkers. But times have evolved and we’ve all come to agree that the office is not a dress code prison – unless you work in a corporate environment. The thing is, if you’re a sweatpants-kind-of-guy and would rather sleep-in an extra 10 minutes rather than using that time to put on a suit, then this article is for you.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be comfortable at work, as long as your outfit doesn’t scream “I just woke up” as soon as you enter the doorway. That said, we’ve gathered a few guidelines on how to wear sweatpants to work without being scolded by your boss.

Pick a dark color

While sweatpants direct our thoughts to the color grey, believe it or not, there are many other colors that could totally save you all the trouble. Choose from a color palette of black, dark grey, navy or even khaki. The more your sweatpants can be mixed up with normal pants, the better the outcome.

Make sure it’s a slim cut

We get that you want to wear sweatpants, but for heaven’s sake, do not go all nineties on your boss and wear these loose basketball pants. Not only are they terribly ugly, but they also defeat the whole purpose of “pulling off wearing sweatpants to work”.

Throw in a dressy shirt

Or a button-down shirt, for that matter. What you want to do here is balance out the outcome of the whole sweatpants look. If your upper part is formal, then no one will care if you’re wearing trousers or sweats.

Choose the right shoes

It’s not rocket science, if you’re wearing the right shoes, you’re golden. Pick a pair of classy sneakers and leave your gym shoes…for the gym.

Don’t make it a habit

We’re all for the “I-want-to-be-comfortable” way of life but that doesn’t mean you have to do it every single day. Your boss might not notice the first few times but if you wear them constantly, then we’ll have another problem to deal with!

Cindy Menassa