Leaders of the Sam M. Walton College of Business Career Center and Leadership Walton are accepting clothing donations for a new Career Closet that will open in August to provide students with appropriate business attire.

The purpose of the Career Closet is to provide a free resource of upscale, gently used, business casual and business professional attire to all currently enrolled Walton College students.

“We have had both students who have approached us with a need for clothes for an interview or career fairs, and then people who have come to us saying we have these clothes,” said Heather Sprandel, director of the Walton College of Business Career Development Center. “We saw the need from both angles from people who want to give clothes to the closet and students who have a need to dress professionally.”

Ideal donations for the clothing drive are timeless pieces of all sizes, preferably purchased within the last five years, including suits, jackets, pants, skirts, shirts, ties, belts and shoes, according to the Walton College website.

A clothing drive will be held once a semester to increase inventory for the Career Closet. Though the closet is already full for the fall semester, donations are still being accepted.

“We’ve had a fantastic response, overwhelming, which has been great. The closet is full right now and we have a back stock of clothing, so we are still taking clothes in becaus we aren’t sure how much usage it will get,” Sprandel said.

Students are allowed to take no more than four individual apparel items or one suit in a semester. The Career Closet will be open Tuesday mornings from 9 to 11 a.m. and Wednesday afternoons from 1 to 3 p.m.

Donations are tax-deductible and should be dropped off at the Walton College Career Center in Willard J. Walker Hall 226 by July 15.