‘The Chair Company’ Costume Designer on Tim Robinson’s Office Clothes

HBO‘s “The Chair Company” is the latest hilarious dissection of midwestern office life from Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin, writers who have made a specialty of capturing the idiosyncrasies, camaraderie, and hostility of the workplace in shows like “Detroiters” and “I Think You Should Leave.” As Robinson‘s Ron Trosper falls down a customer service rabbit hole and uncovers a conspiracy, the show veers from mundane reality to darkly comic surrealism and steadily evolves into one of the best and most surprising TV shows of 2025.

For costume designer Nicky Smith, helping Robinson and Kanin deliver on the show’s eccentric potential meant working against her natural inclinations. “I was thinking more about practicality and less about fashion,” Smith told IndieWire. “If the clothes were wrinkled or had stains, we said, ‘let’s wash it, but not completely get the stains out. Let’s keep the holes.’ If the neck was pulled out because it was a really old shirt, we were like, ‘Ah, perfect.’”

Realism was the mandate from the beginning because Smith knew that in order for the show to work as it became more bizarre, there had to be a relatable baseline from which to start. “Tim and Zach and [director] Andrew DeYoung wanted the show to look as real as possible, so that when you see the jokes and the hijinks they’re not expected,” Smith said. “It was really about making the world authentic.”

To find out how Ohio workers would dress, Smith scoured LinkedIn profiles and spent a lot of time on Instagram and Flicker looking for photos of family outings. She also bought a lot of the costumes at thrift stores that had the kinds of clothes she thought the characters would wear. “When it comes to the sourcing of the clothes we shopped at the stores people of this socioeconomic background would shop at,” she said. “For example, we were not buying the character of Mike Santini (Joseph Tudisco) nice clothes.  Everything’s secondhand. Some of the pants were new, but they were a little ill-fitting, a little baggy in the legs.”

Smith also did a lot of thrifting for Robinson’s character, especially when it came to his ties. “ When you find things that are thrifted, it’s good for the environment and sustainability, but it also gives you clothes that have a life to them,” Smith said. “They’re already worn, so the shoes look a little sad before the actors even put them on their feet. That’s something that we can create, but it’s almost easier and better to have it as is when you start the journey.”

The main thing that Smith learned from her internet research was that when it came to workplace clothes, most people were going for function over fashion. “ It’s less about the look, it’s more about, ‘I have this thing to do. What should I wear to do my task?’” Smith said. “Looking at people in office attire, it’s, ‘I need a sweater because the office is cold. I need a comfortable shoe because I may do a lap around the parking lot at lunch for exercise, and I need a bag so I can put my computer, my lunch, and my headphones in it.’”

Smith wanted to make sure the clothes looked lived in whether they were bought used or not. “We wanted the clothes to be clean, but not lose their authenticity,” she said. “If we bought things new — like some of Tim’s pajamas and night shirts — we would double wash them in the washing machine with Cascade to break them down, and then we wouldn’t steam them so it looks pilled, like a shirt that you’ve had for a year or two.”

As Ron gets deeper and deeper into the underbelly of Ohio crime, his world starts to expand; Smith wanted to reflect that not only in his clothes, but in those of the people around him. “Him finding who he is outside of work activates other people,” Smith said. “You start to see people around the office with more varied silhouettes, wearing sweaters and dresses that they hadn’t worn in the first few episodes, because as Tim is expanding and opening his eyes to the world, the world is opening up around him.”

One of the most impressive aspects of Smith’s costume design is the fact that each character, no matter how small, has their own distinct look that still feels of a piece with the overall world. “That was the biggest challenge,” Smith said, “making sure that we were not using the same silhouette for everyone that comes into the show.  As you go further into the series, you start to see different people with a variety of body sizes and ages, and I wanted to make sure that everyone felt good in their clothes. The idea is not to look beautiful but to look authentic for the story, but I still wanted people to feel like their best selves in the clothes.”

While the workplaces in Robinson and Kanin’s shows tend to be infected by passive-aggressive insults and power plays, Smith says one of the great pleasures of working on “The Chair Company” was the sense of community fostered by the showrunners. “The joy of working on a show like this is not only that it’s really funny, but you’re working with creators who care about their crew members,” Smith said. “Tim and Zach come on set and say hi to everybody, whether they’re working with them personally or not. They made sure there was a real camaraderie on set, and you don’t always get that.”

“The Chair Company” airs Sunday nights on HBO and is currently streaming on HBO Max.