One question that comes up often is to make or buy a cosplay. However there is another question that isn't talked about a lot, which is to make or buy a specific component. I'll cover both topics to get all the information in one place to hopefully help you make a decision on what works best for you.
The Golden Rule
There is a golden rule when it comes to buying nearly anything. That you can only pick two of the items above while sacrificing the third. Want something fast and cheap? Don't expect it to be good quality (normally pretty terrible). This also applies to buying a cosplay. Just keep this in mind as we discuss how you can buy your cosplay.
Should you buy your cosplay from a store?
There are several cosplay stores online that you can buy a cosplay from. Whether or not you should is dependent on a couple of things:
Are you planning to compete in a cosplay competition?
Are able to find a character that is offered by a few stores that you want to cosplay?
How soon do you need it?
First, if you are planning on competing in a cosplay competition, you cannot buy your cosplay. You can buy pieces so long as it doesn't make up a certain percentage of your overall cosplay. Each competition is different (so read the competition rules) but the number I see most often is about 80% must be made by you. Some competitions will allow you to do a skit even in a store bought cosplay, but craftsmanship judging cannot factor into your overall score. Keep this in mind especially if you are in a group skit as it will degrade the group's overall score. You may still be eligible for a "Best Performance" award, but if others in your group made their cosplay make sure to ask them if you buying your cosplay is ok with them. Cosplay is for making friendships, not destroying them (and it's just the polite thing to do).
Secondly, you want to be sure that you can find the character you are looking for from a few different shops. The main reason for this is so you can pick the best reviewed one. I generally see mostly cloth-based cosplays online, so if you are wanting armor cosplays and still want to buy, I suggest supporting someone in the community and commission that costume (more on this later). To help you get scammed, don't buy a cosplay online if they don't have ALL of these items:
An actual picture of the physical cosplay
A detailed sizing chart (minimum), ideally offers custom measurements
A good reputation
Let's put this into practice a bit. I'm going to choose a popular character so I can find it on a few cosplay online stores. We will pick League of Legends KDA Akali and for this exercise we will chose a little bigger than my size of (L). Since the character is so popular and the entire cosplay is cloth, we should be able to easily find it in a few places. Please note I have no experience with any of these retailers and I do not endorse any of these stores. This is just to show what are some of the things you should think about and look into before choosing a store.
- Put in Practice -
First up from our google search is ezcosplay.com. Right off the bat, they don't offer it in my size but they say they did. Here's how this retailer checks out from a little checklist of things I think are important:
Price: $ 95.99 Pieces NOT included in price: Shoes, Wig (available for additional cost)
Picture of physical cosplay: Yes Multiple pictures of cosplay: No, 1 picture Available in size: No Includes all pieces: No
Has size guide: Yes (hard to find) Offers tailoring: Yes
Overall review scores: 2 / 5
General review comments:
+ seems good for wig purchases + other accessories are generally "okay"
- shipping takes a long time (normal if coming from China)
- tailoring option does not follow measurements given
- difficult/impossible to get a refund - quality in image is not accurate
- price doesn't include shipping (normal)
I would not chose this store for this cosplay. Too many bad reviews that show that it's impossible to get a refund when they mess up the measurements makes me want to stay away. They seem to be ok for accessory pieces though such as wigs and props. The prop claim seems to be a little "iffy" to me though, purchase props with caution.
Next up is procosplay.com. We will now see how this one stacks up based on the same criteria as before.
Price: $ 75.00 Pieces NOT included in price: Shoes, Wig (available for additional cost)
Picture of physical cosplay: Yes Multiple pictures of cosplay: Yes
Available in size: Yes Includes all pieces: No
Has size guide: Yes Offers tailoring: No (Ready Ship Only)
Overall review scores: 2.5 to 3 / 5
General review comments:
+ better general reviews
- variable results, some the quality is pretty good for pre-made (results varied)
- shipping takes a long time (normal to take 2 months to arrive)
- sizing chart is not accurate with the final product
- difficult/impossible to get a refund - price doesn't include shipping (normal)
This one would be a bit of a risk. Its pretty standard to hear horror stories online of retailers, but looking at other reviews that had actual pictures or video the quality seemed mediocre but par for the course in this price range. If I chose this one, I would need to understand that there is still some risk.
Last up in this exercise will be miccostumes.com. You know the drill, so here we go.
Price: $ 72.99 Pieces NOT included in price: Shoes, Wig (wig available for add'l cost)
Picture of physical cosplay: Yes Multiple pictures of cosplay: Yes (none of back without the weird lighting)
Available in size: Tailoring only Includes all pieces: No
Has size guide: Yes Offers tailoring: Yes, made to order
Overall review scores: 3 / 5
General review comments:
+ better general reviews + quality was praised by many people
- shipping takes a long time (normal to take 2 months to arrive)
- many reports of cosplay never arriving (> 6 months)
- longer than usual time to receive (avg 3 months)
- price doesn't include shipping (normal)
I would be willing to try this retailer at least. I would order the cosplay 6 months in advance though, that way if I needed to open a Paypal dispute then I could. There seems to be enough positive reviews to make it less of a risk than the others.
