What started about a decade ago as a small project to crowdsource unneeded professional attire for students in need, has blossomed into a full-blown year-round effort to help students dress for success.
It is no secret that professional clothing can be expensive, no small task for students already trying to make ends meet. The SHRM Clothing Closet really was just a closet at one time, but now occupies a large room filled with rolling racks of suits, shoes, and accessories donated by alumni, faculty, and even sponsored by clothing retailers by way of discounted acquisition. The result is our job seeking students looking their very best as they go through the interview process, and then begin their careers.
The Closet was started by two former faculty members, Dr. Alison Berry and Dr. Emily Hammer, a decade ago, when she saw a student need that had to be filled. While we were steadily producing job-ready graduates with the skills they needed, not all students had the wardrobe needed for interviews and subsequently office life. She set out to crowdsource a small but practical inventory of clothing that could help our men and women look the part they wanted to assume. The student organization she led at the time–Society for Human Resource Management–adopted this as an ongoing project.
Today, the Clothing Closet is overseen by Dr. Jillian Yarbough, Assistant Dean, Clinical Assistant & Virginia Engler Professor of Business Management, and Dr. Rahul Chauhan, Associate Professor of Management & McCray Professor of Business. They are co-advisors to the SHRM chapter.
“It is no surprise that students have limited funds, especially with one-half of our students being first generation. Once we put the word out that we were accepting donations with the intention of giving it away to students, the sheer volume of donations was more than we could handle,” Chauhan explains. “The quantity was so massive that it led to logistical issues.”
The Chancellor of the A&M System heard about this, and donated a stipend to manage the Closet as well as provide for a larger permanent location in the lower level of the JBK Student Center.
While an item count is not available, nor relevant given the ongoing nature of the services provided, Yarbrough describes it in superlatives. “It is packed. It is full. But I also know we are always accepting donations, and it will be empty. By May it is empty because almost everything is used by students,” she says.
Thanks to that stipend, SHRM was able to partner with the Office of Professional Development to install permanent wall-mounted racks so that the room looks like a department store. Gone are the original rolling racks.
“I have had bank presidents empty out their closets,” she continues. Invariably, these donations are high quality garments, allowing students to acquire not just office basics, but also designer brands and bespoke items crafted to last.
While the Closet started out specifically as a College of Business project dedicated to serving Business students, its scope has grown. “Ultimately, it is open to any student of the University,” Chauhan says. “We didn’t want to hoard the mission. Dr. Yarbrough and I have an open door policy, and we’ll walk students down there.”
Chauhan estimates that a minimum of 5000 students have benefitted from the Closet. He and Yarbrough recently appeared on an episode of our BuffSpeak podcast. The episode is available here.