According to NRK Sørlandet, Tine Ausdal Salvesen described the project as inspired by the joy of borrowing from a friend's closet, aiming to make dressing up fun and easy for everyone. The idea was conceived only one week ago, and the team worked quickly to open before May 17. Over 100 dresses have been donated, with more arriving from as far as Drammen.
The project targets youth who feel expensive dresses are only socially acceptable to wear once, alleviating the financial burden of buying new outfits for celebrations. The borrowing system operates on mutual trust, similar to a library: borrowers sign up with their name and phone number and agree on a loan period. Currently, the collection is housed at a private address in Mandal, but Salvesen noted that they need larger premises due to growing demand.
It's always fun to go into a friend's closet. We thought more people should get to enjoy this joy.
It remains unclear how long the service will operate or if it will expand to other locations.
Not having to spend several thousand kroner to be as nice as everyone else at the party is incredibly important.
I shared a request on Facebook and it turned out many are in the same situation. It's incredibly nice. The more dresses, the better.
I have been in places in life where I didn't have the opportunity to buy a dress. Before, I also thought it was a bit awkward to wear a dress for fear of standing out. Now we want to make it fun and easy instead.
We need larger premises.