Wedding dresses for $99? H&M releases discount wedding gown.
Between sparkly mini skirts and plaid lumberjack shirts, shoppers at H&M may come across an item not meant for a night out or day at the office: a wedding dress.
On Monday, H&M announced it would be producing a $99 wedding dress. is Grecian-inspired, with a high neckline, gathered waist, and floral beaded embellishments. It isn鈥檛 the Sweden-based retailer's first go at wedding dresses, but it is its cheapest. And the move has brides taking a second look at their wedding day purchase.
This is a far cheaper alternative to most wedding gowns. The Association of Bridal Consultants found that wedding dresses cost $1,053 on average. The popularity of shows like 鈥�Say Yes to the Dress鈥� and 鈥淪omething Borrowed, Something New鈥� show women frequently paying over $1,000 for dresses at high end boutiques. A dress in a similar style to the $99 H&M design at Kleinfield's (the bridal shop popularized by 鈥淪ay Yes to the Dress鈥�) is listed as ranging between $2,000 to $3,000.
H&M has gone down this path before. In 2006, it released a $349 gown as part of a Viktor & Rolf collaboration. 聽Furthermore, it isn't the first retailer to give discount wedding gowns a go.聽Zac Posen designs a line for David鈥檚 Bridal with dresses that start as low as $195. Last May, Target released a wedding line called 鈥淭evolio鈥� with bridesmaid dresses, flower girl dresses, and wedding gowns. The two gowns聽Target currently offer retail for $99.99 (though one is on clearance on Target''s website for $90.99).
Overall, the Association of Bridal Consultants also estimates聽the average cost of a wedding is estimated at $28,000. 聽For brides on a budget H&M just made it a little easier to bring that cost down about $1,000.
But a question still remains: are H&M and Target actually selling ridiculously cheap wedding dresses? Or are those who shell out thousands at bridal boutiques paying way too much?
NPR Planet Money鈥檚 Caitlin Kenney to answer this question in 2011. She paid $2,700 for her wedding dress, but as she chatted with wholesale fabric sellers, tailors, and economists who guessed her cost at $1,500, she started to second-guess her purchase.
However, she found that ultimately it comes down to two economic principles. Asymmetric information, which basically means the customer (brides-to-be) has far less information about the garment than the manufacturers and don鈥檛 have practice buying dresses, therefore they are less informed consumers. Second, is signaling. This is the idea that a wedding dress is far more than a dress鈥攊t symbolizes the overall message a bride sends with her garment. From a bride鈥檚 perspective, the dress can signal the importance she places on her wedding.
With H&M, Target, and others' offer of a white dress for less green, brides now have the option of signaling they are a budget conscious bride.
H&M's take on the wedding gown will be available in stores and online later this month.
