Carolina Closet, a professional attire rental program from Student Government, is anticipated to be operational next month. Part of Student Body President Lindsay Richardson’s election campaign, the program has been under development since last year.
The program will rent business professional clothing to students that may not own any, for a small price. The fee is not yet finalized. Carolina Closet will be located in the Solomon Blatt Physical Education Center.
The biggest obstacle the program faced was finding a space, but program leaders ended up choosing the space in the Blatt PE Center where the Student Government offices were temporarily located.
The current problems surround the issue of dry cleaning. Not only must the matter be discussed, but further decisions about the fees for rental cannot be made until an appropriate dry cleaning service is selected.
“It really depends on some of the fees that we have to look into,” Missy Torgerson, Carolina Closet Program Director and third-year public relations student, said. “We’ll need to get the clothes dry cleaned after they’re worn, so those are things that we’re still looking into.”
Though Torgerson helms the program now, Richardson started the program. She said she first developed the idea when she was an RM in Patterson Hall. One of her residents was embarrassed that she had to ask to borrow professional clothes. Richardson realized that there had to be others who needed business attire for things like presentations and interviews.
"Of course I campaigned on it because I really did think it was a service that the student body needed,” Richardson said. She started the process as a senator last year and has been working to make Carolina Closet a reality ever since.
Richardson said Carolina Closet is set to open on March 16, but that depends on whether they can acquire enough clothes to meet the needs of every student. They plan to open when they reach 70 percent of their clothing capacity.
“If you want to donate clothing, that is awesome,” Torgerson said. “We’d really appreciate it. You just have to take it to Blatt where the closet will be located.”
Torgerson was the former director of Walk Home Cocky and then transitioned to directing Carolina Closet because she had knowledge and experience in directing programs. She will continue to head the program until the next student body president appoints a new director.
Torgerson is confident Carolina Closet will be open by the end of March at the latest and hopes it will continue to grow once it is launched.
“There [are] a lot of things that we still need to finalize but I think that we’re making incredible progress,” Torgerson said. “We’re definitely looking forward to opening it in March.”