Dress for Success San Francisco, which gives women free professional clothes, career coaching and job-search help, held a grand reopening Wednesday, Oct. 28, at its renovated space at 500 Sutter St. near Union Square.

What changed

According to the San Francisco Examiner, the renovation was paid for with a $25,000 grant from Macy's, part of a partnership between the retailer and Dress for Success Worldwide. The goal was to make the space feel more like a traditional boutique. It added a wall for bags, jewelry and makeup and turned an inventory room into a third dressing room. Executive Director Erin Badillo told the Examiner the office has been near Union Square for 17 years. Macy's Union Square also gave $5,000 this year and has hosted a career workshop for women ages 18 to 25 for four years.

How it works

Badillo told the Examiner the program sees 15 to 30 women a day. Each client gets two main appointments. At the first, she picks out an interview outfit and builds a resume, then prepares for interviews. After she lands a job, she returns to put together five outfits, one for each workday. Career coaching and workshops are offered in between. The San Francisco office's program hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a lunch break from noon to 1 p.m.

By the numbers

The San Francisco affiliate launched in June 2006 and has a sister office in San Jose. It says it has served more than 19,000 Bay Area women. The San Francisco and San Jose offices together served 1,345 women in 2025, their highest number ever. The Examiner reports that's a 58% increase since 2023. The group says women who complete its cohort programs raise their income by an average of 191% within a year.

At the reopening, former client Melissa Camacho Gonzalez told the Examiner she arrived in San Francisco from Mexico eight years ago with her two children. After fleeing domestic violence, she was living in a shelter with only a backpack. Dress for Success gave her work outfits that helped her land a receptionist job. She now runs her own child-care business and volunteers with the group.