Dress for Success was founded in 1997 to serve unemployed women in New York City as they prepared for job interviews and employment by providing them with donated gently used professional clothing. Dress for Success quickly recognized the need to provide services beyond the flagship suiting program via career coaching and job retention to help its clients make true progress toward financial independence. For women who secured employment, additional support and networking was available via the retention programming and various alumni networks.
Over the next two decades, programming expanded to encompass career advancement, leadership, financial education, scholarships, and more, mostly through cohort models, almost exclusively in-person. The pandemic created an opportunity to prioritize creation of online programming. Today, programming is offered both in-person and digitally, at the affiliate level and through an online community centrally administered and managed by Dress for Success Worldwide. Throughout its history, the organization was – and remains – reliant upon volunteers to deliver its programs.
Today, Dress for Success Worldwide (Worldwide) is the managing organization for the Dress for Success brand and global affiliate network. Our annual operating budget is $8MM with an additional $6-12MM secured annually in in-kind products and services. Worldwide’s current structure includes an administrative/headquarters function in New York City and hub locations in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City that provide direct services and programming to women within their local communities.
