The new Starbucks Dress Code announced today invites baristas to shine as individuals while continuing to present a clean, neat and professional appearance. 
 
 Effective immediately, a range of shirt colors beyond solid black and white are welcome, including gray, navy, dark denim and brown, including patterns. Shorts, skirts, dresses and pants, including dark-wash jeans, are all part of the Starbucks wardrobe, and partners are invited to make a statement with hair color, so long as coloring is permanent or semi-permanent, in keeping with food-safety standards. To cap the look off, beanies, fedoras and other suitable hats are welcome. 
 
 Related: Starbucks Dress Code Lookbook 
 
 Some partners (employees) have already been wearing clothing that fits the new dress code guidelines. Customers coming into the Starbucks at the 47th & Broadway store in Manhattan last September immediately detected something different. Rather than the familiar solid black, white and khaki clothing underneath green aprons, baristas were decked out in a range of colors and outfits that reflected their own personal tastes. 
 
 Visitors to the store were caught slightly off guard by the change, but they welcomed the new style, according to Starbucks store manager Mario Leon. 
 
 “Customers noticed right away,” Leon said. “They actually thought that something was wrong. They would ask me, ‘Why are you guys all out of uniform?’ And we just told them, ‘No, this is the new uniform for this store.’ They said, ‘We like it. We’re happy to see that you can wear expressive clothing to show who you are.’” 
 
 The Broadway coffeehouse and select Reserve stores that spotlight small-batch coffees, as well as the Reserve® Roastery and Tasting Room in Seattle, are forerunners for all company stores in the U.S. and Canada as Starbucks updates its North America dress code beginning now. 
 
 “This new dress code is what partners have in their closets,” Leon added. “It just makes it so much easier. It just makes so much sense.” 
 
 “I believe these changes work well with our iconic green apron and also complement the passion partners bring to our coffee and their craft,” said Cosimo LaPorta, executive vice president, U.S. Retail Store Operations. “We want partners to be as proud of their look as they are when they tie on their green apron.” 
 
 “Our success is rooted in our continual innovation and customization in every aspect of our business and this also applies to offering the best partner experience we can,” said Rossann Williams, president, Starbucks Canada. “We are responding to what our partners have told us and are confident this will uplift the Starbucks brand, partner and customer experience.” 
 
 For more information on this story, contact the Starbucks Newsroom ||||| Your favorite Starbucks Corp. (ticker: SBUX) barista might be showing off a new look next time you order that latte — sporting dark-wash jeans, a tone-on-tone plaid shirt and fedora. 
 
 The coffee chain announced a new North American dress code Monday that invites more than just black, white and khaki options. It's extending shirt colors to gray, navy, dark denim and brown, plus patterns. Its partners can also wear shorts, skirts, dresses and pants, and go for any hair color they desire, so long as it meets food safety standards. The company had previously barred its employees from dyeing their hair unnatural colors, i.e. pink and purple, reports Fortune . 
 
 The dress code is intended to be more reflective of what its baristas wear outside of work. "This new dress code is what partners have in their closets," Starbucks store manager Mario Leon said in a press release. "It just makes it so much easier. It just makes so much sense." Leon's 47th and Broadway Manhattan, New York location had already implemented the change in September. 
 
 A full look at the new wardrobe is available here. It clearly invokes more of a hipster, average Joe coffee shop feel, one the chain could emulate to broaden its fast casual, basic appeal. It also builds on a growing trend of individual expression in the workplace. 
 
 The company has been making a series of changes meant to benefit employees, notably through its college achievement plan and more recently its wage increase announcement set to go into effect in October. The caveat of the upcoming pay increase is that there won't be another in January, reports BuzzFeed . ||||| Starbucks' employees can now wear grey and muted blue shirts. Starbucks Starbucks baristas can now wear dark jeans and dye their hair any color. 
 
 On Monday, the coffee giant announced it was changing its dress code. Under the new policy, employees are allowed to wear shirt colors outside of solid black or white, as well as dark wash jeans. Beanies, fedoras, and "other suitable hats" — not bucket hats, sports caps, berets, or cowboy hats — are also permitted. 
 
