Judging by the responses here, it is no wonder why the flight training industry, especially small schools, is struggling to attract students. Remember to a new comer aviation is a glamorous industry( the un ifroms are all part of it). I have always wondered why people choose to go to big name schools despite their higher costs and it's due to the falling level of professionalism.
Remember that flying schools are businesses. Most students expect professionalism in a flight school and in today's society a shirt and tie is the first sign of it. The first way to get customers in any business is to be professional and presentable. Flight training is an expensive undertaking just like buying a house. If b4 a potential buyer comes to inspect a house for sale you say " I'm not going to tidy up the house, so it looks ordinary, plus i'm just going to were shorts and no shirt", then you know what the obvious outcome will be.
This is no different in the flight training industry. Remember joe Public's idea of a pilot is a grey-haired with a neat black uniform(TIE INCLUDED) rolling a leather case down the terminal.
I did my intro flight with a PPL instructor who was dressed in a shirt and tie, and that didn't prevent me from getting hooked on flying.
Remember pilot's uniforms, flight suits and bars are the kind of things that wannabees have on their wish list.
And if I may add (on a lighter note), member of the opposite sex seem to find men in uniform kind of sexy (
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Remember that in this society, professionality is judged first by appearance. you might be chuck yeager, but there is a very good chance your next customer thinks chuck yeager is some republican senator!!
food for thought