Swansea student set to transform prom dress market with launch of new business

With prom season just around the corner one Swansea University student has ensured that you won’t have to break the bank to buy the dress of your dreams.

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Georgia Evans, 19, a second year student within the School of Management, started her online business UShall in February where a customer can buy a beautiful, barely-worn evening dress for proms, events and special occasions for a fraction of its original price.

Georgia also offers a buy back option which allows customers to purchase their dress, wear it at their chosen event and then sell it back for an agreed fee. This means a customer can recoup some of their initial cost, in turn giving someone else the same opportunity to wear their dream dress for an affordable price.

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UShall is a play on words from a well-known fairytale, where Cinderella’s dream comes true and she attends the famous ball to meet her prince.

And Georgia, who hails from Swansea and attended Olchfa School, said that the idea for her business came from her own prom experience.

“When it came to buying a dress for my prom I realised just how expensive they were,” she said.

Proms have become increasingly popular in the UK for many years, with a typical event usually being held for students to celebrate their last year of primary or secondary school.

But parents could end up spending hundreds of pounds on dresses and accessories for the big day.

“A lot of people couldn’t afford their dream dresses, but the reality is that there’s no need to spend lots of money on a dress,” said Georgia.

“I wore my prom dress for five hours and haven’t worn it since – so I thought there must be something that can be done to ensure the dress gets worn and loved again by someone else.

“That’s where the idea for UShall first began.

“I’ve always been interested in running my own business and my dream was to start a small business while studying at university. The Entrepreneurship degree meant that I could do just that.”

While UShall is currently gearing up for the latest set of school proms, Georgia is hoping to slowly grow her online business.

She added: “I’m looking into the possibility of expanding into bags, shoes and accessories while I’m currently looking for more donations of excellent quality dresses, so if anyone would like to support or view my full range then please get in touch.”