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Union City student's viral duct tape prom dress process
Sophie Chai, 17, from Union City created a prom dress out of duct tape for a scholarship competition. The dress took over 250 hours of labor and 35 rolls of duct tape. Video courtesy of Sophie Chai.
UNION CITY, Calif. - Sophie Chai, 17, of Union City didn't wear the usual prom attire this time around. The rising San Jose State freshman ditched the sequins, sparkles and satin and instead picked up rolls of duct tape to create her gown.
Her viral dress has made her one of five in the "Duck Tape Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest: Best Dress" category.
The prize? A $10,000 scholarship.
"My dress was inspired by my experience growing up as a girl and struggling with beauty standards and expectations of femininity," Chai said.
Duct tape dress made by Sophie Chai from Union City. She's a finalist in the Duck Tape Stuck at Prom Scholarship contest. July 2 2026. Courtesy of Sophie Chai.
Sophie Chai's viral dress
What we know:
Chai was searching for scholarships to apply to back in January, and she discovered this creative and unique opportunity from Duck Brand.
"I immediately told my mom, I was like, 'I'm gonna apply to this scholarship, let's go to Michael's and buy some duct tape,' my mom was like, okay!" she said. That's where this dress journey started.
From sketching, to building, to photographing her project, Chai created a strawberry shortcake-inspired prom dress.
She made a metal wire petticoat to make the shape of the dress, and covered huge sheets of fabric that had pink and white duct tape stuck to them to lay on top of the petticoat.
"I shaped many bows, and I had to make the icing one by one, and I also made like a duct tape core set for the dress, and I attached that onto my dress as well," Chai explained.
She said to complete the outfit she also made a headband, heels and a fork.
Sophie Chai from Union City is a finalist in the Duck Tape Stuck at Prom Scholarship contest. July 2, 2026. Courtesy of Sophie Chai.
Her dress took 35 rolls of duct tape and more than 250 hours of work over a five-month period. The inspiration behind the dress stemmed from her growing up as a girl and struggling with beauty standards and the expectations of femininity.
"I chose the strawberry cake theme because I was trying to represent the pressure that many girls feel to fit into society's expectation for a woman to be pretty, polished and decorated like a strawberry cake," she said. "I also created the fork to represent how consuming those expectations may feel to girls, like they feel like, oh, I have to be pretty, I have to dress a certain way or look a certain way in order to feel feminine enough."
Chai has received significant social media attention, amassing more than 139,000 likes on TikTok and 40,000 on Instagram. She feels flattered and proud to see that people are excited about what she created, especially from her parents,
"I just feel so nice reading all the comments on social media and seeing all the support that I've got for my dress. And my parents are really proud of me as well," Chai said. "They're like, ‘oh my gosh, I told my co-workers to vote for you today. My boss said that your dress is really cool!’"
It wasn't easy, however, as she faced the challenge of transporting the dress to her photography session.
"It wouldn't fit out of my door, so I had to, like, I had to kind of deconstruct it, and then ship it out, and then put it on my dad's van and then to transport it to the park." she explained.
California has two of the ten finalists out of the 160 entries that were considered.
The other finalists this year are students from Texas, Washington, Idaho, Alabama, Michigan. Ohio, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Chai graduated from James Logan High School in May. As a Bay Area student, she’s proud to represent the community in this national competition.
"And as I grew up, I realized that femininity can be something I define for myself, and I can feel girly without trying to fit into this mold," she said.
Duct tape prom attire
Dig deeper:
The contest, now more than 20 years old, asks participants to create and wear original prom attire made out of Duck Brand duct tape or crafting tape that they have to buy themselves. The design is completely up to their own imagination.
The "best dress and tux" categories have a prize of a $10,000 scholarship, and the four runners-up in both categories will receive a $1,000 scholarship and a branded prize bundle.
There's also special category awards given to three of the remaining eight runner-ups in the shape of a $1,000 scholarship.
Lastly, the four top scoring entries based on the most patriotic, based on certain criteria, will be awarded a $250 prize.
The company encourages competitors to reach out using social media, news, and community connections to get attention in the hope of getting more votes.
Collage of pictures of the duct tape dress made by Sophie Chai. July 2, 2026. Courtesy of Sophie Chai.
Voting open
What you can do:
People are available to vote on the Duck Brand website after registering with their email until July 13.
The winners will be announced on or around July 20.
"I created this outfit to try to represent that pressure that I would feel growing up as a girl, and that fork would represent how, how that felt to me, and I just wanted to represent that," she said.
The Source: Duck Brand website and Sophie Chai interview