There's a warm, fuzzy feeling at Dress for Success every day but it's heightened during Volunteers' Week when everyone can take a bow for their role in providing that feel-good factor.
Dress for Success is a successful charity because of its strike rate in helping clients become winners; most women and men who use the service take away more than the right clothes for a job interview and a couple of changes for work.
"They could come in wearing hoodies, trackies, sunnies and they leave wearing Armani or Pierre Cardin or Boohoo," says executive manager Rose Daly.
The clothes are donated by a "generous public", manufacturers, retailers, cosmetic and lingerie companies, and other organisations. Sponsor businesses support in other ways too, such as clothing store TS14 which sometimes gives a discount in exchange for clothing donations, or Headlines, which gives Dress for success clients a hairdo.
This year Qantas donated a swag of tailored men's trousers from surplus uniforms; the Whangarei branch is the only Dress for Success in New Zealand that offers a service to men. A new service being developed is the Career Centre, a corner where clients can learn to write a CV or explore a job-search site.