Career Outfitters is a professional development program that provides students access to free, donated, professional attire and accessories. Both undergraduate and graduate students can access the Career Outfitters Career Closet by scheduling a one-on-one shopping appointment, by attending a pop-up shop, or by requesting or attending a private shopping event.
How to Access the Career Outfitters Career Closet
Schedule a one-on-one Career Outfitters Shopping Appointment to access free, donated, professional attire and accessories from the Career Outfitters Career Closet. You will receive assistance with style, size, and fit advice from one of our Career Outfitters Student Coordinators. These appointments are scheduled for 15 minutes; however, you should plan to spend up to 30 minutes with us.
Please note, this is a free, donation-based program; therefore, sizing availability varies. Please check our website for the most up to date sizing availability prior to scheduling an appointment.
Students are allowed one shopping appointment per academic year and can take the equivalent of one full outfit. If you can no longer attend, please cancel as soon as possible. Missed appointments (no shows) will be blocked from scheduling this appointment type for the remainder of the academic year, due to high demand.
Appointments are available during both fall and spring semesters. New appointment times are released on Handshake and announced on our Instagram (@vtcareerprofdev) every other Friday at Noon. Please review the Appointment Release Schedule below.
Appointment Release Schedule – Fall 2025
Please review Career Outfitters Shopping Appointment availability and schedule on Handshake.
Attend a Career Outfitters Pop-up Shop to access free, donated, professional attire and accessories without needing to schedule an appointment in advance. You can receive assistance with style, size, and fit advice from one of our Career Outfitters Student Coordinators or volunteer stylists.
Students can attend as many pop-up shops per academic year as desired. Item limits may vary per pop-up shop. Registration is not required.
Pop-up shops are hosted during both fall and spring semesters. These events are held at the Smith Career Center on the front patio or the second floor, depending on time of year and weather. Information on upcoming pop-up shops can be found in Handshake events, on Instagram (@vtcareerprofdev), or our website.
Please review upcoming Career Outfitters pop-up shops on Handshake.
Request a Career Outfitters Private Shopping Event for your student organization, university department, cultural and community center, etc. Collaborate with the Career Outfitters team to schedule a private shopping event by reserving the Career Outfitters Career Closet for your group. We can discuss options to customize your event by adding on additional Career and Professional Development resources and services.
Email careeroutfitters@vt.edu to request a Career Outfitters Private Shopping Event.
Additional Ways to Access Professional Attire
The JCPenney Suit-Up Event is a collaboration between JCPenney and the Career Outfitters program to provide Virginia Tech students with the opportunity to shop online for select career wear with exclusive discounts not available to the public.
Virginia Tech students, their families, alumni, and all faculty/staff are welcome to participate in the special 30% off Suit-Up discount offer.
The Suit-Up discount code is available during both fall and spring semesters during select date ranges. Information on this virtual event is available each semester in Handshake events, on Instagram (@vtcareerprofdev), and on our website.
JCPenney Suit-Up Event – Fall 2025
Looking for information on Professional Dress Codes?
How to Donate
We are incredibly thankful to all of the faculty/staff, alumni, employer partners, and community members who have generously donated monetary contributions or professional attire and accessories to Career Outfitters throughout the years. These donations have made it possible for our Virginia Tech students to dress for success.
Urgent Needs
Our most needed masculine items/sizes include:
Matching Suit Sets/Suit Jackets | 30 – 42 (XS – XL)
Long Sleeve Button Downs | 13 – 16 (XXS – M)
Dress Pants | 26 – 34 (XS – S)
Dress Shoes
Belts
Ties with simple patterns or textures
Our most needed feminine items/sizes include:
Matching Suit Sets/Blazers | 000 – 8 (XXS – M)
Long Sleeve Button Downs/Blouses | 000 – 8 (XXS – M)
Dress Pants | 000 – 10 (XXS – M)
Business Dresses | 000 – 6, 20 – 26 (XXS – S, XXL – XXXL)
Dress Shoes
We Accept
We accept donations of new or gently used, clean professional attire and accessories that are appropriate for business professional or business casual dress codes. We provide students with access to shop these items for free to keep and wear to professional events such as job interviews, career fairs, networking events, graduate school interviews, graduate school fairs, etc.
We accept matching suit sets, suit jackets, blazers, business vests, dress pants, business skirts, business dresses, long-sleeve button down shirts, blouses, and accessories such as dress shoes, belts, ties, briefcases, purses, and bags that are appropriate for professional occasions.
We accept all clothing sizes.
We Do Not Accept
We do not accept casual, athletic, or formal social attire. Additionally, we cannot accept stained or damaged items.
