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It's hard to put in less effort than swag t-shirts, jeans and flip-flops.

I don't feel the same as OP, but to say that people are putting in the same effort seems off.

Choosing not to put in effort is still a choice. And a more significant one than people realize. At some point I imagine that those who wear swag t-shirts daily had to come to the realization that it was acceptable to do so. In many realms (mine included) there is explicit signaling in choosing not to put in the effort, to the point where I see people vying for decision-making positions by dressing down.

Working at a place where nobody cared how you dressed, because nobody cared about anything, there was ironically a tendency for people to dress a little less casually (wear button down shirts, etc) after a certain point because it showed you did still care and weren't totally burned out. And nobody was a rock star, so there wasn't any point in dressing down to prove you were above other people.

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