DRESSING THE PART Howard Beige, executive vice president, Rubie’s Costume Co., discusses Halloween trends, the business of dress-up, and Rubie’s plans for 2018.
Rubie’s is the leader in Halloween. What is the fastest growing part of your Halloween business? Family and group costumes, and our DIY/ Mix ’n Match Accessory programs. These trends have grown for the past few years, and are projected to continue to grow in the future. What trends are you seeing in the way families celebrate Halloween? Unlike in prior decades— where children did mostly trick or treating and adults celebrated Halloween with other adults— today, most people celebrating Halloween and having parties invite entire families over with pets included. Halloween has evolved into more of a familyfun holiday.
of BuySeasons’ business today is wholesale fulfillment for companies selling costumes on the internet. Many of the largest costume internet retailers today purchase and stock the most popular items of the season directly. However, they are able to expand their assortment offering online by listing hundreds or thousands of additional items that BuySeasons keeps in inventory and ships direct to the consumer for their wholesale accounts. This allows the internet costume retailer to offer a huge assortment of product without investing in every item. It is a great way to supplement a company’s assortment online.
What percent of Star Wars Executioner Rubie’s recently acquired consumers are lastBuySeasons. What was the minute shoppers strategy behind this acquisition? How does when it comes to this benefit Rubie’s? Halloween costumes? How can Rubie’s considers the acquisition of retailers prepare and appropriately BuySeasons to be very important stock for that type of shopping for its long-term growth. cycle? The overwhelming majority As all of our lives are busier than any other time in the past, and last-minute Halloween shopping has become quite the norm. In recent years, 50 percent of all costumes sold in brickand-mortar outlets are
sold in the last seven days of the Halloween season. The trick to remaining in stock during the final seven-day period of the Halloween season is to take notice of what is selling and what is important early in the season, and reordering those items quickly to ensure an ample supply the last week of the season. What are the top trends in Halloween costumes for 2018? What themes or licenses are leading the way? Again, with Halloween becoming more of a family-fun holiday, the top trends in costumes for 2018 are family and group costumes, including the family pet. Some of the top themes for 2018 will be superheroes, girl power, sci-fi, and horror. Top licenses for 2018 will include IT, Justice League, Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingom, Avengers: Infinity War, Han Solo: A Star Wars Story, Jojo Siwa, Ant-Man and The Wasp, Deadpool 2, and Spider-Man.
JoJo Siwa Video Outfit
58 THE TOY BOOK | DECEMBER/JANUARY 2018 | toybook.com
How does social media affect Halloween sales? Social media has a tremendous effect on costume choices for tweens, teens, and young adults. When you see what your friends are interested in and having fun with, it certainly affects your costume choice. A great example is the Inflatable T-Rex from the Jurassic World movie.