How to Donate
We accept donations of professional attire and accessories Monday – Friday between the hours of 8:00 – 5:00 at the Smith Career Center located on-campus at 870 Washington St. SW Blacksburg, VA 24061.
Please call our office at (540) 231-6241 or email cpd@vt.edu to schedule a drop-off date and time and to ensure our office is open. We have a convenient load/unload area behind our building where you can temporarily park your vehicle. After you connect with us to schedule your delivery, we will follow-up with detailed load/unload location information.
Career Outfitters is a donation-based program, which means sizing availability varies based on the donations we receive. To supplement our inventory, we accept monetary donations that are used to purchase high demand or out of stock/urgent need items. This helps us with our goal of having a full and inclusive size range of professional attire available to Virginia Tech students throughout the academic year.
We greatly appreciate the support of our generous faculty/staff, alumni, employer partners, and community members that make this high-demand program possible!
How to Get Involved
The Career Outfitters program offers two, paid internship opportunities for Virginia Tech undergraduate students each year.
Primary responsibilities:
- leading one-on-one student shopping appointments
- assisting students by providing style, size, and fit advice, including alteration recommendations
- maintaining a welcoming and inclusive shopping environment
- merchandising clothing, shoes, and accessories into the Career Outfitters Career Closet and at pop-up shops and private shopping events
- maintaining the Career Outfitters Career Closet and donation area by sorting and organizing donated clothing (incoming donations) to either merchandise items into the career closet or label and prepare to send (outgoing donations) to other local organizations
- co-present/facilitate presentations, workshops, and events
- assist with marketing and promotions of the program
- assist with creating/maintaining Career Outfitters program, event, and training guides
Potential Areas of Additional Responsibility:
- co-manage and create Career Outfitters social media content throughout the year with a focus on content related to appointments, pop-up shops, donations, and the JCPenney Suit-Up Event
- co-manage and create Career Outfitters social media content throughout the year with a focus on content related to professional attire education and special topics/initiatives
- lead/assist with planning and coordination of pop-up shops
- lead/assist with planning, coordination, and facilitation of private shopping events
- contact and coordinate with local businesses and other community partners to discuss donations, discounted services, and other opportunities for collaboration
- manage the outgoing donations delivery schedule by updating the local organizations list, coordinating drop-offs, and researching new partnerships
- assist with professional dress code standards research and creating educational content for the website, social media, and workshops/presentations
- manage program assessment efforts
- create video content for the website and social media
- lead/assist with sustainability initiatives
- assist with other special projects and initiatives as they arise
These opportunities are posted in the summer as part of Campus internEXP’s hiring cycle for fall. The positions are typically hired in summer to work for both fall and spring semesters each academic year.
The Career Outfitters Event Assistant Volunteer Program is open to undergraduate students who are interested in supporting the program through a spirit of Ut Prosim and/or gaining valuable career experience in fashion merchandising, styling, event facilitation, customer service, and more!
Volunteer opportunities include:
Pre-event Support
Set up clothing racks, pull clothing items per event guidelines, organize clothing onto racks
Day of Event Support
Event setup, student check-in, student check-out, measuring, styling, fit advice, event breakdown
Post-event Support
Re-merchandise clothing into closet space(s), take down racks
Commitment:
Event Assistants are expected to volunteer for a minimum of 6 hours each semester they participate by signing up for pre-event, day of, or post-event shifts for pop-up shops and private shopping events. Participation in a training session is also required.
Benefits:
Volunteers who fulfill their commitment will receive special, tailored professional development workshops to support their career goals. Topics offered will be based on group interest and need. Additionally, volunteers will receive Career and Professional Development and Career Outfitters swag, treats, etc.
Meet the Team!
Kayla Branson
Senior Assistant Director
Career Outfitters Program Manager
(she/her)
Myla Gao
Career Outfitters
Student Coordinator
(she/her)
Conner Parker
Career Outfitters
Student Coordinator
(he/him)
History of Career Outfitters
The Career Outfitters program was first launched during the 2013-2014 academic year as an annual shopping event, providing both undergraduate and graduate students access to free professional attire and accessories. This event was held in Virginia Tech’s Smith Career Center over one to two days each year. The last event was held in the 2019-2020 academic year.
For the 2020-2021 academic year, Career Outfitters was paused due to safety requirements related to COVID-19, which made large scale in-person events impossible. This provided an opportunity for the program to be reimagined to better meet the ongoing needs of Virginia Tech students.
In planning for the 2021-2022 academic year, the program was redesigned from a large scale one to two day event each year to an ongoing, appointment-based program. The Career Outfitters program continues to provide access to free, donated, professional attire and accessories to both undergraduate and graduate students in this new model. Students can now schedule one-on-one shopping appointments in the Career Outfitters Career Closet, attend a pop-up shop, or attend/request a private shopping event.
