Priscilla of Boston, a high-end bridal chain best known for making Grace Kelly’s wedding gown, came to an undignified end last week when current parent company David’s Bridal shut it down. This news wouldn’t have made national headlines if an alert shopper in a Minneapolis suburb hadn’t noticed unsold dresses by the rackful being wrecked with red spray paint and tossed in a dumpster.
Yes, it’s wasteful and appalling. David’s Bridal claims that the gowns, most of which retailed for more than your first car, couldn’t be donated due to contractual obligations to high-end designers. Worried about the “brand dilution,” the suppliers don’t want their brand-new gowns filling a thrift store rack, or, evidently, being worn by poor people.
In an initial statement, David’s Bridal explained:
Priscilla of Boston has always donated quality bridal gowns to a variety of charitable causes. We do not, however, donate unsaleable dresses that are damaged, soiled or in otherwise poor condition.
Your helpful bridal fashion hint for today: avoid spray-painting unworn gowns in order to keep them out of “poor condition.”
David’s later issued another statement to NBC’s Today show, claiming that they would try to salvage some gowns for brides in need.
While it has been Priscilla of Boston’s policy not to make donations of sample dresses that are in poor condition, we recognize that some of these dresses could possibly have gone to worthy causes. David’s Bridal has already begun bringing together all of the remaining Priscilla of Boston gowns to evaluate them and ensure that they are donated to our charitable partners wherever possible.
Edina boutique takes heat for trashing $4,000-plus gowns [Star-Tribune]
Priscilla of Boston Wedding Dresses Destroyed in Dumpster [Fox 9]
Bridal chain apologizes for destroying wedding dresses [Today Weddings] (Thanks, Kelly!)
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That’s their right to do so. Personally, I like to go down to the local food shelter, bust out a bunch of burgers in front of the line of hungry homeless people and take a bite before smashing the burger and shitting on it.
And your lack of understanding in the difference between this store and your story speaks only of you. It doesn’t make the point you were hoping it would.
Clothing stores do this all the time. The designers don’t want the gowns back-it’s last year’s model- but they don’t want it found for $50 at the local thrift store because then they’ll have to fend off people wanting ‘that designer gown’ for $50. I’m surprised they just dumped ‘em instead of farming them out to other stores, actually.
That “Last month’s/year’s fashion” crap is one of the problems I have with people.
People need to fucking grow a pair and wear what they want to wear.
Eh, honestly I would say that all these dresses being unsold says that the designers aren’t that relevant anyway.
Plus I don’t see how they should get uppity over a tag that’s hidden somewhere on the article of clothing, so I doubt anyone would know nor care about their name anyway.
And while I do recognize that this is their property, well, fact is, contract or not, once the money exchanged hands to sell the clothing what happened to it is effectively out of the designer’s hands once the contract wasn’t met, which I would imagine includes selling the dress so the store makes a profit.
By this logic, when a car dealership is going out of business they should be allowed to just pour kerosene on the lot and set the whole thing ablaze so no one else can use the vehicles there.
It depends. Depending on their contract they might have done this for legal reasons. However if they spray painted the dresses not because they were legally not allowed to dontate them (and to insure when they were thrown away people would not try to use them), but so that by spray painting them they could just throw them away, yeah thats crazy.
Someone should fish the dresses out of the trash, buy a gallon of Goof-Off, treat the areas spray painted, and gently wash (or dryclean) the dresses. Problem solved.
Hmm… I would still pick these dresses up. A seamstress can hide/remove some paint damage. Though not as pretty, these dresses can still be repaired and make someone happy.
(I’ve salvaged some boots once, cut by a company and discarded due to minor defects. 200$/300$ quality warm winter boot. Repairs on each pair costed 20$-30$. Some I gave out, some I donated. It was well worth it.)
While I hate to see anything go to waste, it is their merchandise and they can do with it what they wish.
OH NO!!!!!
Next you’ll be telling me DeBeers keeps the supply of diamonds artificially low to keep the price artificially high!!!
BS. The people who started this complaint are the ones who were eyeballing the dumpsters hoping to make a bundle on eBay. Shoppers who’d been in the store in the final weeks said they were down to crappy and damaged items, which is exactly what the store says it threw out.
Isn’t there some soon to be military wife program that they donate dresses to all of the time?
The store OWNS these gowns, which means they get to do with them as they wish. While giving to charity is noble, it’s not a legal or moral obligation.
I remember a story recently about a charity helping members of our armed services get prettied up for their weddings, even if the wedding was on a military base. There’s plenty of deserving people who aren’t “poor” that these could’ve gone to.
The problem is that to the designers it’s still “riffraff” wearing them.
Lady Gaga would love to have those soiled dresses for her next concert.
They can do what they want, its their supplies. Personally, I would’ve had them shredded and sold to a company that buys fabric in wholesale. Can use it for all sorts of things..from pillow-stuffing to making paper money.
But the irony might not be lost, as only poor people would wear such a thing in this condition. Watch, you’ll see some drunk morons show up in a vegas chapel with a dress that’s been painted entirely red to match the color.