The Daily Tell

As the adage goes, in order to be successful, one must convey the image of success.

However, with unemployment at a high rate, many men across the country may be finding it hard to get the duds they need to make them look presentable and professional during a job interview. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate was at 9.4 percent, and 14.5 million people were unemployed in the country in July.

In order to give unemployed men a leg-up, Men’s Warehouse has announced its second-annual National Suit Drive. The National Suit Drive will take place during the month of September and involves a partnership between Men’s Wearhouse and 200 nonprofits located across the country. The 1,065 Men’s Wearhouse storefronts will serve as drop locations for articles of men’s professional clothing.

The drive is looking for gently-used items of clothing such as suits, dress shirts, sport coats, slacks and shoes. Men’s Wearhouse will donate a tie for every suit that is donated to the campaign.

George Zimmer, chairman and CEO of Men’s Wearhouse, said the campaign started when the company created a merchandise donation program. Because the program couldn’t meet the demand, the company created the suit drive in order to find some assistance with the effort.

The goal of this year’s drive is to collect 150,000 pieces of men’s professional attire. Last year, the suit drive collected 125,000 items.

"The suit may not necessarily make the man, but if you talk to one of the thousands of men who received a suit last year from our inaugural suit drive, they’ll say it definitely made a difference in their confidence," Zimmer said. "I guarantee it."