Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
On a Wednesday morning in September, some 25 people were browsing racks of blazers, sweaters, and jeans at The Wardrobe’s Old City location. It looks like a regular store, with changing rooms and a checkout register, but that day, people were there to take home an outfit for free. The nonprofit was hosting one of its monthly events where attendees can choose up to six items of clothing at no charge. Some of these events are focused on certain groups, such as veterans, LGBTQ+ people, and the reentry community. “If you don’t directly point to someone and say, ‘You are welcome here,’ they may not feel welcome,” said program director Mars Sharrock. These events give their organization a chance to do that. The Wardrobe, which is celebrating 30 years in business, got its start providing business suits to women. But throughout the decades, with workplace attire becoming more casual and clothing needs more nuanced, they expanded. Instead of just professional women, they’re now aiming to clothe anyone “looking to achieve independence,” executive director Sheri Cole said. That could be someone who had a medical crisis and is out of work, or someone getting back on their feet after being incarcerated, she said. They’re not just seeking work clothes, but outfits in which they can pick up kids from school, go out to dinner with family, or attend nonwork events such as addiction recovery meetings. Put more simply, the target client is anyone in need of clothing. “Times are so hard right now, and there are people who are in situations where they just need clothes,” said Roberta Griffin, a Wardrobe volunteer who helps clients find their outfits. “They need something on their back — new or semi new — to make them feel good about themselves, to keep warm.” Cole, who has been at the organization for 25 years, credits The Wardrobe’s founding to Oprah Winfrey. Her show featured a Chicago-based group that was repurposing women’s workwear and donating it. Very quickly, the idea spread to other cities, including Philadelphia, where several founding volunteers of The Wardrobe looked to replicate it. Since then, The Wardrobe has grown to have 26 employees and five shopping sites. It now serves over 10,000 people a year, said Cole. While many people go to The Wardrobe for free clothes, the organization started selling some of its items about 16 years ago as well — creating a revenue stream and allowing clients who became able to pay for their clothes to support the organization. In addition to providing for people in need, part of the mission is to reduce fashion waste. Around 2010, Cole saw people donating more of their formal workwear saying, “I’m a professional, but I don’t wear this stuff anymore,” she recalls. And since the pandemic, even workplaces that have traditionally been more buttoned up have become more lax, said Sharrock, tending toward a business-casual norm in several places. “If you’ve never had a job before, or you come from a different culture or a different country, navigating that nuance is difficult,” Sharrock said. The Wardrobe stylists help clients understand those nuances. Despite relaxing workwear trends, they typically recommend dressing up for the job interview. “You may relax what you wear over time, but when you’re starting, make sure that you are dressing up, because it does change how people view you, how people see you, and how they interact with you — and you want to get your best foot forward,” said Sharrock. Usually clients leave with a capsule collection of six pieces they can mix and match. For example, they may start with a suit and create some more casual variations by working in some other items, said Cole. Over time, a number of clients said that they wished a similar program existed for their husbands or dads. So in 2015, The Wardrobe started providing clothing to men. The organization also started offering gender-affirming undergarments, such as binders and gaffs, in recent years. Expanding The Wardrobe’s offerings in these ways required some work. The organization used to have a partnership with a company to get some undergarments, but that program has since ended and another donation to purchase them will soon run out. Getting menswear donations has proven challenging because people still associate the organization with women, and also men tend to hold on to items for longer. “A pair of pants is a pair of pants, and most of the guys we work with, or most of the guys who donate to us, will sort of wear those pants into the ground, and then by the time they come to us, they’re full of holes, and we can’t really give them to anyone anyway,” said Sharrock. Looking to remove logistical barriers, the organization also did away with a rule that said clients should have a pay stub as proof of work and has expanded its hours. And they no longer require a reservation to come shop. On that September Wednesday, Elana Governor browsed for clothes with her 4-year-old daughter. “I just needed to do something special for myself today,” she said. She’s been coming to The Wardrobe for years, and appreciates that the clothes are from brand names and in good condition. That day, she found a vest and a jean jacket for a fall outfit. The Wardrobe’s staff and volunteers know her by name. “When you look good, you feel good,” said Griffin, The Wardrobe volunteer, who usually comes in on Wednesdays to help clients find their outfits. But making that need for clothing evident to funders can be a challenge, said Cole. “Our funding is not as stable as some other workforce development programs, because we are often seen as the nice-to-have add-on piece to a core program,” she said. But, she argued, having a quality wardrobe is “fundamental to people’s lives.” For people whose jobs require a certain kind of clothing, “That’s an expense that they have to incur even before they get their first paycheck,” Cole said. “If you have no money to go and buy that thing, how do you even take that job?” Even outside the work setting, clothing insecurity can have real consequences, she noted — some students skip school for this reason. “If you don’t have access to a washing machine, or you’re couch surfing, or you’re living in a shelter and your items get stolen, you may only have the clothes on your back,” Cole said. The Wardrobe has grown its annual budget from roughly $150,000 when Cole first started, to over $2 million. Nearly half its revenue last fiscal year came from the government, and Cole said she used to get pushback from her board, which wanted the organization to rely less on government funding. “One day I was like, ‘But if the government isn’t providing any support for people’s basic needs, isn’t that a problem?’” she said. “In our society, we have sort of put the burden of doing the job of government, in many ways, onto nonprofit organizations,” said Cole. While the organization has established stable funding through its sale of clothing, she acknowledged, depending on government funds comes with some risk — “there’s always the threat in the back of your mind that either the government’s going to stop supporting you or individual foundations will have different priorities,” she said. Right now, insecurity around government funding is more apparent than ever, as both the federal government and Pennsylvania’s experience funding lapses due to budget legislation stalemates. Cole said, “You’re always on the hunt for where the next donation is going to come from.”
