Dress For Success Impresses With New Retail Store
Dress For Success Los Angeles exists to help homeless women find a new start by giving them office suits for job interviews. When the nonprofit organization’s grant funding dropped by 50 percent this year, the Los Angeles affiliate’s founder, Janet Lavender, gave herself a new job: retailer.
In March, Lavender opened a thrift shop to fund the nonprofit. The store, Dress 2 Impress, is located at 8001 S. Broadway in South Los Angeles. It’s one of two thrift stores run by individual Dress For Success chapters. The organization has more than 70 affiliates worldwide.
Lavender said the store has a big inventory of donated clothes that the nonprofit’s clients cannot use on interviews. She estimated that $1 million in clothes is donated annually to Dress For Success but only half the contributions can be used for clients.
The store stocks clothes such as a pink Jones New York sweater, priced at $5. It’s perfect for an office’s casual Friday but not for a highly formal job interview. There are jeans, baby clothes and men’s shirts donated by department stores such as Mervyn’s, as well as wardrobes from television shows such as “The Practice.” Price points range from $5 for a sweater to $15 for a suit.
The store advertises in the PennySaver magazine. Lavender estimated that 30 percent of the store’s customers are South Los Angeles residents and 70 percent are the nonprofit’s clients. She hopes the residents eventually will make up the majority of customers and forecasts opening Dress 2 Impress stores in North Hollywood and Long Beach, Calif.
Retail may be a growing trend for the organization, said Nancy Lublin, the New York–based founder of Dress For Success.
“It makes enormous sense for Dress For Success to be in this business,” Lublin said. “Thrift stores are another very forward-thinking means to raise funds for an important cause—without begging.”
Dress For Success raises 80 percent of its funds from corporate sponsors, according to Lublin. The organization also earns revenue through fund-raisers, including the Los Angeles affiliate’s Shop Fun In The Summertime event on July 25 at the Beverly Center and Shop Til U Drop, a California Market Center event scheduled for November.
In between running the nonprofit and planning events, Lavender is getting used to the joys of retailing—and to some shocks, as well. Recently, she sold a $500 Christian Dior suit for $15.“That hurt,” she said. “But I’d rather see it on somebody’s back than on a rack.”
For more information on Dress For Success, call 213-629-3537, or e-mail jlav57@aol.com. —Andrew Asch
