DOWN WITH THE KIDS

PP takes a closer look at what’s hot within the children’s dress-up space, checking in with some key suppliers on how they see the rest of 2021 panning out.

Unrelenting, always in fashion, entertainment driven. The list goes on when it comes to children’s television and ‘what kids want’. PP knows only too well, with an eight year old and three year old who are brilliantly capable of being into a new trend for at least 24 hours before the next. This is, however, great news for the kids costumes market and while a lot of major studios have delayed new releases during the pandemic, the natural course of TV characters and excitement for those delayed releases stays true and strong when it comes to the tumble down into dress-up.

“We’ve seen that costumes have played a big part in keeping children happy over the last year, with some really interesting takes on themes,” says

Sharon Poulter, licensing and marketing manager at

RH Smith & Sons. “Barbie has been a popular at-home children’s birthday theme on Instagram throughout lockdown and we’ve added two new kids costume options to our current

Barbie range, perfect for birthday celebrations and imaginative play.”

Licensed costumes take the majority of transactions in the market, amplified over the last seven years (let’s forget 2021) of continual growth for World Book Day – a literary event that stays true to its cause though keeps pulling through the next generation of children who get the bug for dressing up. Speaking with BBC News in March 2021, Mike O’Connell, Rubies UK managing director confirmed that while the event was challenged with retailers being closed, the “Virtual World Book Day this year was still something of a success for our online retail partners who’ve done very well”.

He continued: “Marvel costumes have been particularly popular and have been for the last 12 months. As you can imagine that’s because heroes are very topical. Harry Potter again is also very popular this year.”

Rubies continues to push forward in the licensing arena having seen amazing reaction to its Raya and The Last Dragon on Disney+. Critics and fans are loving the fantastic fantasy film and retail customers will love the costume,

Above: Rubies’ Raya has enjoyed a fantastic up-take.

Right: Amscan International’s kids costume portfolio boasts various licences for boys and girls.

as they transform them into a new legendary character, Raya, in order to save the world of Kumandra (otherwise known as the living room).

Sam Taylor, dress-up category manager at Amscan confirms the same, telling PP: “Costumes have played a huge factor in keeping the children happy and entertained over the last year.

“Amscan International prides itself on catering for all age groups, starting with newborn babies and toddlers having fun in our Warner Bros. Superhero baby range (as seen often on Joe Wicks Instagram stories) to juveniles, where we see such a variety of costumes being worn, from Nurses & Doctors, Police Girl & Boy to being little pirates enjoying role-play fun.”

Sam was also in industry agreement as to the demand for licensed dressup in particular, adding: “Licences have continued to be a big factor and we were excited to launch new styles through 2020 and 2021 on Peppa Pig, Hey Duggee, Warner Bros. and many more.”

There’s much to play for, too, as it’s not just the TV and film characters that are right in front of us, at the mercy of children’s daytime TV as we try our best to work from home. Evergreen and more specialist, hobby characters see as much demand with many trends set Stateside, filtering into Europe. A good example of this is the range from Disguise Inc. – indeed, the company’s footprint globally is of big interest to major licensors and retailers. The company has recently unveiled a raft of new lines of major licensed productions including Transformers, LEGO, Minecraft and Buzz Lightyear.

Disguise Inc., UK sales director Tony Lewis says: “We are really excited for the year ahead as we begin to finally exit the restrictions of lockdown. The general public will I’m sure be ready to party and also enjoy family reunions, birthdays and celebrations, while holidays, music festivals and outdoor sporting events should all return during the summer.

“The Halloween weekend should be back in full swing especially with 31 October falling on a Sunday and the return of house parties – plus trick or treat returning with gusto.

“Christmas should also be back to normal with families and friends being able to mingle together and celebrate in true party style. We are helping retailers in many ways, including smaller MOQs, new innovative product, flexibility packaging wise due to an increased consciousness for sustainability and the launch of a number of exciting new licences.”

Highlights of the new ranges include the LEGO Face Change mask. This is a half-mask that covers the front of the face and has an adjustable elastic strap. It comes with four changeable inserts to swap in and out, making it four masks in one.

Reminding retailers of quality, at the same time as desire for licensed products is Palmer Agencies, which also feels that: “Special and unique designs are the key to success in this part of the market and, while price is an issue, we firmly believe that independents should not measure their items to what’s available on the big multiples and they should stock better/ value added/different products.”

Sergio Battaner, Palmer’s sales and marketing director, adds: “Whereas in the past few years, adult costumes have suffered when it comes to sellthrough, children’s costumes have gone from strength to strength.”

Ultimately, as every parent knows, where there’s television and books there will be a demand for children to get into a role and become the character. This, then, offers an unstoppable opportunity for retailers to capitalise upon – not just for World Book Day or those birthday parties, but to be informed all year round on what’s happening at film and TV level that will feed through. PP encourages suppliers to ensure that all retail partners are kept up to date, it used to be a bone of contention and at a time when knowledge is everything, that good communication will aid a fantastic partnership with sales all round.

Above: Mike O’Connell spoke to BBC News about the opportunities around World Book Day.