You spent serious time and money picking out the right wedding dress, taking great care to ensure the perfect look. With that kind of commitment, it would be a shame to allow those investments to waste away after the big day, disappearing into the fashion graveyard of a dry cleaner’s box or the back of your closet.
Instead, you can find many ways to say “I do” to recycling, repurposing, reselling or even donating that dress to someone else for their own special day.
Redress for success
One way to pass on the love — and recoup some of your costs — is to resell your wedding dress. While eBay and Craigslist are two familiar options, Tradesy (” target=”_blank”>borrowingmagnolia.com), plays up the green aspects of wedding dress resale and rentals, noting how a dress will see many ceremonies rather than take up space. The site’s interface allows former brides and brides-to-be to specify their favorite designers, dress silhouette, size and retail price to match the right dress to a new owner.
The ultimate wedding (or prom) gift
For those who don’t care about getting anything in return for their dress other than a “thank you” and a warm feeling (and maybe a tax write-off), there are numerous ways to donate wedding attire to women and girls in need.
Brides Against Breast Cancer (” target=”_blank”>wishuponawedding.org), which has several chapters across the U.S., including Los Angeles, encourages brides to donate their dresses to couples facing terminal illness and serious life-changing circumstances, who are granted “wish” weddings and vow renewals. The group’s partner organization, Brides for a Cause (” target=”_blank”>ncjwla.org) will gladly accept wedding and bridesmaids dresses. And the Los Angeles-based nonprofit startup All Good Things Inc. (” target=”_blank”>oldnewborrowedredo.com) built their business on changing the way women think of their “one-time dresses,” including wedding and bridesmaids gowns, in a similar way to Chagoury.
The sisters transform the fabric from dresses into useful items such as baby blankets, pillows, throw blankets, picture frames and more. Their website allows brides to have a hand in the design process of the new item with forms and photo galleries that provide inspiration on how the fabrics from their dress can take on a new life.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.