“I don’t know what jean size I am, because I’m always in yoga or sweatpants.”
Yvonne Coombes, CEO and cofounder of Operation Deploy Your Dress (ODYD), a nonprofit providing free formal wear for military families, was unfazed by her client’s declaration. Helping members of the military community find the perfect dress, tuxedo or even size is all part of the job — one she’s now held for a solid decade.
“She also said she didn’t like being flashy or standing out, and I told her no problem; we have lots of nice, neutral gowns,” said Coombes, who started ODYD with several other Army wives at Ft. Bliss in December of 2015. “She put on a dress that was bright orange with ruffles — all the things that were the complete opposite of what she said she liked. But she kept saying, ‘I love how I feel in this and how beautiful I feel.’”
That client isn’t the only happy customer; ODYD has given away over 40,000 dresses to date, as well as male formal wear. The goal is to save military families money for military balls and other formal functions while simultaneously building community amongst the volunteers running the shops and their clients. People, including civilians, donate their gently-used formal wear to supply ODYD’s sparkly inventory, saving well over $4 million in total costs so far.
It’s not exactly what Coombes, who describes herself as “a T-shirt and jeans girl through and through,” forecasted when she and her Bliss friends started ODYD. The basic idea? Hold a dress swap for the wives; nothing more.
“It was supposed to be a two-day, one-weekend event,” Coombes said. “We had hopes to collect a couple hundred dresses from friends and neighbors and had reserved the community center on post, but we thought we would go back to our lives after that.”
They didn’t, of course. Today, ODYD is a well-oiled machine, where donors mail in their apparel, volunteers sort and prepare the clothes at each boutique, and clients choose one outfit as well as one accessory per year. ODYD operates out of 15 brick-and-mortar shops around the United States and in Germany, plus a yearly pop-up with the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) in Washington, D.C. Coombes doesn’t get to be in a shop every day, and she admits she can get “numb” to the fun fashions surrounding her — but she never gets tired of personally helping a client when she can, including men.
“We had a high-school senior get a full-on tuxedo for prom,” said Coombes, who also works a full-time job as a director of military outreach at a financial services company. “And he was like, ‘What high school guy gets their own tuxedo?’ It was such a cool thing.”
The ODYD team is still dreaming, aiming to open up more shops in 2026, including at more overseas installations.
“To be able to crack that code for our overseas families is a dream,” Coombes said. “We want to be able to help them connect.”
Connection, in fact, is exactly what ODYD has provided for Coombes and countless others.
“I was able to find my identity that I didn’t even realize I was looking for,” she said. “The network that has come through Operation Deploy Your Dress, the friends that have come from it — there’s just been all these things you were not looking for but really filled holes you didn’t know existed for so many people.”
On Saturday, April 25, 2026, ODYD and AUSA are teaming up for their 9th pop-up event in Washington, D.C. Learn more, register for a time slot, and get your ticket here! Visit Operation Deploy Your Dress to learn more about locations, volunteer opportunities, and how to donate a dress.
