Dress for Success® Comes to Raleigh/Durham, N.C. and Celebrates S.O.S. – Send One Suit – Week®

March 24, 2008 - PRLog -- Raleigh/Durham, N.C.:  Dress for Success Worldwide is pleased to announce the opening of a new Dress for Success location serving the Triangle. In addition, the affiliate is celebrating S.O.S. – Send One Suit – Week from March 31-April 5, 2008. Since suiting the first client in 1997, Dress for Success has served more than 400,000 women internationally by providing them with business-appropriate clothing, mentoring and professional development programs. This brand-new affiliate, as Dress for Success offices are known, will join more than 80 others around the globe.  

Women come to Dress for Success by referral only after having completed job training programs offered by local social service agencies and non-profit organizations. Each client receives one interview suit during her first visit and, once she finds work, receives additional attire, either separates or a second suit, and an invitation to join the Professional Women’s Group (PWG).  The PWG program, along with Career Center and mentoring services, provides ongoing support to clients as they grow professionally, strive to turn their jobs into successful careers and journey towards economic independence.

“I am absolutely thrilled that we now have an affiliate serving women in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area” says Joi Gordon, CEO of Dress for Success Worldwide.  “We have one other affiliate in North Carolina, serving Charlotte, and have been eager to expand to other parts of the state. The founders of Dress for Success Triangle NC have done an extraordinary job of generating support and excitement throughout the community, and I am confident that the affiliate will not only be a success, but also will touch the lives of thousands of women in the area who could benefit from our suiting and employment retention services.”

“Women in the Triangle who have been referred to Dress for Success Triangle NC will be able to dress with confidence as they enter or re-enter the workforce,” said Pat Nathan, founder of Dress for Success Triangle NC. “They will also have the opportunity to educate themselves through professional development programs Dress for Success Triangle NC provides.” Nathan added that the local community can also provide support by participating in the upcoming Send One Suit Week event.

Send One Suit Week is an annual promotion that coincides with Women’s History Month and is designed to raise awareness and funds for Dress for Success affiliates around the world. Supporters can donate one new or nearly new interview suit or professional attire to help a local, low-income woman enter the workforce. “A donation of just one suit can empower a woman struggling in a low-income situation to start a new life of self-sufficiency and success,” said Nathan.

dressbarn, one of America’s premier specialty retailers of women’s career and casual fashions is the national drop-off site for Send One Suit Week. With more than 800 stores, dressbarn will offer special rewards for anyone who brings in their donation of a new or gently used interview-appropriate suit during this special week. For a list of local dressbarn locations in the Triangle, visit http://www.dressbarn.com.

This annual call-to-action campaign was formerly known as “Clean Your Closet Week™.”  The new focus on “sending one suit” symbolizes the organization’s need to collect only garments appropriate for job interviews. Once a woman is employed, she receives ongoing career development from the affiliate, including professional seminars and networking support.

For more information on the organization including additional drop-off locations, please visit http://www.dressforsuccess.org/trianglenc or e-mail trianglenc@dressforsuccess.org.

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About Dress for Success: International not-for-profit organization that promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. Since starting operations in 1997, Dress for Success has expanded to more than 80 cities in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the UK. Dress for Success has helped more than 400,000 women work towards self-sufficiency.

Website: www.dressforsuccess.org/trianglenc