Our Story: Fashion, Community, and Fresh Starts
More Than a Store — A Way for Women to Help Women
DYL Fashions started long before it became two stores with a mission.
It started with me, Stephanie, working full-time, raising a family, and building a small business on the side because I loved fashion, accessories, and the feeling of helping women find something that made them feel good.
In the beginning, DYL stood for Dress Your Lashes. That was our original name, and at the time, we sold sunglasses, jewelry, accessories, and fun fashion pieces. I started small, doing trade shows while still working full-time, packing up displays, setting up booths, meeting customers, and slowly learning what women were drawn to.
What I noticed early on was that women were not just buying “things.” They were buying a feeling. A great pair of sunglasses, a piece of jewelry, a beautiful purse, or the perfect outfit could change the way someone carried herself. That feeling stuck with me.
Over time, Dress Your Lashes grew into DYL Fashions, and what began as a small side business became a real store, a team, and eventually something much bigger than I first imagined.
Like many small businesses, DYL has changed many times. We have grown, shifted, adapted, and pivoted through different seasons of life, changing economic times, family needs, business challenges, and moments where I simply needed to step back and do things differently.
At one point, that meant taking the business online and selling through our website and platforms like Poshmark. It gave me the space to keep going, but in a way that fit the season of life I was in.
Looking back, every pivot taught me something.
The trade shows taught me how to connect with customers.
The store taught me how much women love the experience of shopping in person.
Selling online taught me systems, product photos, descriptions, shipping, and how to reach customers beyond our city. And every season helped shape what DYL would eventually become.
For a long time, DYL worked like a traditional resale or consignment-style fashion business. We loved finding beautiful pieces, styling women, and giving clothing a second life.
But over time, I started to see a bigger opportunity. There were so many incredible clothes sitting in closets. There were so many women who needed affordable clothing. There were also women in our own community who were starting over, rebuilding, looking for work, going to court, going back to school, attending appointments, or trying to feel like themselves again after a hard season.
I realized DYL could become more than a place to shop. It could become a way for women to help women. That is when we moved away from consignment and became a fully donation-based business.
Today, the clothing, shoes, purses, jewelry, and accessories donated to us are sorted carefully and used with
purpose. Higher-end, designer, vintage, wedding, event wear, and unique pieces are selected for DYL Fashions PreLoved Boutique.
Everyday clothing and accessories go to DYL Thrift, where women can shop at extremely affordable prices.
This model allows us to keep beautiful items out of the landfill, create local jobs, offer affordable fashion,
and support women in our community in a very direct way.
A major turning point in our story was the beginning of our thrift store, originally known as the Bargain Basement.
At first, the Bargain Basement was located in the basement of our boutique. It started as a way to makebetter use of donated and lower-priced clothing while giving women in our community access to truly affordable fashion.
We quickly realized it was filling a real need. Women loved it. Donations increased. Customers came in looking for affordable clothing, but they also came in because the space felt welcoming, useful, and full of possibility. It became clear that thrift was not just an extra part of our business. It was becoming one of the most important parts.
The success of the Bargain Basement helped us see that a donation-based model could work. It allowed us to sort donations with purpose, send higher-end and special pieces to the boutique, and offer everyday clothing at very affordable prices through the thrift store. It also allowed us to support local women in a much bigger way.
Then came one of the hardest moments in our business. A sewer backup in the basement devastated the space where the Bargain Basement had been growing. Suddenly, we had to make a decision. We could either let go of the thrift store, or we could separate the two parts of the business and give the thrift store its own location.
For us, the choice was easy. The community needed the thrift store. Women needed access to affordable clothing. The Women’s Shelter and local organizations needed the support. And we knew the work we were doing mattered too much to stop.
So we made the leap and split DYL into two separate stores: DYL Fashions PreLoved Boutique and DYL Thrift.
That decision changed everything. What had started in a basement became its own street-level store. Our team grew quickly. In just a matter of months, we went from a small team of about three employees to close to eight women working between the two stores.
Separating the stores allowed us to serve the community better, create more local jobs for women, process more donations, offer more affordable clothing, and continue growing our support for the Women’s Shelter and local women’s programs. What felt devastating at the time ended up pushing us into the next chapter of DYL.
