Expert Q&A Rubie’s Costume Co.
Rubie’s Remains on Top of Trends
The Halloween Insider chats with Howard Beige, executive vice president, Rubie’s Costume Co., about licensed lines, Rubie’s continued success, and what’s next for 2015.
How was Halloween 2014? Did it live up to expectations? Halloween 2014 being on a Friday was an excellent Halloween for all of the retailers that we have been speaking to. However, it was a very condensed Halloween and the last four to five days were extremely hectic for the majority of retailers. Were there any surprise hits in 2014? I think the magnitude of success for Frozen and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a surprise. People expected it to be successful, but not to the degree that it was. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy was also a completely unexpected success that people were not prepared for. The other property that trended much higher than originally expected was Star Wars. How does creating the same character at multiple price points benefit both retailers and consumers? Creating multiple price points of the key characters for licensed and generic Star-Lord, from products benefits both retailers and conRubie’s Guardians of sumers by accommodating the various the Galaxy line.
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The Halloween Insider
amounts that consumers are willing to spend. It also allows retailers to differentiate themselves by carrying costumes that fit their key price points. This has been a very successful formula for our retailers and can only be accomplished by dedicating the necessary design resources and making the commitment to inventory that Rubie’s does. How do you think the upcoming Star Wars film will affect sales in 2015? Do you think these science fiction characters will take the place of superhero favorites that have been popular in recent years? I believe that will be a very important film in the Star Wars universe and will stimulate sales of all Star Wars products, including Classic and Rebels as well as the characters featured in . The film will also have a halo effect on all Classic Star Wars characters like Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and Stormtroopers. With the movie incorporating action-based characters, it shares many similarities to the popular superhero characters. I believe it will help the overall superhero and science-fiction categories to become an even more important part of Halloween 2015 and future Halloweens.
Winter 2015