Why do they call themselves Gmachs when they charge $$$$

amother

Navy

Mon, Jan 29 2018, 10:18 pm

I've noticed a trend that a lot of gown/dress 'gmachs' are actually gown rental places that charge a lot of money to rent. I understand having to cover the cost of cleaning which can be expensive on these types of garments, but this is no gmilus chesed to charge me $200 to wear a dress. Call it what it is! A gown rental business.

amother

Tan

Mon, Jan 29 2018, 10:42 pm

Im not saying that I agree that these "gemachs" should charge so much, but if you go to a gown"rental" they will charge you 800-1000 to rent. Thats a bit of a difference Exclamation

Blessing1

Mon, Jan 29 2018, 10:54 pm

A regular rental pricing starts st $600. Doe $200 is a "gemach". They need money for alterations, cleaning, maintenance & rent.

cozyblanket

Mon, Jan 29 2018, 10:57 pm

Blessing1 wrote:

A regular rental pricing starts st $600. Doe $200 is a "gemach". They need money for alterations, cleaning, maintenance & rent.

I presume the remaining money is used to help buy new gowns as well.

amother

Indigo

Mon, Jan 29 2018, 11:03 pm

A gemach is not for profit. But they need to cover costs. Hence the fee.

Rental prices can be sky high...

das

Mon, Jan 29 2018, 11:05 pm

200 dollars is not a lot of money considering the costs. Most gowns cant be worn too many times without having to be discarded for wear and tear. Have u ever dry cleaned a gown? It's expensive! Maintenance, storage, sales help etc etc

amother

Coral

Mon, Jan 29 2018, 11:13 pm

you can buy a (jumper) gown online for about $100. alterations (hemming included) and a shell can bring you to about $200, but then you own it.

amother

Azure

Mon, Jan 29 2018, 11:24 pm

I agree.

There are still a few "real" gemachs that charge only a $50 cleaning fee, but they generally don't have the good gowns.

Honestly, I don't understand all the gown hype anyway. I'd much rather buy a regular, nice dress that I can wear at more than one occasion. Gowns look so costumy to me anyway. But I've never been one to follow the trend.

debsey

Mon, Jan 29 2018, 11:40 pm

amother wrote:

No, a gown rental business would charge you 700.00 to wear a dress that was maybe worn at most twice before. They're making a profit.

A gemach will charge you 200.00 for the same dress, several years later. Gemach doesn't earn a profit, just enough to stay in "business"

happyone

Mon, Jan 29 2018, 11:44 pm

Same as others said. Gown rentals can be astronomical- 200.00 barely covers alterations, cleaning, replacement of lining, zippers etc that come with wear and tear. Noone ever got rich off a gmach rental .

LittleDucky

Tue, Jan 30 2018, 12:43 am

I understand why gemachs have to charge, especially gown gemachs, but there are other gemachs that do charge a lot of money. I was trying to find a gemach for wedding shtick for a needy Kallah (no family, DIY type on zero budget.). One place wanted me to pay like $100 to borrow the shtick. I tried explaining the situation and she wasn’t too helpful. Eventually found something else. But it was ridiculous to call yourself a gemach! It’s not like it costs $100 to fix it between uses- they weren’t brand new stuff!

amother

Azure

Tue, Jan 30 2018, 1:00 am

LittleDucky wrote:

shtick is hardly a need

Jewishfoodie

Tue, Jan 30 2018, 1:10 am

Lots of people give gowns away L'shem Mitzvah. Maybe put an ad somewhere with size and people can donate. It's a great way to get an gown and to give someone the opportunity to feel good about giving it, too.

Raisin

Tue, Jan 30 2018, 5:08 am

Its more time consuming but cheaper to buy a dress online and alter it or wear with a shell or shrug. And you can wear it a few times or sell on. Some websites have pretty tznius stuff.

out-of-towner

Tue, Jan 30 2018, 5:36 am

amother wrote:

shtick is hardly a need

Arguably, neither are gowns for a wedding. Just because it's become a standard doesn't mean it's a need. A nice Shabbos dress would technically work.

amother

Navy

Tue, Jan 30 2018, 7:14 am

Alterations are not included in that, and that was just an example. There are those that charge more too.

amother

Khaki

Tue, Jan 30 2018, 7:36 am

I ran a shtick gemach for 3 years. I charged $50 for a full package. I bought and created all the shtick myself. The $50 covered replacing and fixing the items. Profits went to tzedakah l'iloy nishmas but there wasn't a lot of that.
The amount of time and effort I spent on the gemach was huge and I had to give it up when I married.

LittleDucky

Tue, Jan 30 2018, 9:24 am

amother wrote:

shtick is hardly a need

Gowns and dresses aren’t needs either.
Gemachim are not just for needs. I wasn’t collecting money for this (I only would think of doing it for real needs- medical expenses, basic food etc- stuff that cannot be done second hand) but if there was someone who had a gemach, I would expect it to be at cost plus repairs. But $100 to borrow something that doesn’t get frayed like a wedding dress?

Like I said, this was a real chessed situation where they were asking for people to come and dance. I helped set up- there was no “staff” hired. No matching gowns, people flying in, fancy cake. So yeah, being asked to fork over $100 for the right to borrow something that wouldn’t be ruined just irked me.

Pink Flamingo

Tue, Jan 30 2018, 9:28 am

A gown gmach is a very expensive gmach to run. $200 probably does not even cover all the expenses, they probably have donors that subsidize the rest.

That being said, if you are located in Brooklyn, I know of a few gemachs that charge less than $200. Let me know if you would like the info and I will post it.