You know the deal:  You’re in your best friend’s wedding and she doesn’t want to be upstaged, so she picks a bridesmaid dress that you’ll never, ever wear again.  Yeah, yeah, the sales associate assures you that the dress is chic and can be worn for other special occasions — but, you know that’s not going to happen. Ever.

Still, you are eco-conscious and wouldn’t throw that ol’ thing away, and you never made it over to the consignment shop to see if they’d take it off your hands, but you’re tired of it taking up valuable space in your closet.  So, what’s an ex-bridesmaid to do?

Meet NewlyMaid, a unique way to exchange a bridesmaid dress after the wedding for a new little black dress that can be worn for any occasion.  Created by The Dessy Group, a leading bridesmaid dress manufacturer for over 70 years, NewlyMaid is the first service of its kind to offer women a way to enjoy savings, reduce their carbon footprint, help others in need, and get a classy dress they can actually wear.

Thanks to NewlyMaid, women can turn their gently worn bridesmaid dresses into new ready-to-wear styles. NewlyMaid will accept bridesmaid dresses and special occasion dresses from any designer brand. In return, NewlyMaid offers a special 30 – 50% credit value towards a new ‘any occasion’ dress. The dress styles, which sell between $150 to $250 at full price, range from sophisticated office dresses to sassy night-on-the-town dresses.

How It Works

Upon visiting NewlyMaid.com, customers can request a complimentary return mailer to ship their old dress to NewlyMaid. The mailer will include a prepaid return-shipping label for an easy return. Once NewlyMaid receives the returned garment, it is inspected to make sure it meets the NewlyMaid criteria: no pulls, tears or stains and all zippers and closures must be in good working order. If the dress qualifies, the customer will receive an email confirming that the dress is accepted and that special pricing has been ‘unlocked’ on her NewlyMaid account. She can then visit NewlyMaid.com to order her dress at the special price.

The returned dresses will be either donated to charity or recycled. Dresses which are suitable for reuse will be donated to Clothes4Souls. NewlyMaid will work with UNIFI, a global textile company, to recycle qualifying dresses that are 100% polyester. Future NewlyMaid styles offered will include REPREVE – recycled fibers made by Unifi.

NewlyMaid offers a way to swap “something old for something new” in a modern way with environmental benefits and charitable incentives. Visit www.NewlyMaid.com to get started.