A Scottsboro woman competing in the 2024 Mrs. America Pageant is hoping to help others see the beauty in wearing second-hand clothing, and she’s shining a national spotlight on a popular Alabama business in the process.

Hannah Seymour of Scottsboro will represent Alabama in this year’s Mrs. America Pageant in Las Vegas on Aug. 28, and the 31-year-old will take the stage in clothing found at the Unclaimed Baggage Center.

Seymour said she has been a loyal customer of the Unclaimed Baggage Center, which sells clothing and other items found that have been found in orphaned suitcases from all over the country sold by major airlines after being left unclaimed for 90 days. She feels wearing fashion pieces found there during the competition would be a great way to represent Alabama businesses and emphasis the importance of sustainability.

READ MORE: You never know what you’ll find at Unclaimed Baggage

“Sustainability is something that’s really important to me, and I love that Unclaimed Baggage takes these clothes that are lost, or maybe wouldn’t have a new life, and gives that to them and gives other people the chance to discover them,” said Seymour. “And it was important to me to not just represent Alabama businesses in Mrs. America, but to represent the ones that are doing good — and I really love a bargain, and I can usually find that at Unclaimed Baggage.”

Among the pieces Seymour said she was most excited to find at the center was a red velvet gown made by fashion designer Johnathan Kayne. The University of Alabama graduate said she’s hopefully seeing her in pieces that have been sustainably sourced will help teach others, including her two children, that not everything needs to be new to be useful.

“I’m a mom, and I want my children to learn from me how to take care of our environment and I think buying second-hand is a really good way to do that,” said Seymour. “Fast fashion really produces a lot of beautiful things, but our culture is we’ll wear it as long as it’s in style or until we want something new, but I think there’s beauty in wearing what we already have and giving things new life.”

Another pieve Seymour will be giving new life to during the pageant is a blue off-the-shoulder Dress the Population dress, which she discovered while browsing 50,000-square-foot facility.

“I found my competition shoes and the gown the same day, and those are probably my favorites, but I have many, many pieces,” said Seymour. “I think a pageant queen lost her suitcase, and I found it!”

READ MORE: 5 cool things at the Unclaimed Baggage Museum

Seymour, who is an accountant and business owner, said she competed in pageants through high school and college, but hadn’t participated in any since until learning about the Mrs. America pageant, which highlights accomplished married women of America, with the winner going on to compete at Mrs. World.

“When I found out about this one, I thought what a great opportunity to get back into something I love, to grow a little bit more and then to set a good example for my daughter and my son about dreaming big dreams and being confident in who you are,” said Seymour.

To keep up with the results of the 2024 Mrs. America competition, visit the event’s website, and you can find out more about the Unclaimed Baggage Center here.