Category Report SO HOT! 6 Tips for Selling “Adult” Costumes and Accessories
By Ed Avis
Kids getting ready for trick-or-treating or Halloween parades are of course a giant market for your costume shop, but let’s be honest — adults buy a lot of costumes, too. And in many cases, they want their costume to be flattering or downright sexy. And for some costume businesses, the sale of sensual wear goes beyond costumes and includes lingerie, corsets, and such. Adult costumes can add significantly to your bottom line, but you have to stock the right costumes, display them well, and let customers know you have them. Whether you inventory adult-themed costumes and accessories already, or have decided you want to start, the following tips can get you started on the road to boosting your adult costume sales:
#1 Remember that “sexy” means different things to different people.
Gorgeous models dressed in skimpy cheerleader outfits might be the cliché image of adult costumes, but not everybody wants that look or can pull it off successfully. To truly serve the Apollo and Venus from Dreamgirl adult sensual costume market, consider stocking a wide range of flattering wear. For example, Make Believe Costumes & Dancewear in St. Augustine, Florida sells a lot of hippy outfits to customers who want to look good without being overtly sexy, says Julie Gump, the store’s owner. Other costumes in that category, depending on how tight or skimpy they are, could be uniforms, Egyptian clothing, and pirate outfits. March/April 2022
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#2 Match your “raunchiness” level to your community.
Adult costumes — and lingerie, if you extend your adult line to that level — exist on a spectrum of sexiness. If you serve a customer base that is comfortable with a high level of sensuality, you will probably sell a lot of costumes and clothing on the top of that spectrum. But if you are concerned about offending community members by being too daring, you should probably avoid the overtly trashy outfits and those that might push the envelope of propriety. “We don’t sell the sexy Girl Scout stuff or the schoolgirl uniforms,” Gump says. “I’ve never carried those little trashy things.”
#3 Make a tasteful display.
When Illusive Skull Costume Castle in Fairmont, West Virginia decided to expand their line of corsets, bustiers, garter belts and sexy stockings, they created an area called the “Baby Got Curves Boutique” based around a beautiful old oak display case. “We filled the case with corsets by sizes and on the wall behind it we hung specific corsets, such as for Valentine’s Day, and tons of stockings,” says Pam Markel, the store’s co-owner. “And we decorated the top of the counter with small decorative suitcases, like you were going away for the weekend. We also had vases of flowers and old perfume bottles.” Markel says they completed the classy look with pink chiffon draped around the space. At Make Believe Costumes, Gump says she uses her store’s mannequins to exhibit some of the adult costumes. She even
