Style Expert Bobbie Thomas on eBay's Celebrity Coat Charity Auction

By Reena Jana
December 6, 2010

A recent chat with celebrity stylist and Today Show style editor Bobbie Thomas has us adding a more meaningful twist to our holiday parties this year: We'll be providing the eggnog, Christmas cosmos and Scroogedrivers, and will ask our guests to forgo the usual hostess gifts and instead bring gently used or new parkas, jackets, and trenches to be donated to families in need. (image courtesy of Bobbie Thomas)

You see, Bobbie Thomas has got outerwear on her mind—not only because it's been having a major moment in fashion this season, but also because she's been busy this fall helping to put together the Glad Celebrity Coat Auction on eBay. The Glad Products Company has partnered with One Warm Coat, a national non-profit organization with the goal of providing any person in need with a warm coat free of charge, to host online celebrity charity auctions to benefit the organization. The first batch of eBay auctions kicks off today, and another will launch on December 17th. Each listing contains a group of coats donated by celebrities compiled into a Glad ForceFlex® bag, with groupings such as "award-winning recording artists" (Fergie, Justin Timberlake, Colbie Calliat and Lupe Fiasco), "Hollywood darlings" (Brooke Shields, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Biel, and Jayma Mays) and "world-famous athlete"s (Gretchen Bleiler, Julia Macuso, Bobby Brown and Jim Whittaker). It's all part of Glad's initiative to donate 4 million bags for use in community-service projects.

“I got on the phone and basically began organizing a celebrity coat drive,” Thomas said. “I called up Fergie. And Justin Timberlake is a friend, so he's donating his favorite jacket from his William Rast clothing line. I just got Kathie Lee Gifford to donate a coat. I'm also giving my own Yoana Baraschi coat that I love.” (Let us add that beyond organizing our own coat drive parties, we'll be bidding on some of these items, too!)

Thomas has been active in community service projects for years. She says her experience in giving back to those less fortunate than she is began when she was a graduate student in counseling at California State University at Northridge, when she volunteered at the Valley Trauma Center in Southern California, a non-profit devoted to helping victims of sexual assault.

Bobbie Thomas also has specific experience in organizing creative ways to donate clothing: For the past several years, she has put together clothing swap parties—gatherings where she and her girlfriends get together and exchange outfits or figure out what pieces to give to charitable organizations. She devoted a segment on the Today Show on how to successfully host a clothing swap party as well. “I won't throw out clothes or accessories unless I donate them or find a good home for them,” she said.

When asked why she was inspired to become involved with the One Warm Coat auction, Thomas brings up startling statistics. “Nearly twenty percent of children in America live in poverty,” she said, citing 2008 U.S. Census data. “And one in ten families surveyed recently said they're struggling to the point that they have to ask for donated coats for their kids. These hard core facts really tug at my heart strings.”

Celebs and the Coats They're Donating to the Glad Celebrity Coat Auction

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Bobbie Thomas
Justin Timberlake
Florence Henderson
Brooke Shields
Rachel Zoe

“Less is more in so many ways," Thomas continued. "I work in the fashion and beauty business, and it's all over the place! I receive so much stuff—makeup samples, and extra clothes. But I believe true style has a lot to do with being organized. I've always been about ‘reduce and re-use.' I've always looked for ways to pass things forward.”

Bobbie Thomas' enthusiasm for the eBay celebrity auctions for One Warm Coat has inspired nearly everyone she's told about it, and not just us. “When I told Justin [Timberlake]'s publicist about it, even she got into the spirit. She's now organizing her own coat drive among her friends,” Thomas said.

Bobbie Thomas points out the giving to those in need doesn't need to be limited to coats. And the spirit of generosity shouldn't end when the holiday season is over, either. She adds that online resources such as eBay make it easier to find ways to get otherwise discarded products into the hands of someone who might re-use it, or to raise money for good causes via high-profile auctions of celebrity-owned merchandise.

“Pass forward anything. Why not household items, too?” Thomas said. “What I love about sources like eBay is that they're not just about second-hand style, but also about turning the Web into one big community.”

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