How This Mobile Closet App Is Helping Hurricane Harvey Victims Rebuild Their Wardrobes

On Aug. 25, Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, bringing a record 52 inches of rainfall and leaving 30,000 people displaced in shelters. Many Houston residents are left with nothing, and that includes losing their entire wardrobes. But there is hope for regaining clothing — and the normalcy stylish essentials bring — in the aftermath of the disaster.

The app Finery is transforming their mobile closet feature to help Hurricane Harvey victims rebuild their wardrobes. There's even a way for users outside of the impacted region to donate their clothing to survivors of the storm through the app. Call it the power of fashion.

"Like everyone else, we were trying to figure out how best to use our resources to help those who need it most right now," Finery co-founder Brooklyn Decker said in a release. "We realized that a solution for one of the needs of so many women affected by Harvey was sitting right in front of us."

Rebuilding a wardrobe might seem trivial to some, but it's vital after a crisis. Getting back to a new normal is even harder when you lose the majority of your clothing — and rebuilding a wardrobe is costly, especially for multi-member families with countless expenses to prioritize.

Thanks to Finery, Harvey survivors don't have to start from square one. The app, which was created to help users log and organize their wardrobe, now allows survivors to log what they had in their closets prior to the storm. The inventory can then help survivors make insurance claims, or let individuals repurchase items they deeply valued.

"While not the intended use for our technology, we realized that we can instantly give women an inventory of everything they've purchased in the last 10 years," Finery co-founder Whitney Casey said in a release. "They can then use that to submit to their insurance providers — a very helpful step in piecing their lives back together."

That's not the only way that the app is helping to give back to Harvey survivors. Finery is teaming up with Dress For Success Houston, a nonprofit organization that supplies work clothing for women in need, to restock their clothing supply. The nonprofit had one of their three storefronts flooded in Hurricane Harvey, but their services are needed now more than ever.

Finery is asking users to donate their gently used clothing through the app. All users have to do is log onto the website, upload their clothing info, and click a button to donate the logged item. You can also donate a gift card if you don't want to give up a portion of your wardrobe.

Through its philanthropic efforts, Finery is helping to prove that fashion isn't meaningless. Clothing, after all, gives us the power and confidence to have control over our presentation. It's a meaningful way we can feel more like ourselves, especially in the hardest of times.

Even a small clothing donation can mean the world to someone in need — and every fashion lover knows it.