They say the suit makes the man, but is it really that simple? Put George Clooney in an Armani three-piece that’s five sizes too big and he’s going to look like a schlub. The suit needs to be pressed, cleaned and sharp. It needs to fit the wearer — both metaphorically and literally. If those boxes are checked, then the suit can indeed make all the difference in the world.
That’s the premise behind Sharp Dressed Man. The Baltimore-based 501c-3, run by father-son duo Seth and Christopher Schafer, gives suits (for absolutely free) to men who are applying for jobs. Often, these men are homeless or recently out of prison.
But it’s not just the giving of the suits that makes Sharp Dressed Man so special. It’s the fact that the Schafers — both expert tailors used to making suits for $1200 each — fit each suit to the man who will be wearing it. It’s this bespoke experience that makes their organization so special.
“I feel that it’s giving these guys a chance to see themselves in another light,” Chris Schafer says. “Guys will come in in their street clothes and as we take measurements and start to pick an outfit and talk about the importance of fit and they start to choose clothes… by the time they come out of a fitting room it’s like emerging from a cocoon.”
The model is simple but also intensely personal. Each man — and Sharp Dressed Man outfitted more than 1600 men just last year — is given a custom fitting. The aim is to celebrate personal style and help the men benefit from the confidence boost that comes with looking good.
“The X-factor in the whole thing is giving someone attention and doting on them,” Chris Shafer explains. “You take the custom suit experience and apply it to these guys who need some help and the gratitude is just off the charts.”
Sharp Dressed Man collaborates with a network of other non-profits to serve men in need of jobs. Many of their clients have been recently incarcerated — and the correlation between recidivism and jobs is well known. Others are homeless or living below the poverty line. The suits themselves are recycled, taken in via donation, or gifted by estates. The result is a system that operates as smoothly as the men leave looking, which means it could be easy to re-create in cities outside of Baltimore.
“In a decade, I don’t see why we couldn’t have a world full of sharply dressed men,” Chris Shafer says. We couldn’t agree more.
