Clothes Mentor gives back to community

Clothes Mentor is celebrating five years of giving back to women throughout the Philadelphia area.

Whether the dollars are used to buy toys for Christmas or to pay for a semester’s textbooks, Clothes Mentor has been a place where women can part with items they no longer wear and rechannel those funds back to the community in whatever manner suits them best.

WEST CHESTER » Clothes Mentor celebrates five years of giving back — nearly $4 million — to women throughout the Philadelphia area. To mark the occasion, Clothes Mentor is having a five-year birthday bash Oct. 27-29 where customers can make a $5 donation to the Wayne-based Women’s Resource Center (WRC) and they will receive $10 in Clothes Mentor Cash, doubling their investment so they can purchase their favorite fall styles.

Clothes Mentor is showing their customers that giving back is always in fashion.

Clothes Mentor gives back in a hyper-local manner — paying customers cash for their gently used clothes. That money is then recycled back into the community. Women have sold items to Clothes Mentor for a variety of reasons, including paying for a trip to Disney World, committing donations to high school bands for New Year’s Bowl Parades, or making donations to charities — from breast cancer to funding clean water projects in Guatemala. Recently, the West Chester location held a fundraiser to support a customer in her upcoming run in the Boston Marathon.

Whether the dollars are used to buy toys for Christmas or to pay for a semester’s textbooks, Clothes Mentor has been a place where women can part with items they no longer wear and rechannel those funds back to the community in whatever manner suits them best.

Additionally, over the years, Clothes Mentor has been a community partner in other ways. Whether hosting sales for Wounded Warrior donations or having a Cash For Clothes drive with a local Rotary, Clothes Mentor has built a strong community of women that are shopping in a new way — one that focuses on recycling and reuse, making every dollar paid or spent count in these uncertain times.

In today’s divisive political climate and perpetually unpredictable marketplace, Clothes Mentor prides itself on uniting local consumers around shared central values of generosity and paying it forward.

Clothes Mentor is a national franchise that operates women’s resale stores. Each store serves its local community in both buying and selling “gentlyused,” designer clothing, shoes, boots, handbags, jewelry, and other accessories. They aspire to inspire their customers to be green and kinder to the environment through promoting the reselling and reuse of clothing and other fashion items.

Clothes Mentor’s five-year “birthday” celebration is being hosted by four Philadelphia area locations: West Chester, Springfield, Ardmore and East Norriton. Each location is owned by strong women, proud to connect with customers and give back locally. Chris Barnett, a lawyer, Terri Waters, an insurance senior executive and Sharon Nagy, a nurse, left their traditional careers behind to seize the opportunity to give back to their community while helping and supporting other women. The mission of the Women’s Resource Center is to help women and girls successfully navigate life’s transitions and inspire others to do the same.