Despite a troubled economy, women in the Capital District can still find affordable formalwear for special occasions, from weddings to proms, thanks to two innovative women who launched a Web site earlier this month.
Developed by coworkers Jessica Cipperly, of Ballston Lake, and Amanda Sanger, of Clifton Park, the Web site, www.capitalregiondresses.com, provides a place for local formalwear buyers and sellers to come together.
The pair was motivated by several discussions with coworkers and friends who were looking for formal wear, but were lamenting at the price.
People are trying to find creative ways to save money, Cipperly said.
Cipperly and Sanger have a coworker who is planning a wedding on a budget, and they said they continually thought of her when developing the Web site.
`I think most women can think of a dress they would like to sell,` Cipperly said.
Sanger said she regularly goes to a charity gala and has a collection of dresses sitting in her closet from the annual event, and as she started thinking and talking it over with her business partner, Cipperly, they figured several women were probably in the same boat.
After attempting to sell dresses on other marketplace Web sites, including eBay and Craigslist, Sanger said she realized there needed to be another venue where only dresses were available. She said dresses often get lost on larger sites because so many products are available.
Cipperly also said many girls cannot afford to go to prom because the cost of dresses is too high.
`We make it easy to get a nice, affordable dress,` Cipperly said.
One trend the women have seen since launching their site is the sale of new or never worn dresses.
`We have gotten beautiful quality,` Sanger said. `The tags are still on some of the dresses.`
The pair does not handle the delivery of dresses. They said the buyer and seller have the flexibility to arrange pick up or delivery of the dress.
Sanger and Cipperly discussed ideas for their Web site for a few months before Sanger began building the Web site, which took about eight weeks to construct.
`We knew we wanted to do something like this,` Cipperly said.
A special feature of the site allows women to find a specific dress through the model number provided by a gown shop according to Cipperly. She said at many bridal stores, they have model numbers for the dresses, and if a seller inputs the number, a buyer could potentially locate the dress through the specific number.
`I’ve been a bridesmaid seven times,` Cipperly said, and while she jokingly noted that people probably would not have wanted most of the dresses, she said some of them were nice and could have been sold on a Web site, but instead she donated all of them.
The most challenging part of the business is marketing, Sanger said there is only a minimal fee to host the site, but spreading the word about the site is the difficulty.
Cipperly said she would like to eventually include advertisers in the banners on the site and provide links to where women can donate dresses if they do not wish to sell them.
While Sanger and Cipperly work full time together at an e-marketing communications business based in Saratoga, they also both have backgrounds in other areas, including makeup sales and real estate, respectively.
The coworkers are satisfied with the site action, so far and hopeful for the future.
`I think it will continue to grow,` Cipperly said.
To buy or sell a dress, visit the Web site at www.capitalregiondresses.com.
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