Oswego Mom Launches Dress Swap To Help Families Save

OSWEGO, IL — Let's be real. Most of us keep at least one item of clothing that we're probably never going to wear again. Some of us hold on to an old prom gown, our kid's frock they wore once to a daddy daughter dance or a bridesmaid dress that can't be repurposed. Single-use garments can be pricey. Mary Garcia knows this, and she's doing something about it.

“She'll never use it again,” said Mary Garcia, about her daughter's $700 quinceañera dress. The amount of money parents spend on prom hasn't fluctuated much since her days at Oswego High School. Now, she's offering an alternative for local families that are tired of shelling out money for such events.

"I'm a mother of four, and three of them are girls, so it can be very expensive, especially with prom and homecoming," the Navy veteran said. The cost of prom for the average American family was $919 in 2015, according to a study from Visa.

Recently, Garcia was talking about those costs with her husband when an idea popped in her head to create a space where people could get dresses for free. Tuesday, she launched My Daughter’s Dress, a clothing swap Facebook page for Oswego area residents looking to donate and receive formal wear. Her husband came up with the name, referring to an old dress that once belonged to his daughter as "everyone's daughter's dress."

"Sure, people want money for their stuff," she said, "but they won't be able to recover anywhere near the amount they paid for it." My Daughter's Dress is an endeavor that comes from the heart. A friend of Garcia's daughter was unable to go to homecoming in the fall because her family couldn't afford a dress, hair and makeup. That didn't sit right with Garcia.

"I want every girl to have an opportunity to feel pretty on the day of their dance," she said. She wasn't sure if such a group would be well-received, so she asked about it on a Facebook page for Oswego moms.

“The comments and likes went crazy,” said Garcia, adding, “there’s nothing like this in our area.” Two days in, My Daughter's Dress has more than 130 followers. Instead of housing all the garments herself, the exchange can happen on the donors' own time, at another location.

Garcia established a few rules for the page: no selling, and no reselling of donated dresses. Everything is free. When a person comments with "interested" under a picture of a dress, it's theirs, with the understanding the recipient will follow through with the pickup.

Any formal dress in a range of sizes can be posted to the My Daughter's Dress Facebook page. Garcia hopes to draw in donations from neighboring towns like Yorkville, Montgomery and Aurora.

Images courtesy of Mary Garcia