There are many factors that go into the price of a dress: designers, details, and delivery.
Designers
All the dresses we carry are designer dresses, and our designers create beautiful and expensive-looking dresses at modest prices (by industry standards).
There is a certain quality standard the designer dresses are held to. Our designers and their manufacturers ensure the dresses are of good and excellent quality. Some of these factors include the use of higher quality materials, better stitching on seams and beads, and stronger construction of the dress, especially in a corset-style back. You are guaranteed a well-made garment from our designers, especially when compared to the cheap imitation knock-off dresses. You're an original; why would you settle for a copy?
Oftentimes the designers themselves determine the selling price and we are contractually obligated to sell their dresses at that price. To sell these dresses at less than this price, we risk losing the line altogether, which also results in us having a lesser selection of dresses and styles to offer our customers.
Additionally, by selling these dresses at a lesser cost, it cheapens the public view of these dresses and designers, which is something we avidly try to avoid.
Details
The amount of detail that goes into a dress often determines how much a dress costs. A dress that is a simple fitted jersey dress, with no extra embellishments will cost significantly less than a full-skirt, multi-tiered ballgown dress with all-over beading and lace.
Any element that is added to a dress adds to the cost of a dress, such as boning, lace, beading, sparkle, horsehair hem, number of layers, etc. The more details that go into a dress, the higher the price will be.
Delivery
We order dresses from our designers with the intent of ordering off of these samples. By ordering a brand new dress for you, our customer, there are several factors to account for that also go into the dress.
Each dress must go through the process of being cut from the pattern and assembled, which is all done by hand (sometimes with the assistance of a machine). After assembly, the dresses go through a quality-control inspection, and are then packed up and shipped to Canada. The dresses must clear customs before arriving in our designers’ warehouse in Canada, where it typically goes through a second inspection before being packed up and shipped to our store.
The process of cutting, assembling, shipping, customs, etc. all costs money and is factored into the price of the dress beforehand. This simplifies the charges to the customer and prevents you, the customer, from paying all types of add-on fees.
Pricing concerns
If you have concerns about prices, the cost of a dress, or how to afford a dress, we have a large and size-inclusive sale section in store. For more information on pricing and budgeting, find our post on this subject here.
The takeaway
Our designers do their best to stay competitive but reasonable in their pricing; they ensure excellent quality of their dresses. They are the ones who determine the price of the dresses, and they factor in all expenses that have gone into making and delivering the dress to us, and to you.