With a few weeks to go before her wedding last fall, Joan Zhang, a 24-year-old business analyst in New York City, wasn't completely satisfied with the dress she had bought—even though she'd spent over a thousand dollars on it. She worried it would be too bulky for her reception. "Even after alterations, there would be no way for me to dance without falling flat on my face the entire time," she says.
Zhang went back to traditional bridal boutiques to look for a gown to wear specifically to her reception but left empty-handed. Nothing matched her desired style for a decent price. Her search eventually led her to Poshmark, from which she had previously purchased gently used work bags and dresses. There she found a preowned Watters Nova wedding dress for $70. (Original retail price: $240.) A few clicks, some alterations later—it was ready for the party.
Zhang is one of many brides who have turned to the secondhand market to find something to wear for their wedding day, whether it's for the ceremony, the reception, or both. Resale is a small slice of the $80 million global bridal industry—The Knot's Real Weddings study, which surveyed 14,000 couples married last year, says that only 4 percent of brides wear a used gown—but it's one that's growing steadily. Google searches for "used wedding dresses for sale" have increased by 100 percent over the past five years and those for "sell wedding dress near me" are up 1,350 percent. In its annual weddings report, Lyst revealed that views of preowned wedding dresses went up by 93 percent in 2018 on its site.
Nowadays shoppers can find used wedding dresses at online-only bridal consignment stores including PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com and StillWhite.com or larger marketplaces like TheRealReal, Tradesy, Poshmark, and eBay. The selections on these sites vary—you can find more affordable secondhand styles from David's Bridal and BHLDN as well as previously used designer options by Vera Wang and Monique Lhuillier.
It's a part of the bridal fashion industry that's still growing, but it shows a lot of promise. StillWhite, one of the premier retailers for wedding-dress resale, says it has generated over $27 million in dress sales since it launched in 2010.
The "supply" part of this equation is obvious: If a bride isn't handing it down or finding a way to repurpose it for another special occasion, it's highly likely that her wedding dress will be confined to the back of her closet.
It gets trickier when you think about the "demand." The process of buying a wedding dress, as popular lore has it, is as much a rite of passage as a task on a to-do list. Brides have no shortage of options to consider before turning to resale: There are nationwide chains, boutique salons, and vintage stores, as well as a growing number of direct-to-consumer labels to suss through. Still, the stitch-perfect gown can get expensive. (According to The Knot's Real Weddings report, the average bride in the U.S. spends approximately $1,631 on her dress.) Buying something secondhand presents a much more affordable alternative, since most styles are sold between 50 and 90 percent off the original price.
Myah Genung, a 30-year-old in Los Angeles, chose a used wedding gown for that reason in 2016. "I knew I wouldn't be able to afford a full-price wedding dress, as my husband and I were paying for our entire wedding on our own and we didn't want to take on any debt in the process. I wanted a dress that I absolutely loved, but I also wanted to put more money toward things that would impact our guests' experience, like music, decor, and food," she says. A friend's recommendation led her to PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com, where she found the "exact" dress she had originally eyed in stores—a gown by Oleg Cassini.
"Norms are definitely changing, and weddings are being documented across social channels more than ever before," says Sasha Skoda, head of women's at TheRealReal. "With this rise, there seems to be less of an attachment to physical objects to remind people of these memories. Why not earn money back on your initial investment to put toward a future vacation or your next handbag purchase?"
It's not just budget-consciousness at play here: "Maybe the type of style or silhouette that resonates with you [as a bride] was more on trend last season, or a couple seasons past—by shopping resale, you really increase your options and can feel confident that you won't look like every other bride that year," Skoda adds.
There are also environmental benefits to shopping resale. Fashion has long been considered one of the most polluting industries globally; on average, consumers are buying 60 percent more clothing than they did in 2000 but are keeping items for half as long. Secondhand is often cited as the most sustainable way to shop because it doesn't introduce new product into an oversaturated market. It's rising in popularity too: ThredUp's 2019 Resale Report found that the secondhand clothing market overall will reach $51 billion in the next five years, with 64 percent of women reporting they are willing to shop secondhand. Pinterest named "sustainable clothing" as one of its top clothing trends for 2019, with searches for "sustainable clothing" increasing by 34 percent in the past year.
"Brides—and millennial brides in particular—are becoming more conscious consumers and want to see their dress worn more than once," says Bruno Szajer, CEO and cofounder of StillWhite. "They're looking at it from a sustainability perspective and understand that buying secondhand is better for the environment."
The RealReal's Skoda agrees: "I think younger demographics in particular are becoming more eco-conscious and gravitating toward companies and practices that share those values. They’re realizing that shopping consignment and consigning is smart and sustainable, and contributes to the circular economy."
Of course, shopping for wedding dresses secondhand has its challenges. There's always the chance that the dress in the mail won't match the one that appeared online. Plus, the sizing on bridal pieces can be inconsistent (not to mention that so many of these items are tailored to the original wearer). You might have to factor in additional costs for cleaning and alterations.
Still, for many brides who've opted to buy their gowns on the resale market, the benefits outweighed the cons. "I knew I wanted to do things on my terms and within my own budget," says Audrey Cleo Yap, a journalist based in Los Angeles. "I had tried on the dress and loved it but knew hemming would cost some major money. My friend told me that she bought her dress from [PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com] and had a great experience. I typed in the dress model and found a woman who was within driving distance of me who was selling hers—and, bonus, had already hemmed it."
"My dress exceeded my expectations," Genung agrees. "I had no idea what to expect when it came to the fit and mainly guessed my size based on reviews and research. I ultimately had to get alterations made, but was happy with the result and still saved a lot of money."
Szajer says many StillWhite buyers are even shopping secondhand with the intention to resell their dress. It's a common thread with brides who've responded to secondhand bridal queries on Reddit's Wedding Planning forum. One Redditor wrote: "I bought my dress second hand from eBay after trying it (and a billion other dresses) on in a store. It arrived in perfect condition, needed only minor alterations, and I was able to sell it after the wedding."
Not every bride who bought her wedding dress used necessarily wants to flip it, though: Zhang, for one, is still holding on to her reception look. “Right now I’d still want to ultimately ‘own’ it, just for memory’s sake,” she says. If she ever changes her mind, she knows where to go—and somewhere, some day, another bride could say yes to her dress.
Halie LeSavage is the fashion associate at Glamour. Follow her @halielesavage.