 Perhaps most notable, however, is that Starbucks workers are now allowed to "make a statement with hair color," according to the company's press release, as long as dyed hair is permanent or semi-permanent (some temporary dyes, hair chalk, or glitter could be a food safety issue). 
 
 Starbucks employees quickly took to social media to celebrate the change. 
 
 Employees have been complaining about the coffee giant's hair policy for quite some time. 
 
 "Starbucks is place where partners are unique and should be able to show their true selves," reads a petition to change Starbucks' hair color policy on Coworker.org. "How are they going to do it if they can't color their hair how they want? Sometimes color shows the person's true self." 
 
 The petition, which was posted last year, received nearly 15,000 signatures. 
 
 An example of appropriate dyed hair, according to Starbucks' look book. Starbucks 
 
 The new dress code certainly isn't a free-for-all. Permitted clothing colors are still subdued, and the chain's "no list" remains extensive. Banned items include brightly colored shirts (including certain plaids and floral prints), hoodies, socks with "distracting" graphics, and UGG boots. 
 
 However, as with Starbucks lifting its ban on visible tattoos in 2014, the shift allows for a wider range of options and hair colors, a convenient way keep up with the times and boost employee morale. Now, most of Starbucks' most hated dress code requirements, such as no nail polish and minimal jewelry, can be tied to food safety issues — not a supposedly creative chain trying to blunt employees' freedom of expression. ||||| Starbucks workers soon will get pay raises of at least 5 percent, but will they also be allowed to sport hair color of their choosing? 
 
 As employees reacted Monday to a memo from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announcing wage hikes and other workplace changes, some were most excited by the promise of unspecified dress code modifications. 
 
 "Maybe I can expand my hair colour choices to include something a little more fun than red!" one person commented on the Starbucks Partners Facebook page, prompting other calls for pink and purple. 
 
 Though it may seem that coffee baristas have a God-given right to a pink coiffure, Starbucks' current dress code does not allow "bright or unnatural" hair color. A petition launched last year bemoaning the rule as restricting the expression of one's "true self" gathered nearly 13,000 signatures. 
 
 The Seattle-based coffee giant, which only two years ago gave baristas permission to show some tattoos, offered no details about the new dress code changes, for now saying only that employees will have "more room for self-expression." 
 
 A loosening of the dress code could be seen as a move to appeal to millennial employees, but workplace expert Tom Gimbel dismissed the announcement as a marketing ploy to make Starbucks appear like it cares about "the common man." The company has recently come under fire for scheduling practices and reducing employee hours. 
 
 "They're really not doing anything that anyone else isn't doing, they're just positioning it," said Gimbel, CEO of Chicago-based staffing firm The LaSalle Network. "This is a marketing thing, this is not a culture thing." 
 
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 The major news from Schultz's announcement is that Starbucks employees will get pay raises of at least 5 percent, effective Oct. 3, in order for the company to remain "a retail employer of choice." The amount of the increase will be determined by geographic and market factors. 
 
 The company also will double the annual "bean stock" awards, which are shares in Starbucks stock, for employees who reach two years of continuous service with the company. Together, those changes could raise compensation packages up to 15 percent. 
 
 Starbucks does not disclose its starting wage, but according to PayScale, which collects salary data from employees, the average median wage for Starbucks employees in Chicago is $10.59 an hour. Chicago's minimum hourly wage this month climbed to $10.50 as it moves toward $13. 
 
 Andrew Challenger, vice president of the outplacement firm Challenger Gray and Christmas, said it makes sense for companies to raise pay given the sluggish wage growth since the Great Recession. As labor markets tighten and hiring accelerates, companies that want to hold on to good employees have to improve their paychecks, he said. 
 
 In addition, a recent wave of minimum wage increases across the country and the continued pressure of the Fight for $15 movement means companies will likely have to raise pay anyway. The Democratic Party on Friday amended its platform to call for a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage. 
 
 "It's smart for a company like Starbucks to get ahead of the curve and get great PR," Challenger said. "You don't do it begrudgingly, it helps employee loyalty and morale." 
 
 Schultz, who is outspoken on social issues, framed his memo in the context of last week's violence, saying, "While trust in America may seem to be fraying, I do believe the majority of Americans recognize our shared humanity and strive to ensure that respect, civility and compassion rise above the alternatives." He added that "earning your trust as partners has always been a foundational principle to me." 
 
