According to a news release, the coffee giant said its updated dress code will require staff to wear “simplified color options” to enhance the iconic green garment and create “a sense of familiarity for our customers” across all North American Starbucks locations.

The new dress code takes effect on May 12 and outlines the following clothing options for baristas:

• Any solid black short- or long-sleeved crewneck, collared or button-up shirts.
• Any shade of khaki, black or blue denim bottoms.
• Starbucks said baristas could wear new company-branded T-shirts and will provide workers with two free shirts.

“By updating our dress code, we can deliver a more consistent coffeehouse experience that will also bring simpler and clearer guidance to our partners, which means they can focus on what matters most, crafting great beverages and fostering connections with customers,” the coffee chain said in a news release statement.

Starbucks previously embraced a diversified wardrobe, allowing baristas to wear clothing that deviated from “black/white tops with khaki pants under a green apron,” per USA Today.

Instead, baristas could wear different color patterns like charcoal, gray, navy and brown.

The new dress code policy is the latest change inspired by Starbucks’ CEO Brian Niccol, who mentioned in a March shareholder meeting the company’s “Back to Starbucks” strategy, which includes testing new store designs at “select locations across the U.S,” per USA Today.

“Over the past four months, we’ve been focused on getting Back to Starbucks and those things that have always set us apart, a welcoming coffeehouse where people gather and where we serve the finest coffee handcrafted by our skilled baristas,” Niccol said at the time, according to USA Today.

Blavity reported that Starbucks abruptly replaced their sitting CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, with Niccol in 2024; one of Niccol’s first moves was to tone down the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which is something many companies have done in recent months in response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders.