Halloween Costumes - a spooky story

A recent report from Panjiva states that U.S. seaborne imports of Halloween costumes and outfits declined over 7.2% over the four month period starting June 1. Now this could be generally attributed to a slowdown in the economy, especially for non-essential products; or to social distancing because of the coronavirus pandemic which was expected to lead to fewer Halloween parties.

Another reason could be the tariffs stemming from the US-China trade war. A large number of the Halloween related manufacturing companies have operations in China. Moreover, according to the Halloween and Costume Association (which represents 50 of such companies),manufacturers are expected to absorb these tariffs as retailers are not keen to raise prices. These sentiments are expected to be stronger in the face of a pandemic. All these factors taken together, perhaps have led to such a marked drop in costume import.

Interestingly, the hardest hit categories were zombie costumes (-42% YoY) and vampire costumes (-20.2% YoY). Medical themed outfits also suffered a decline as a category - perhaps of the association with the pandemic.

Another reason could be the lack of Movie blockbusters, as they form insipiration for each years new costumes. Given the release delays for most movies, and movie theatre chains closing US operations, the last blockbuster in the US was Toy Story 4 from 2019 - which in turn spurred costume sales last year.