Interview with Kelsey Doorey from „Vow to Be Chic”
Kelsey Doorey based in Santa Monica, California has been making waves in the United States with the launch of “Vow to Be Chic”- the very first company to offer designer bridesmaid dress rentals. “Vow to be Chic” broke ground in 2015, has grown significantly in the last 2 years and is now saving thousands of bridesmaids across the country stress, time and money.
“Vow to be Chic” is a successful online service that allows brides to select their bridesmaids’ gowns, in a vast array of colors, styles and pricing with the help a Bridal Stylist on hand. Brides are able to create their own “Bridal Suite” to select dresses for their girls and even send invitations to bridesmaids to rent dresses brides have chosen for them.
Bridesmaids take the next step by getting measured by their local seamstress, send in their measurements and 2 dresses are delivered in 2 different sizes to bridesmaids to guarantee a sure fit.
Once the wedding is over the bridesmaids simply return their dresses and the gowns are dry cleaned and readied for the next customer. This solves a bridesmaid’s main problem of throwing the dress to the back of the closet never to be worn again.
So how did Kelsey embark on her journey to “Vow to be Chic”?
Kelsey got her first experience working in the bridal industry for a high-end wedding planner in New York, while earning her degree from Columbia University. She worked in consulting and retail after college, and moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA’s Anderson School of Business.
It was during this time Kelsey experienced being a bridesmaid several times and if anyone can tell you about it, Kelsey definitely can. “I have been a bridesmaid at least 8 times! Although it’s a great honor to be a bridesmaid, it can be quite time consuming and expensive! Men have been renting their suits for years, so why can’t bridesmaids do the same?”
It’s with these main thoughts and funding she received from a UCLA’s Knapp Venture Competition that put Kelsey on the road towards pursuing her business idea.
The next step big step, was of course the dresses. “We partnered with top designers but I first had to find out what were their best-selling dresses, the best-selling colors and to convince them of my business idea.” “Vow to Be Chic” purchases dresses brand new and has now accumulated a stock of over 11,500 top designer dresses.
Not only has the top designer dress stock list grown, but so has her team starting from bridal consultants, seamstresses to an operating warehouse
Kelsey takes first priority in customer service as she says, “We have a No Brides Left Behind Policy. We send out 2 dresses in 2 sizes that will be sent 2 weeks before the wedding. It’s very rare that a dress doesn’t fit. If anything should happen, we plenty of time to arrange for a new dress.”
Although there are challenges in building the business, Kelsey adds, “It’s fun to prove people wrong who don’t believe if something is possible. You have to remain passionate in the highs and lows, be willing to preserve though the hard times and have a great team to share that passion with you.”
Kelsey is proud to say that that “Vow to Be Chic” helped women to save a total of 5 million dollars with their dress rental solutions. “It has been amazing to see tangible results and we get photos sent in from bridesmaids all the time. It’s great be a part of such a special time in tens of thousands of women’s lives”.
