Although the name is vague, Campus Closet is very clear on its goals. One of Camosun’s newest student clubs, Campus Closet consists of a group of volunteers that are opening a shop of sorts to provide Camosun students a place to borrow business attire for free.
Once they have the shop open (they are hoping for January), students will be able to rent out suits, dresses, or anything else formal for job interviews, presentations, or events.
Third-year Camosun Human Resource Management student Breanna Veale is on the executive board for the club and says that they are currently putting energy into what their store is going to look like.
“One of the classes that’s involved is designing what the store will look like and what the layout will be like,” she says. “We don’t intend for this to look like some thrift store with clothes thrown around everywhere; we’re going for a much more modern approach.”
The idea of a campus clothes-rental place isn’t new. Universities and colleges around the USA and Canada have been embracing the idea of providing students under financial stress an environment in which they still can go and attend formal events even if they can’t afford the clothes. The idea for the Camosun club came out of the Business program.
“We have to do service leadership,” says Veale, “something where we are demonstrating our leadership skills. It has to be a leadership position, too. My instructor posted something for the Closet Club on [Camosun online learning management system] D2L, and I think myself and one or two other people joined right away.”
The members of Campus Closet hope for the club to be sustainable and to provide clothes for students for years to come. Veale says the club is going to be a great opportunity for students because it’s free and because it offers other student-friendly services to go along with the free clothes offered.
“Students just can’t usually afford business clothes,” she says. “It’s nice because we are completely free. So students can come in, pick out an outfit, and try it on—we’ll have change rooms so they can just try things on—and then they can take it for a week, and then they can bring it back. We also take care of all the dry cleaning, so students don’t have to worry about that. They can just take the clothes, wear them for whatever they need, bring them back in a week, and we do the rest.”