Costumes are worn at dances, ceremonies, parades, and to celebrate holidays and special events. Many school, community, and college theater groups need costumes for their plays and musicals, but do not have the funds to purchase costumes outright.
If you are skilled in sewing and talented in design, you may want to open your own costume sales, consulting, and rental business. You may start out of your garage or basement (with a separate outside entrance and zoning approval) and have customers come to you, or you can go to them. The different varieties of the costumes are available in the market by the particular enterprisers who deals such kind of costume designing business.

Start-Up Costs And Financing Sources

* $4,000 to $25,000.
* Personal savings, credit at fabric stores, lines of credit on credit cards, small business loans.

Pricing Guidelines

* $15 to $75 a day for rental
* Period costumes can sell for $1500 or more, depending on the complexity of design, fabric used, sewing details, etc. A consultant for a large cosmopolitan theater group may charge $50-$ 100 per hour.

Marketing And Advertising Methods And Tips

* Send direct mailings to schools, theater and musical groups and churches.
* Advertise in the business telephone directory.
* Participate in community parades.
* Encourage word-of-mouth referral from satisfied customers.
* Write a special seasonal column in your local newspaper on costume-making tips for mothers.
* Print promotional materials: business cards, brochures.
* Purchase ads on local radio and cable television.
* Hold community workshops or courses (at schools or fabric centers) on how to make child costumes.

Essential Equipment

Heavy-duty sewing machine, assorted fabrics, costume boxes, storage space, changing space, sewing forms and notions, business telephone and answering machine or service, record and billing system (manual or software), computer with design capabilities if you design costumes, personal library of period and present-day costume books.

Recommended Training, Experience, Or Needed Skills

* Take sewing classes. Gain work experience in garment sewing.
* Work or volunteer in creating and constructing costumes for local theater groups or plays.
* Have a talent for designing and enjoy creative challenges.
* Know the history of different period clothing.
* Having background, experience, or training in theater is a plus.

Income Potential

$35,000-$50,000 for a small business up; to $250,000 for a large costume rental business in an urban area

Type Of Business

An in-home business except for fittings or consulting

Best Customers

Theater groups, schools or college drama clubs or societies, film makers, individuals who need costumes for a holiday or special event, civic groups sponsoring special events, parades, historical groups, museums, entertainers (clowns, magicians, mascots, etc.), large church groups who hold religious pageants.

Helpful Tips

* Learn how to be creative in your marketing—appear at special community functions—fairs, parades, holiday celebrations.
* Be willing to design and create a costume to the customer's specifications even if you have never made one before.
* Be able to bring in business during slow periods and keep up with business in hectic periods.

Additional Business Ideas

* Specialize in costumes for theater, television, or film.
* Specialize in making mascots for high schools, colleges, professional sports teams, stores, and other businesses.
* Specialize in costumes for children for holidays, dance recitals, children's theater groups, and church pageants.
* Specialize in different countries' costumes for celebrations of their cultural-awareness days, museums, etc.
* Make costumes for pets and sell wholesale to pet stores and distributors.
* Make costumes for historic dolls.
* Make costumes and/or puppets for puppet theaters.

Variety Of Popular Costumes

A dress designer has to take care of the customers individualistic choices who want to have a unique quality of costumes. Halloween costumes are most fashionable and trendy costumes, attracting a number of customers for the unique and stylish designation. You may start business of sewing all varieties of costumes and earn a lot of profits from this home based business. Dance costumes are mostly designed for the dance parties according to the tempo of the dancers. Belly dance costumes are designed to display the physical movements and gestures so prominently for the viewers, showing the extensive beauty of the fair-sexes. Pirate costumes are usually used to masquerader the role of pirates in the movies.

Venom costumes are stitched carefully for the costumers who require such kind of costumes. You may introduce dog costumes for the pet lovers who want to have stylish dressing for their lovely puppets. Schoolgirl costumes are basically offered for the school fellows, the variety of school uniforms. Some people like to have medieval costumes in order to memorize the past culture in the present time. Star wars costumes are especially liked by warriors who want to be well-equipped with the war gears and costumes. Whenever you are going to start the business of costume designing, keep in mind all such varieties of the costumes in order to satisfy the needs of the customers well.