We were lucky to catch up with Ruby Franzen recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ruby , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

I started Pass Down the Gown when I was 17, with the help of many other 17-year-olds, who all had similar complaints around prom: the dresses I want are too expensive, it seems wasteful to buy a dress and wear it only once, it’s hard to find a dress that fits my size and style at thrift stores, or my mom offered me her prom dress.

One night I was hanging out with a group of my friends. I can remember it perfectly. We were all lying on a couch, watching some TV in the background, my friend’s massive white retriever setting his face on each of our laps to ask for some scratches. I’m talking about this idea I have, to start collecting dresses from everyone in our grade and then create a website for people to rent from, free of charge. I’m asking what they think about it, if they think it could work, how do I ask people to donate, and what even is a nonprofit?

“I can’t answer any of those questions, but what if you call it Pass Down the Gown?” my friend, Maeve Kruser asks.

Everyone in the room agreed that name was perfect, and that this idea could really work.

I want to emphasize the name coming first before people thought this whole nonprofit idea could work. People believed it could work, BECAUSE of the name. It painted a picture, it tied a pretty bow, and it gave us a brand.

I learned that you need to collaborate, ask for help, and get inspired by others.

Thanks Maeve :)

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

When I started Pass Down the Gown, I wanted to make a difference in my community, and at the time Prom was at the top of my mind. I loved dressing up and celebrating with friends, but it didn’t make sense to potentially spend hundreds of dollars on a dress that would only be worn once. As I talked to more of my peers and teachers, I realized that many others felt the same way. Come spring 2018, I had about 50 dresses and I went classroom to classroom at my high school, visited other schools, and took on some volunteers at other schools to let students know there was a free rental option. Five years later, we are a female-operated, remote organization, with a team of around 15, working to make the event space more equitable and sustainable.
As of now, we have about 300 dresses for anyone to browse and rent. Renters from across the U.S. can use our site to rent a dress for two weeks at a time. With the help of generous donors, we are able to provide free shipping, ensuring no matter where someone is, they can have access to our service.
As we’ve changed, adapted, and improved over the years, I’m most proud of the high school students we’ve been able to work with and the ideas they bring to our organization. They tell us what they want to see in their schools, and what isn’t working anymore, and implement solutions. This builds our brand, helps us stay relevant and meaningful to renters, and makes our impact go beyond free dresses and to the hands-on experience the students receive.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

We built our reputation from the start as a rental service that not only has trendy dresses but mirrors our audience in their values and interests. Part of our ability to grow and authentically match our young demographic is by having a prom-age team running everything from social media to orders, to partnerships, to photoshoots. This allows marketing campaigns to authentically reflect our majority high school audience. A recent example of this was an Instagram series that matched our dresses to songs in Taylor Swift’s recent album, Midnights. Most importantly, it allows us to curate the dresses on our website to what dresses are in style and in demand. Shocking to no one (though still hurts to recognize) but people have no interest in wearing what I wore to prom. However, I was surprised that many volunteers’ favorite dress on our website was one that was donated four years ago, from someone who wore it to their prom five years before. We then highlighted the dress on various mediums and the dress was rented. While many other companies and nonprofits in the space collect any dress and often have many options, there is a general lack of connection to their audience. We connect with our audience by adding dresses regularly to our website, hosting community events, and having content made by high schoolers, for high schoolers.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Lately, our best source of new clients has been through social media, paid advertising, and word of mouth. This allows us to reach beyond our home city, that we otherwise would have no ability to do.

However, we are a nonprofit and have to be strategic and careful about when and how we have advertising campaigns. This year we focused on placing advertising only on Instagram, where most of our client interaction already takes place, in the months prior to prom. We tested out a few smaller campaigns to see what photos created the best engagement and then made a big push for what was successful.

Through slowly building up a very targeted Instagram campaign we were able to bring in renters from states we had never previously served and order directly through Instagram. A win in my book!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.passdownthegown.com/who-we-are.html
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passdownthegown/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PassDowntheGown

Image Credits
Lucy Franzen and Katie Chestovich