A father-son duo in Maryland has started a charity to outfit men in need.
"Tight?" asks Christopher Schafer to John Jones, while he tries on a khaki-colored trench coat.
"Yeah too tight," replies John Jones. "I'm a big guy!" he says with a laugh.
No matter their size, Schafer is on a mission to fit every man in Baltimore who is in need of a suit. Schafer is a tailor and owner of Christopher Schafer Clothier. His charity, Sharp Dressed Man, started in 2012 after his clients began giving him suits to donate.
"As I started getting more and more clothes, I realized that there was more and more need," he said.
With the the help of Living Classrooms, Schafer and his son, Seth Schafer, started fitting men with suits. These men are usually going through tough times, such as re-entering society after spending time in prison. That was the case for Jones, who was one of Schafer's first clients. Jones remembers the moment he saw himself in his new suit.
"I felt very proud, it made me stand different, made me feel accomplished," Jones said. "I felt like I wanted to go out and conquer the world."
Jones now works for Living Classrooms and wants other men to feel the same way he did. He's helping the Schafers spread the word about Sharp Dressed Man, and they're hoping to attract a crowd at their open house on December 23.
"It's cool to be able to give someone else a hand and say 'there's a better life and I'm going to help you get there,'" said Seth Schafer, vice president of Sharp Dressed Man.
"They really light up and they look at themselves differently," Christopher Schafer said. "And it's almost like a metamorphosis kind of happens before their eyes."
Chris Schafer says they are in desperate need of men's dress shoes and belts. For information about how to donate to Sharp Dressed Man and their open house on December 23, click here.
