The Time is Right – Planning for Costume Success
It’s that time again! As we all enter the last half of the final semester of this school
year, everyone’s thoughts are turning to next year’s marching band show. As you
begin to create and develop your next show-stopping concept, remember that
preparation is the most important first step to a successful season!
The school year is winding down all too quickly when it comes to making
plans for the next year, and as you’re finalizing your music and staging, remember
that it’s time to begin putting together your color guard designs as well. Making
your color guard or dance team look its best takes time. It’s not an overnight
miracle; it’s a process. Know your designer(s) and seamstress as well as your
production companies. Being familiar with all of their requirements and
expectations will allow you to produce your award winning designs. Save yourself
all that undue and unnecessary stress by knowing your timelines and deadlines.
If you’re having custom costumes created for your team, start early. You will
need time for your designer to create a sketch, get fabric swatches to you, provide
pricing options, perfect sizing and fit and create patterns. You will also need time to
pay deposits to assure timely deliveries of costumes and equipment. Remember,
however, that that doesn’t include time for revisions if you require them! Be
prepared to provide your designer with as much concise, yet helpful information as
you can. How many students do you need to costume? Do you have males and
females or females only? What’s your show’s theme, music or concept? Do your
costumes need to incorporate your school colors? Don’t forget to provide a picture
of your band proper if the costumes need to coordinate with the band uniforms!
If you know what you want when you come to the table, GREAT! Communicate your
vision with as many pictures as possible. If you don’t know what you want, don’t
worry. Be flexible and open-minded to suggestions. You’re now relying on someone
else to create a custom look for you. You’re using their vision, not one that you’ve
communicated to them. Help them out with inspirational pictures from fashion
magazines and/or images relating to your concept. Just be careful…make sure that
your budget supports what you’re asking for. Make sure you get fabric swatches.
Do not wait for your flags and costumes to arrive before heading to the local paint
store to purchase paint for your props. I’m sure the prop moms and dads will thank
you in the long run!
Another major component of creating a custom costume is budget. I know we all
have champagne dreams for our students, but in reality, many of us are operating on
a beer budget…or less. Be prepared for the question, “What is your budget?” Let’s
just be honest, it’s a waste of everyone’s time to have your designer sketch a
costume for a $175/member budget when you really only have $125/member.
$50.00 is a huge difference in fabrics, cuts, etc. Many companies offer lots of budget-
friendly options and those options can expound indefinitely as long as you’re
flexible.
A final key to custom creation is communication. Who do the designers need to
contact if they have a question? If you need to communicate with multiple staff
members once you receive a design, make sure you allow time for that to happen on
your end as well. If you’re coordinating with a visual designer and a color guard
designer then, you need to be prepared for both of them to have time to digest your
design as it relates to the whole picture and give them time to respond to you with
their constructive criticism.
If your costume company provides such services as free fittings, take them up on it!
Let a professional take care of the fitting for you. They know the ins and outs of the
cut and fabrics you’re using more than you might imagine. It’s one less headache
you have to worry about later. Most importantly, everyone wants their students to
look their best from head to toe. When the company sales representative comes out
to your school to fit your students, it’s a good idea to have at least a 50% deposit
ready if your booster club is paying for the costumes, or if your school is paying,
provide them with a copy of your signed purchase order. You can then allow the
sales rep to take care of the paper work for you – it’s their job!
Now that we’ve discussed the design and paperwork process, let’s take look at
several scenarios and time lines to help plan a more successful and less stressful
year for you next year. For the purpose of this article, let’s assume for the first
performance you plan to wear your costumes and wave your flags is the weekend of
September 22nd. Now, we also need to assume that not everyone of your students
has the perfect body type and that you’re not paying your flag company to ship your
flags already on the poles. Let’s say you need one week to make minor alterations
and hem your costumes and put your flags on poles. So, now you’re looking at
taking delivery on September 14 th at the latest. For custom costumes, a good rule
of thumb is 14 weeks from start to finish. Begin the conversation with your designer
by June 8th or before the last day of school. Allow two weeks for your designer
to get back with you for your first sketch. Remember, this timeline doesn’t include
time for additional revisions of your sketch! May companies will provide one or
two revisions of your design as part of the design service, but be careful… that 4th
revision may cost you, and I don’t just mean time. It may cost you financially as well.
So make sure your staff is super clear when communicating all of their ideas to your
designers the first time.
Next, have your finalized sizes and deposit by June 22nd. Even if you’re still working
out designs, be ready to proceed to the next step. A great tip is to have students pay
the first half of the costume deposit out of their pockets as part of their band fees.
This helps to make it much less likely that costume will sit empty in the fall.
Of course, there are many other alternatives to creating a custom costume from
scratch. Each of these options diminishing enormous amounts of stress on you and
your staff. I’m a huge advocate of what I like to call re-fabrication, meaning taking
an existing design featured in a company’s catalog or on their website and changing
the fabrics to create a costume that 9 out of 10 people who may have seen it before
will think is an original. The re-fabrication process takes less time and money than
creating a costume from scratch, but this process still requires planning. If you’re
going the catalog re-fabrication route, plan for 10 weeks and have your sizes and
deposit by July 6th.
If you’re just not able to have everything ready until August, then rush costumes are
often available, but they will have their limitations. They are usually offered in a
small range of colors and sleeve and/or pant options. If it is only offered in black
and red for example, then expect it to cost you additional time if you desire it in
purple. Rush costumes can usually arrive within 4 weeks, so have your sizes and
deposit to your company by August 10th. And if you’re going with in-stock costumes,
plan on 1 week with your sizes and deposit to your company by September 10th.
Just remember if it says, “ships within 48 hours” that means it leaves the factory or
warehouse in 48 hours. What it does not mean is that you will have it in 48 hours.
We haven’t even talked about shipping yet. So, when your costumes leave the
factory within 48 hours, they will still travel at the rate you paid for through UPS,
FedEx, USPS, etc. In reality your 48 hour item can take up to a week to arrive.
Finally, make sure you have not only taken care of your costumes but also
taken care of everything costume related. Have your flags ordered by July 20th and
make sure your shoes and tights order is in by August 17th. Your color guard and/or
dance team moms and students are going to love how organized you are and that
everything is ready to go for your first exciting performance. You’ll be much more at
ease and able to enjoy the success and achievement of your students!