This Sparkly, $12.99 Aldi Dress Is Taking Facebook, TikTok By Storm: 'Like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' People are reportedly driving several hours to find this Aldi product.
By Gabrielle Bienasz •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The holiday season often involves sparkly clothing — and this million-strong Facebook group is losing it over a sparkly dress from Aldi, according to Insider.
Aldi, a discount grocery chain with a cult following, features products on its "Aldi Finds" weekly discount deals. On November 9, Aldi's weekly pick featured a sparkly wrap dress, and it blew up online.
It's now known as "the sparkly dress."
@mamaechoslosingit This is THE DRESS. #aldifinds #aldidress #alditiktok #aldihaul #aldiusa #flattering #wls #myjourney #weightlosssurgery #rny #gastricbypass #weightlossjourney #gastricbypassmom #bariatricbabe #gastricbypasscommunity #weightlosscommunity I Think I Like When It Rains - WILLIS
The dress took off in a couple of Facebook groups called "ALDI Aisle of Shame Community" (there is at least one other with the same name). The joking nickname refers to the discount aisle, per Insider.
In the group, people ask for advice about recipes or recommend products. And for a while, the page was filled with users posting photos of themselves in the dress while hundreds of others replied to send compliments. A few people even altered the dress into a shirt.
But then, after too many sparkly dress posts, the group's moderators decided that simply posting the sparkly dress alone was no longer allowed. Instead, the group offers creative styling challenges.
"New products that get an overwhelming amount of attention like the sparkly dress or the egg chair will be allowed to be posted by anyone for about a week or so," it wrote.
Aldi's best-selling hanging egg chair launched in 2021 and sold out in under 48 hours in one re-issue of the product.
The popularity has made the dress a hot commodity. A Mississippi woman, Tracie Nicole Helms, told Insider that she drove six hours (on two different trips) to two separate Aldi locations — but she still couldn't find the sparkly dress.
Another woman posted that she bought "the sparkly dress" for her daughter in Connecticut from Florida. "I purchased the dress, took it home, packaged it up, and mailed it. Cristy received the dress today, and as you can see, she looks amazing in it," she wrote.
"It's like 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.' Everyone looks good," Denise League, a Texas woman in the online group, told Insider.
The idea is that this validates the magic of Aldi's discount strategy. One expert told Insider that the aisle functions "treasure hunt" for people.
Aldi started as a discount grocery store in the 1960s in Germany. It opened its first store in the U.S. in 1971 in Iowa but has been expanding rapidly in the states since the 2008 recession. In 2020, it announced it would open 70 stores by the end of the year.
"Don't dillydally or you'll miss out on this dress at #ALDI," one TikToker wrote.
@aldiangela #greenscreen don't dillydally or you'll miss out on this dress at #ALDI #partydress #golddress #grwn #ootd #midsize #midsizefashionblogger #iloveclothes #chefskiss #fyp #fypシ #aldifanfavorites #aldifanatic #aldilove #aldifan #aldiangela #aldishopper #aisleofshame #noshameinmygame #limitedsupply ♬ original sound - ALDIAngela
