Threads to Get Ahead

With top Silicon Valley employers like Apple, Meta, LinkedIn, and Google just a short drive from campus, Santa Clara University is perfectly situated to help students kick off their careers. In fact, 75% of Broncos will complete an internship by the time they graduate.

However, from that first interview to the first day of work, it’s important to dress the part.

“I don’t want to say your first impression is everything, but if you’re feeling imposter syndrome, just having a nice outfit at that career fair or interview will have a big impact in terms of confidence and putting your best foot forward,” says Melissa Thiriez, the director of Employer Relations & Partnerships at SCU’s Career Center.

For Thiriez, putting that little bit of effort into one’s professional attire—from donning blazers and suits to button-ups and blouses—is a vital part of career preparedness, but getting these polished looks isn’t always affordable or easy.

“I think we’ve always had this kind of awareness that accessing workplace clothing can sometimes be a challenge, especially for our first-generation students,” says Erin Kimura-Walsh, director of the LEAD Scholars Program. She recalls students who’ve shopped at Salvation Army for business attire, or students not even able to go thrifting because of a lack of reliable transportation.

Kimura-Walsh and Thiriez had long discussed ways the Career Center and LEAD might partner to increase the accessibility of professional attire for SCU students from workshops to pop-up thrifting events. And when it comes to being thrifty, the Center for Sustainability became an obvious addition to their plans.

Together, the three campus divisions applied for a Board of Regents grant to fund several projects including a career clothing readiness workshop, an all-expenses-paid shopping trip for LEAD scholars, and a pop-up career clothing closet event.

But at the last minute, they decided to go bigger.

“We thought, wouldn’t it be nice if this career closet wasn’t just a one-off event? What if this was something year-round and available to everyone?” recalls Veronica Johnson, the Center of Sustainability’s academics and engagement program manager.

That vision was a key selling point to the Board of Regents who put $13,320 toward the three projects.

With funding in hand and 1000lbs of clothing donations collected during spring move-out, the group secured a space in Room 317 of Daly Science and within the span of a few months, this on-campus thrift store went from idea to reality.

“Walking into that classroom space for the first time was so surreal,” says Johnson. “Within a few weeks, that 350-sqft room was polished and ready thanks to Facilities Operations, filled with mounds of inventory and we realized ‘This is happening!’”

Bucky’s Closet, as the student-run store will be known, will offer its wares for free with the option to give financial donations to help keep the store running. While the store’s focus will be on business attire, Johnson notes that professional attire can be a spectrum. 

“There’s a difference in what you would wear at a tech company in Silicon Valley versus Wall Street in New York City, and what you would wear to an interview versus casual Fridays,” she explains. Therefore, Bucky’s Closet will include clothing for most of these occasions and then some. One of her other goals? To ensure that their collection is size, gender, and style-inclusive using guidance from the OML/RRC team, which recently ran its own Thrift-T pop-up series.

This sense of inclusivity and flexibility has also influenced how Thiriez is approaching this project’s educational components. She’s working with a student intern to put together a capsule wardrobe lookbook (think fashion catalog) to guide students on how they can combine a few closet staples with just a couple of thrifted items to create a full work-appropriate look.

It’s just another way that this project acknowledges that different students have different needs, and Bucky’s Closet will strive to serve students whatever those needs are.

“Many of our students—both first-gen and not—want to be more sustainable, create their own fashion identity, and be smart about their money,” says Kimura-Walsh. “To be able to just walk across campus and find one or two pieces to build their professional wardrobe is a huge asset to our students.”