 The announcement comes as signatures mount on an online petition criticizing Starbucks' scheduling practices. In the petition on coworker.org, California barista Jaime Prater said staffing cuts are "killing morale" and making it difficult to work enough hours to make ends meet. 
 
 "Right now, the labor climate keeps most baristas regularly underemployed, enough to qualify for benefits, but not enough to afford to pay for them," Prater wrote in the petition, which as of Monday afternoon had collected nearly 13,000 signatures. "The most frustrating aspect lately is the pay, and having to commute to work for a 4.5 hour shift, while spending over an hours worth of pay to get yourself there." 
 
 Schultz addressed scheduling in the memo, giving his "personal commitment that we will work with every partner to ensure you have the hours you need" to ensure benefits eligibility. 
 
 Starbucks has made a name for itself as a progressive employer by offering health benefits to employees who work at least 20 hours a week, rare in the retail industry. 
 
 Worker advocates who have been calling on Starbucks to make changes hailed the raises and commitment to address scheduling. 
 
 "But baristas aren't going to stop organizing until they see that personal commitment from the CEO become a reality in every store, and see it be matched by a corporate commitment to support secure scheduling policies in Seattle and across the country," Sejal Parikh, executive director of Working Washington, said in an emailed statement. 
 
 Other changes Schultz announced include a new online benefits platform with interactive tools that will allow employees to shop for health coverage like they shop for airfare, so they "only pay for the coverage they want and will actually use." The change could save individuals as much as $800 and families as much as $2,600 annually, he said. 
 
 As for the new dress code, Schultz said details will be provided at a meeting at the end of July. 
 
 Starbucks last announced dress code changes in 2014, when it allowed black jeans, untucked shirts and some visible tattoos (but not on the face or neck) and piercings (small nose studs are allowed, but septum piercings are not). 
 
 The current dress code has been criticized by some employees who think it too strict. In addition to the hair color restrictions, it forbids nail polish, blue jeans, sweatshirts, hoodies, T-shirts, athletic pants, leggings, yoga pants, sweatpants, open-toed shoes, sandals, clogs, cowboy boots, canvas shoes, perfume, cologne or highly fragrant deodorants or powders. 
 
 It also does not allow watches, bracelets or rings with stones — including engagement rings — for food safety reasons. 
 
 The changes affect the 150,000 employees who work at Starbucks' company-owned stores. 
 
 aelejalderuiz@tribpub.com 
 
 Twitter @alexiaer ||||| Originally published October 16, 2014 at 2:04 PM | Page modified October 17, 2014 at 6:49 PM 
 
 Chief operating officer Troy Alstead said the company will increase starting-pay rates in all U.S. markets beginning in January and allow visible tattoos. Starbucks is also creating a contest that offers winners “Starbucks for Life.” 
 
 Starbucks kicked off its holiday season with gifts for its employees and new strategies to draw in customers, including the promise, for a lucky few, of free java for life. 
 
 The Seattle coffee giant announced Thursday it will pay its U.S. employees more and relax its dress code to allow tattoos and other forms of self-expression to show. 
 
 Starbucks also will start letting customers in Portland order using their mobile phones before the end of the year, a service that will spread to the rest of the U.S. through 2015. 
 
 It also unveiled a most unusual promotion, designed to enroll customers in its loyalty programs: the chance for a few shoppers paying with a Starbucks Card or a mobile device to win “Starbucks for Life.” Ten winners in the U.S. will receive one free item — from drinks to salads to pastries, but with some restrictions — every day for 30 years. 
 
 The moves come as Starbucks seeks to navigate two important challenges: consumers’ migration from malls to online shopping, and growing concern about the quality of retail jobs, especially as these, once considered temporary, are filling the gap left by manufacturing in the American economy. 
 
 Starbucks has long offered benefits unusual in the retail sector, such as health insurance, even for part-timers, and stock. Recently it launched a program to subsidize online college education at Arizona State University for its baristas; the first 1,000 or so began classes Oct. 15. 
 
 But the company has been criticized over relatively low pay and over inconsistent and hectic work schedules. 
 
