Billionaire Spanx founder Sara Blakely is loaning out her wedding dress to brides who lost thousands of dollars because of coronavirus cancellations

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

• Spanx founder Sara Blakely will loan her wedding dresses to 31 brides whose weddings have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
• Blakely built a billion-dollar fortune after founding shapewear maker Spanx in her Atlanta apartment in 1998, while selling fax machines door to door to make ends meet.
• The novel coronavirus sparked dual public health and economic crises in the United States after killing 5,923 Americans.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Billionaire Spanx founder Sara Blakely is looking out for an oft-overlooked population affected by the coronavirus pandemic - brides.

Blakely is offering to loan her wedding dress out to any size 4 or size 6 brides who are struggling to organize a wedding amid the pandemic, she announced on Instagram. Over thirty women have already taken Blakely up on the offer, she told CNBC.

"When COVID-19 happened, I shifted my thinking to, 'How can I use my social platform right now to be helpful?'" Blakely said in an interview with CNBC Make It's Taylor Locke published Thursday. "I thought, 'This is a really feel-good post that should make other people feel good right now ... and I also wanted to hopefully start a trend and spark an idea in other women that maybe they hadn't thought of loaning their wedding dress out and now they will."

"My heart is breaking for all the brides out their [sic] having to cancel and postpone their special day so I thought why not offer my dress to more amazing women," Blakely wrote when first making the offer on Instagram March 19. "Hoping this will possibly help ease someone's plans during this time."

The 49-year-old billionaire loaned out one of the two dresses she wore to her October 2008 wedding years before the coronavirus outbreak began, first to a friend in 2010 and later to a stranger she met on a hiking trail in 2016, according to CNBC. Blakely built a billion-dollar fortune after founding shapewear and loungewear brand Spanx in her Atlanta apartment in 1998, Business Insider reported.

Engaged couples across the country have been forced to postpone or completely cancel their nuptials as authorities limit gatherings to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The cancellations are also costing couples tens of thousands of dollars in losses from broken contracts with vendors, canceled flights and hotel bookings, aside from what they hoped would be the happiest day of their lives, Business Insider's Jessica Snouwaert reported.

The novel coronavirus has infected over one million people and killed over 96,000 across the globe, after being identified in Wuhan, China, in December. No country has reported more cases than the United States. In addition to a public health crisis, the outbreak has also led to an economic downturn, as nearly 10 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits in the past two weeks alone as businesses close to comply with social distancing guidelines designed to slow the virus' the spread.

Do you have a personal experience with the coronavirus you'd like to share? Or a tip on how your town or community is handling the pandemic? Please email covidtips@businessinsider.com and tell us your story.

And get the latest coronavirus analysis and research from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is impacting businesses.

NOW WATCH: How to stay safe at work during the COVID-19 outbreak