sustainability pledge
Since our inception in 2017, Pass Down The Gown has been committed to putting sustainability and accessibility at the forefront of what we do. The clothing production industry contributes more carbon into the environment than all international flights and maritime shipping combined (World Bank). We recognize the that the fashion industry is unsustainable, and that is why Pass Down the Gown is committed to environmental stewardship.
We are founded off of the idea that prom, and other formal events, should be made accessible in a way that reduces as much waste as possible. Inherent in our mission is encouraging prom dresses to be worn more than once, thereby reducing waste, but we also pledge to recognize our organization’s environmental, economic, and societal impacts and to consistently work to reduce our own carbon emissions and waste.
So far, 99% of our dresses are donated, with the last 1% coming from replacements. Dresses on our site are used again and again, being cleaned after each use either with in-house cleaning or partnering with dry cleaning services. Our goal is to increase each dress's lifespan from one use to many more. Additionally, in 2023-2024 we integrated more sustainable practices in our ordering procedures, such as using reusable dress bags and recycled paper for receipts.
We understand that prom is only one of many ways that the fashion industry is unsustainable. Our organization is dedicated towards fighting the fast-fashion mindset, a practice that incinerates over 3 million tons of clothes each year, while another 10 million tons get sent to landfills. The production of clothes, especially prom dresses, is very unsustainable. Synthetic textile fabrics like polyester, nylon, and decorations like sequins make up 2/3rds of all production of fabric. Additionally, the processing of these textiles (dyeing, spinning, printing, sizing ect) utilize fossil-fuel based energy sources to run, and are often outsourced to third world countries where environmental regulations are looser. After the sourcing and production, transportation of clothing is another reason why the fashion industry contributes to 10% of global carbon emissions.
Renting from Pass Down The Gown eliminates much of this carbon footprint per dress. Renting one of our dresses requires no petroleum drilling, no outsourcing of labor, and low transportation and shipping emissions. Unfortunately, we are not able to save every dress that is donated due to tears in dress or bad condition, or due to the dress being outdated. In the past, we have turned these dresses into face masks, donated them to artists, or donated them to thrift stores.
Our organization is dedicated towards fighting waste and emissions throughout a dress's entire lifecycle. We look at our practices from start to finish, and cut all waste and unnecessary emissions wherever we are able.
going forward…
the fashion industry
As we enter 2025, we want to continue to improve our sustainability by increasing our events that promote sustainability, refining our end-of-life dress distribution process, educating our community about fashion and the environment, and continuing to cut down on single use waste internally. We hope to further these goals by hosting events similar to last year’s upcycling class, and future events like a clothing swap. Additionally, we are working to produce educational materials that shed light on the fashion industry’s carbon footprint, and sustainable alternatives.
We hope that more young women can find their perfect prom dress on our site, taking some stress off not only the planet, but also their wallet. The total cost of prom can be up to $1,139. This cost is a burden and stressor for many young girls and their families, and we want to make prom as accessible as possible.