And looking back, it was exactly the chapter we were meant to step into.
DYL may have started with me, but it has never been built by me alone.
It has always grown because of women.
Women who shopped with us at trade shows. Women who trusted us with their closets. Women who worked beside me. Women who donated. Women who came in needing a dress, a jacket, a pair of shoes, a fresh start, or just a kind word.
One of the women who has been part of the DYL journey for many years is Shelley, our stylist. Shelley has been with us through so many stages of the business. She understands clothing, fit, styling, and how to help women feel comfortable trying something new. She has a gift for seeing what works on a
person, but also for making women feel seen and encouraged in the process.
Over time, more women joined the team, each bringing their own strengths. Some are amazing with customers. Some are creative with displays. Some can sort donations like nobody else. Some love vintage.
Some are great at organizing, steaming, pricing, cleaning, styling, photographing, or making the store feel welcoming.
Together, we have built something that feels different from a regular store.
DYL is a workplace, a shop, a community space, and a mission all at once.
Today, DYL Fashions is made up of two stores with one shared purpose.
DYL Fashions PreLoved Boutique is our curated boutique, filled with designer, vintage, event wear, wedding, and special fashion pieces. These are the items for women who love clothing with quality, history, personality, and style.
DYL Thrift is our affordable thrift store, created to make shopping accessible to more women in our community. With most items priced between $1 and $8, women can find clothing, shoes, purses, and accessories without feeling like fashion is out of reach.
The two stores work together .Donations come in. Items are sorted with care. The right pieces go to the right location. Customers get beautiful, affordable fashion. Local women are employed. Clothing is saved from the landfill. And proceeds help support women in our community.
One of the most meaningful parts of DYL is our connection to the local Women’s Shelter and other community organizations.
Through DYL Thrift, we make monthly donations to the Women’s Shelter and provide clothing vouchers to women connected through shelters, support workers, schools, social workers, and local programs.
These vouchers allow women to shop for clothing they actually like, in a real store, with dignity. That part matters to me.Because help should not feel cold or embarrassing.
A woman starting over deserves to choose something that feels like her.
A woman going to court deserves to feel put together. A woman going to a job interview deserves confidence. A student needing clothing for school or work deserves options. A woman rebuilding her life deserves more than a garbage bag of random clothes. She deserves dignity, choice, kindness, and encouragement.
We are a for-profit business, and we are proud of that. Being for-profit allows us to employ local women, pay staff, cover expenses, grow the business, and support the community in a way that is sustainable.
We do not believe helping people has to only happen through charity.
We believe business can be part of the solution.
Every donation, every purchase, every customer, every staff member, and every voucher becomes part of the bigger picture.
When you donate to DYL, your clothing is not just being dropped off and forgotten.
It is sorted, steamed, styled, priced, displayed, sold, worn again, and used to help fund something meaningful.
When you shop with us, you are not just buying an outfit.
You are supporting local women.
You are helping us employ women.
You are helping keep clothing out of the landfill.
You are helping fund vouchers.
You are helping us support the Women’s Shelter.
You are helping another woman feel beautiful, confident, and cared for.
DYL was not built overnight.
It was built through late nights, trade shows, full-time work, family life, hard decisions, pivots, mistakes, lessons, and a lot of faith that each step was leading somewhere.
It was built by women who care about fashion, but also about people. It was built because I believe clothing can do more than cover a body.
It can help a woman feel like herself again.
It can give her courage.
It can help her walk into a room differently.
It can remind her that she matters.
And sometimes, that is exactly what she needs for the next step.
Whether you shop, donate, share our posts, tell a friend, work with us, or simply cheer us on, you are part of what makes DYL possible.
What started as Dress Your Lashes at trade shows has grown into something I could have never fully imagined: two stores, a team of local women, a connection to the Women’s Shelter, and a business model built around fashion, confidence, community, and purpose.
We are so grateful you are here. DYL Fashions PreLoved Boutique + DYL Thrift Local women helping local women — one outfit, one donation, and one fresh start at a time.
