In this conversational YouTube clip, Jo Saunders interviews David Julian Price about appropriate clothing for tradies attending networking events. David recommends that tradies invest in a high‑quality, branded polo shirt that is clean, pressed, and free of stains for most networking settings. He advises against wearing high‑visibility (high‑vis) gear unless the event’s context or the speaker’s pitch specifically ties to safety or hands‑on work, in which case the high‑vis can be a purposeful visual cue. The discussion then shifts to personal branding through color: David notes that women tend to use color more effectively than men, treating a consistent color palette (including hair color) as part of their brand identity. Overall, the advice emphasizes professionalism, relevance to the event, and leveraging visual elements like color to be memorable.
Chapters
So David, if you're going to a networking event and you're a tradie or someone that would wear more casual, like you've got a uniform, it's usually a polo shirt with your branding on, would you wear that to a networking event?
Well, Jo, I thought you were going to ask me, do you wear your high-vis gear to a networking event? Well— And I go to networking events where there are tradies who wear high-vis gear.
Okay.
Look, the first thing you know about them is they're a tradie.
Hi, this is a tradie.
So at least that's memorable. Look, I think it would depend on the networking event.
Yeah.
If it's— and that often would depend, be determined by the venue. Yeah. Look, a really good classy professional polo shirt will cost about $60. And I know that because someone priced one for me just last week. I reckon if you're a tradie, invest in one good polo shirt that you wear to events like that.
And is it branded still or not? Oh yeah, branded. So branded, but it's the clean, the pressed, ironed version that you keep for networking, not the one that's got stains on because you've spilt whatever on it.
So I would tend to say to a tradie, look, get yourself a really good polo shirt. Don't take the high-vis unless they want to make a point in their pitch about the fact that they are a hands-on tradie.
So if they were referencing being about safety or something and they're wearing high-vis, they could kind of tie that into their pitch if they're being clever.
Yeah, they could. I think if you're going to tie in your high-vis stuff, I think that works quite well. Yeah. But you really need to think that through. Um, uh, the other thing, women do this much better than men, is they work on color. So color becomes their brand. I mean, this color I'm wearing is my brand. I wear it every time I present. Um, but women are much better than men at using color for their brand. You do for your hair. Yours changes, but the reality is your hair color is part of your brand.
Yes, so it's very changeable and it becomes one of the first things people say. I was wondering what colour your hair would be today.
Yeah, and when people refer to you when they don't know you quite as well as I know, they might say, Jo Saunders, oh, is she the woman with the coloured hair? That's what people say about you. Yeah. And that's exactly what you want them to be saying. Yes, because you're memorable. Yeah, absolutely.
