Formalwear resale newcomer Queenly is hot on the cusp of a new partnership.
On Tuesday, the platform announced a new yearlong partnership with Miss USA, the pageantry competition. For the first time, Miss USA contestants can formally tout the sustainability accolades of rewearing by using Queenly’s app or website to buy and sell pageant and formal wear.
Already, Queenly boasts closets from many pageant winners, including Sarah Rose Summers, Miss USA 2018 and Gina Mellish, Miss New Jersey USA 2020.
Crystle Stewart, national director of the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageant system, spearheaded the partnership, saying: “We believe in the [Queenly] concept, and its ability to transform the pageant and formalwear resale market.” The former Miss USA in 2008, Stewart is offering up her past gowns on Queenly and putting 100 percent of proceeds toward her eponymous foundation empowering young women through life skills training.
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“This type of resale inventory has never been sold anywhere else, and so we are providing access and affordability to the type of wardrobe that used to be so out of reach for most girls,” said Trisha Bantigue, chief executive officer and cofounder of Queenly.
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Along with access to winning dresses, the partnership will include a social media campaign, friends and family promotional codes for pageant contestants as well as a Queenly presence at upcoming Miss USA and Miss Teen USA shows.
Bantigue believes the Miss USA partnership will further validate the resale case for the formalwear industry — so shoppers don’t have to purchase dresses new or get dresses custom made.
“The girls at Miss USA (also many other pageant systems), spend anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 for the evening gowns that they wear once onstage. Afterward, there hasn’t really been an online resale platform that helps them sell these high-priced products in a safe and convenient way. We want to remind women everywhere that you don’t have to spend a ridiculous amount and that now there is an option to still buy your dream dress for a fraction of the price of a brand new or custom-made one,” reiterated Bantigue.
Boasting 150,000 active users, Queenly bills itself as a tech company with an added business case for formalwear manufacturers. The platform builds out new inventory by partnering with brands like Mac Duggal and Vienna Prom.
Bantigue said cultural occasion attire, like Chinese qipao dresses or Indian lehengas/sarees — are another fast-growing section that expands access for many shoppers.
A relative resale newcomer, Queenly has scored $7.1 million in funding since its 2019 launch.