 Chief Operating Officer Troy Alstead said Thursday in an email to staffers the company will increase starting-pay rates in the U.S. in January. That month all baristas and shift supervisors will also receive a raise, and experienced partners will be eligible for a “lump sum increase” to reward tenure. Pay will be reassessed annually. 
 
 The company didn’t disclose pay rates, which vary according to market; a Starbucks employee recently told The Seattle Times he started at $9.50 an hour. Job-reviews website Glassdoor indicates the average barista wage is $9.32 an hour. 
 
 These improvements follow moves by the company to allow customers paying with mobile phones to tip baristas using the Starbucks smartphone app. 
 
 Retailers have long lagged behind manufacturers in pay because of their slim profits. But Starbucks, which has been growing like gangbusters in recent years, has plenty of money: It made $512 million in the quarter that ended June 29, on $4.1 billion in revenue. 
 
 As of the end of its fiscal year, September 2013, the company employed nearly 182,000 people around the world, including 137,000 in the U.S. 
 
 CEO Howard Schultz, a longtime proponent of providing good benefits to employees, says investments in staff help everybody: the staffers, the company’s bottom line as it improves retention of better employees, and a society afflicted with a growing pay gap. 
 
 “You can’t look at anything today as a zero-sum game,” he said in a recent interview. 
 
 Starbucks also loosened its strict sartorial policy to allow baristas more flair. They can show tattoos, except for those on the face and throat; the change addresses a popular complaint by baristas, who complained that having to wear long sleeves to cover tattoos was uncomfortable and outdated. 
 
 Barista Kristie Williams started a Coworker.org petition last August to change the tattoo policy. It collected more than 25,000 signatures. “I am jumping up and down and am so excited that we can now be more comfortable at work,” Williams wrote in a statement. 
 
 Baristas can also sport colored ties and neck scarves, as well as black denim. Shirts can be worn untucked if the shirt is no longer than the back pockets and “your midsection doesn’t show.” Multiple piercings — formerly a no-no — are now allowed, as long as it’s no more than two earrings per ear and a small nose stud. 
 
 The ban on “unnatural (hair) colors” — such as purple, green or pink — continues, however. 
 
 “We want to build a company where self-expression, empowerment and inclusion are nurtured,” Alstead said. 
 
 Starbucks will also offer employees more time with managers to talk about their personal goals and the work environment. In addition, the company will offer bonuses to 28,000 outstanding employees each quarter, while eliminating performance-review forms and ratings for baristas and shift supervisors. 
 
 Store employees will also get one free food item per shift. 
 
 The initiatives announced Thursday “will ensure we are paying a competitive wage that better positions us to attract and keep the best partners,” Alstead wrote in his email to staffers. 
 
 Ángel González: 206-464-2250 or agonzalez@seattletimes.com. On Twitter @gonzalezseattle 
 
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– Just like a Starbucks customer can match her perc to her personality via a customized coffee, company baristas can now also "shine as individuals" thanks to the java giant's updated dress code. Per a company release posted Monday, baristas are now allowed to diverge somewhat from the black, white, and khaki attire that's been the Starbucks standard. Although the green aprons aren't going anywhere, baristas can now wear navy, brown, and gray clothing underneath, as long as it presents a "clean, neat, and professional appearance." Wild hair hues, previously forbidden, are also now welcome—though it has to be permanent or semi-permanent color and can't have glitter or spray in it for health reasons, Fortune notes—and employees can top off their tresses with beanies, fedoras, or other "suitable" headwear within the same color approved color scheme. The new dress designation, which will take effect in all stores in the US and Canada, offers "more of a hipster, average Joe coffee shop feel," US News reports—and it notes the chain could harness that feel to "broaden its fast casual, basic appeal." Business Insider notes that employees had long asked for similar concessions, especially regarding hair color, including via a petition with nearly 15,000 signatures that says, "Starbucks is [a] place where partners are unique and should be able to show their true selves." The code is expected to affect some 150,000 workers in the US. "This new dress code is what partners have in their closets," a Starbucks store manager in Manhattan says in the release. "It just makes it so much easier." Check out the company's new acceptable color palette here. (Starbucks also recently announced it will raise workers' wages.)