By Mark Seavy  

While marketing around “Summerween” promoted an early start to the Halloween retail season, consumer buying remains confined to a six- to eight-week period leading up to the annual fall event, licensing industry executives said. 

For example, Spencer Gifts’ Spirit Halloween flagship location in New Jersey opened on August 1st to long lines and warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club began stocking Halloween products in late July. But mass retailers like Walmart and Target won’t set their floors for Halloween until mid-September, after back-to-school sales end.  

So, with the traditional sales cadence unmoved by those mid-July promotions, suppliers are banking on an improved revenue compared to a year ago, when Halloween was marked by sluggish sales. The expected turnaround is tied partly to Halloween falling on a Thursday this year (it landed on a Tuesday in 2023). 

Despite this optimism, many retailers ordered 10-15% fewer SKUs this year, preferring to focus on classic horror-themed costumes and accessories while going narrower and deeper with brands, licensing executives said. Evidence of this trend can be found in Spirit dedicating a 10-foot section in its store to products tied to MGM’s Chuckie franchise and in Party City installing Rocky Horror Picture Show-licensed products as an end cap. 

“I think it is just the ebbs and flows of the business and that will go back and forth year to year,” said Tara Cortner, President and General Manager of Jakks Pacific’s Disguise costume division, which is a major supplier to the likes of Target, Walmart, and Costco. According to Cortner, there could be significant growth in 2025 when more high-profile films and TV shows, previously delayed by the writers’ and actors’ strikes, are released.  

High-profile films and TV series aside, there has been a broadening of inspiration available for Halloween costumes and accessories across YouTube, video games, and social media.  

Spirit, for example, is launching licensed costumes for Gooseworx’s The Amazing Digital Circus, an animated YouTube series that has gained 19.1 million views since it was released last fall. Jazwares, meanwhile, is launching licensed costumes for Uplift Games’ Roblox title Adopt Me!, for which it has also developed a line of collectibles. And Disguise is fielding costumes based on Mob Entertainment’s Poppy Playtime video game. 

“We are building out this business and we are looking at everything,” Cortner said. “Historically, that [inspiration] has come from theatrical and TV, which are still dominant, but we see more inspiration coming from streaming, anime, video games, and social media.” 

Conventional costumes remain a top seller, but suppliers are also expanding into inflatables as well as animatronic figures for lawn décor. Spirit, for example, is carrying a Deadpool/unicorn inflatable costume while Disguise is testing sales of a Minecraft inflatable for lawn décor.  

On the high-end side, Jazwares is introducing a Primalux Costume line that includes a costume based on the Darth Vader character from 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope ($1,000) that’s replete with a belt and chest box that lights up and projects the character’s breathing sounds. The range also includes a Spider-Man costume ($500) that features a headpiece with a molded mask as well as built-in footwear. 

With these new products, and with ongoing efforts to expand marketing strategies, industry executives remain optimistic. 

“I am very hopeful for Halloween this year because retailers will be very aggressive in their merchandising with the inventory they are carrying over from last year. And, as a pop culture trend, horror has become hot,” said Stephen Stanley, Co-President of the Sharpe Matrix Licensing Agency.