Dress-for-Success Program Gives Needy, Clothes a Second Chance

Life on the streets of Los Angeles was looking grim for Jerry Smith five years ago. After playing professional football in Germany for a time, he had divorced his wife and returned to the United States. He got mixed up in drugs, moved frequently and lost track of his son.

Then he heard about Chrysalis, a Los Angeles organization that trains needy men and women for employment. Thanks to that program, Smith recently landed a job in telemarketing for Ultra Ribbon, a Hollywood distributor of computer printer ribbons.

Helping him dress for his new role is a not-for-profit organization called Clothes the Deal, the brainchild of Ann Christie Gusiff, 31, a 1996 MBA graduate from the Anderson School at UCLA.

While still a student in March 1995, Gusiff launched the concept on a shoestring in her Pasadena garage. She based the idea on a Chicago organization called Bottomless Closet that distributes used professional clothing to disadvantaged women.

“It was a sensible concept that also appealed to my sense of philanthropy,” Gusiff said. Since then, she has screened several agencies that provide job training and counseling to low-income men and women. Once their clients have achieved a prescribed level of training, they are eligible for items from the clothing bank.

In his first visit, for example, Smith was set up with enough slacks, dress shirts and ties for an entire workweek.

“It was a relief to him to get the clothes,” said Ed Hennessy, employment director at Chrysalis. “He knew that he would fit in” at his new job. For Gusiff, who took classes in marketing and entrepreneurship at UCLA, starting Clothes the Deal has temporarily derailed plans for a high-paying corporate job. But her MBA skills have come in handy for writing a business plan and doing spreadsheets to keep tabs on donations.

Gusiff, who has invested $4,500 so far in starting the company and trying to secure its nonprofit status, has yet to draw any pay from Clothes the Deal. But she hopes to eventually get a salary as the organization lures funding from companies, individuals and foundations. In the meantime, she is being supported by her husband, John, a management consultant.

“I’ve always wanted to run a business,” she said. “I can’t get rich on Clothes the Deal, at least monetarily. I’m seeing it as a business opportunity with a different sort of payoff.”

Gusiff is hoping to build a stable of corporations willing to hold companywide drives. In the meantime, the high-quality secondhand clothing has been gathered in innovative ways at retail shops and professional organizations. Weathervane, a tony retailer on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, is serving as a drop-off site.

Over Labor Day, a rack full of clothing was collected at the Lake Elsinore Outlet Center, which houses a bevy of off-price stores. Donating customers received a coupon for 20% off an item at a participating store as well as a free pair of pantyhose. Sara Lee Corp. also just shipped 1,200 pairs of L’Eggs/Hanes pantyhose for Clothes the Deal to distribute to job-seekers.

Honing her networking skills, Gusiff has sought help from friends and made new contacts at bridal showers and other social events that have led to prospects of corporate support. Shimokochi/Reeves, a Los Angeles identity and package design consultancy that Gusiff worked with at a previous job, donated a logo design: a bright-red button with threads symbolizing connections.

Gusiff’s latest coup was to enlist Nissan Motor Corp. USA, which will invite its 1,700 employees to bring in unwanted items Nov. 11-22 to corporate headquarters in Gardena.

In April, Nissan decided to let its workers dress in casual business clothes. “So this was a good way to put professional attire back to work,” said Trina Lagod, a community relations specialist at the auto company.

Clothes the Deal requires that all donated clothing be cleaned, pressed and on hangers. Nissan will set up armoires in three locations in anticipation of netting 1,000 articles of clothing.

Among other organizations considering drives is the 145-attorney law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in Los Angeles.

Donors with bulging closets enjoy the satisfaction of helping get someone back on the road to self-sufficiency while ensuring that used suits and

shirts perform a worthwhile encore.

“I like to know that my favorite tan suit of two summers ago will help another woman look great, raise her self-confidence and maybe develop professionally,” said Mary Daily, internal communications manager for the J. Paul Getty Trust, who met Gusiff while working in public relations at the Anderson School.

In addition to Chrysalis, which operates in downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica, recipient organizations include Women at Work in Pasadena, New Economics for Women in Los Angeles, Venice Family Clinic’s Early Head Start Program and the Riverside County GAIN program.

Gusiff can be reached by e-mail at ClothesTD@aol.com or by phone at (818) 798-9186.

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Does your company have an innovative approach to management? Tell us about it. Write to Martha Groves, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053. Or send e-mail to martha.groves@latimes.com