We thought we’d chat to different groups in our area who are promoting different ways of reducing waste and the rubbish we send to landfill. First up Little Green Prom Dress Wimborne.
How did you get interested in the problem of prom dresses?
When my daughter was thinking of going to prom I was horrified to discover just how much money some prom dresses would cost and along with the other expenses of tickets etc. it made me realise that this was just going to be unaffordable for many people. Then the realisation that a lot of these dresses were being worn once and then hung in the back of a wardrobe for years. In 2020 I decided to buy no new clothes for a year (and basically just kept going!) so I have a lot of practice buying secondhand so it was relatively easy to help my daughter find a secondhand prom dress to wear.
We bought her dress online and the only problem with that is you can’t try on easily so I thought it would be great to have a local option where people could borrow dresses and I wanted to make it super affordable so that everyone can afford a great prom experience.
How does Little Green Prom Dress work?
Basically I started out buying some secondhand dresses (spoiler if you look just after prom season has finished you can get some real bargains) but also I asked for donations and people locally have been so generous. So now I have around 70 dresses from a size 2 -20 that people can borrow for a hire fee of £5 plus a £15 deposit.
The dresses are available all year but in the run up to prom season I start running try on sessions which are often held at the Fair Ground Shop in the Corn Market in Wimborne – Fair Ground and Wimborne War on Waste have been super helpful for me to get going.
How can people borrow a dress from you?
All the dresses are on the facebook page – I’m working on better photos but this is all being done on a shoestring! If people are interested they can come along to try one on at one of our sessions or message me and we can make some alternative arrangements. I sometimes take dresses along to local schools as well.
Where else can people look for prom dresses and accessories?
There are lots of options – I quite often see some lovely dresses in local charity shops at this time of year and I think Julia’s House in Creekmoor have had a good selection previously. Alternatively look online secondhand outlets – such as Thrift, Vinted or Depop are good places to look. I would recommend trying not to be really focused on a specific style and start looking early as it may take a few items to find what you want.
What to do if you have a dress you no longer need?
I’d like to say donate it to me and must admit I find it hard to say no but I’m really struggling with space now so I am trying to be more selective in what I can take – generally smaller or larger sizes are what I look at.
Also if you’ve spent a lot of money on it then you might want to try and recoup some of that – I’d try and sell it on – you could try FB marketplace, or second hand sites like Vinted, Depop or Ebay. Fun fact – it’s actually really sustainable to sell your secondhand stuff – you know it’s going to someone who really wants it.
Remember sometimes it’s tempting to hang on to things just in case – but be realistic is this dress ever going to be worn again – the older it is the more difficult it can be to sell – also a lot girls generally start looking around February/March so this might be a good time to list something for sale.
Are you doing something to reduce waste, recycling or promote a circular economy in Dorset – email us we’d love to chat and share your story.