Ok, so the last item to talk about is how soon you need the cosplay. As you can see our little exercise that many of these stores take a long time to arrive. On average about 3 months to come from China and some even longer if it is made to order. You may be able to find a seller from your home country on something like ebay but 99.9% of all of these ready-made costumes come from China so plan accordingly. It also might be worth it to add in extra time so you can perform some alterations yourself to make it fit better (if it's too big). Good tailoring can help the cosplay look better on you, but keep in mind they generally use cheaper materials.
Should you commission your cosplay?
"Commissioning" a cosplay means hiring a free-lance costume/cosplay maker to make your cosplay for you. I won't spend too much time on this as many of the same principles apply as purchasing from a store. There are some key differences though that should be discussed.
They don't have these costumes ready-made but it is a much more personal experience. You need to email them with reference pictures for a quote.
Commissioners are generally scheduled out in advance, so you need more "lead time" before the cosplay needs to be delivered.
More expensive than store bought, but reputable commissioners will produce a much higher quality cosplay.
"Flexible" pricing (more on this below)
Partial payment up-front along with milestone payments expected
You still can't compete in craftsmanship competitions with these cosplays...don't try to, you will be caught.
So first difference is that these costumes are all made to order. This means that the process can be longer than the store bought variants but it will fit you better (if you measure correctly). Additionally, what I mean by a more personal experience is they will generally email you picture updates so you can see the cosplay progress. I like this aspect a lot since if there is a problem, you can address it before it ever reaches you.
Secondly, many commissioners are already booked out far in advance. I mean like months before they can even start your project. Most will give estimates on when a cosplay ordered today would be able to be completed. For example, the last good commissioner I worked with (horror story will be posted eventually of the bad one), took my order in October with an expected delivery date of February. So plan accordingly and make sure a commissioner can make the deadline. I like to add at least an extra month in there just in case. Commissioners are people too and life happens, so save yourself some heartache and just plan for it. The worst that could happen is you get your cosplay early (gasp)!
Next, they are almost always more expensive than store bought cosplays. Good materials cost money and you are also paying for an experts time to make it. This doesn't mean that the most expensive commissioner will produce the best cosplay, but quality and skill does cost money.
Some commissioners offer some "flexible" pricing options. Normally they will detail out what this means but generally by choosing a less detailed option or cheaper materials can save a little bit of money. Not all commissioners offer this since they want to make sure you are happy with the end product.
Last part is you should expect to pay a deposit up front. This isn't the total cost of the cosplay, normally just a percentage. This protects the commissioners from customers who try to scam them and saves their valuable time. Also pretty normal to have "milestone" payments during the construction process. This helps the commissioner purchase needed materials and counts towards the final total. At the end, before it is shipped you will be expected to pay the remaining cost.
When in doubt, reach out. If you fall on hard times and are unable to make a payment, contact your commissioner as soon as you know! Many are willing to work with you either on partial payments or to work out a new completion date. This does mean that your project will be put "on-hold" until payments resume, however you are still expected to pay for the work that has already been completed!
- How to find a good commissioner? -
You will have to do some digging to find a commissioner, but I do see that many have moved on to Etsy. Back in the day you could find commissioner threads in forums like on cosplay.com but they don't seem to be as active as before. Here are some of the general things that I recommend for finding a good commissioner:
They have a portfolio with previously completed projects.
They have verified buyer reviews
They are "busy"
Be careful about the portfolios, some scammers online will steal other people's work and claim it as their own. This is why I generally stick to places like Etsy since the reviewers help weed these people out. Don't trust Facebook Marketplace as it is too easy to get bots to post fake reviews.
Speaking of fake reviews, make sure you can validate the reviews in some way. On Etsy, only people who have purchased an item can leave a review. This is super important! Forums use to be able to do the same thing where people would warn others about scam artists. Only issue is if the scammer changes their name then they have a "clean slate".
Last I look for people who are busy. This generally means they are in high-demand which is valuable on its own. If someone is just starting out though, they may be less busy since they haven't had time to build up a customer base yet. It's not a negative if they can take your commission right away as long as they have a solid portfolio and a decent number of verified reviews. Also, people with a lot of experience doing commissions are generally more accurate in their time estimations. Just another thing to consider.
Can you buy just a component of your cosplay?
1000 x yes! Don't think you need to make every single piece of your cosplay. This is what I have the most experience in personally and I routinely will buy specific pieces from a store and, depending on the cosplay, I will commission the wig. The only big thing to consider here is that 80% rule if you plan to compete. Master-class is a different beast though where it is expected that you make everything. If a piece is exactly what I need and I can buy it, I normally do unless I feel like making it.
Perfect example is my kanzashi or hair ornaments from my Okami cosplay. Since I lived in Japan for a few years I could find tons of these available at reasonable prices. Now there are kanzashi makers out there (like this one from Clover) so I could have made it. However, since I made over 80% of my total costume I could compete with some store-bought pieces. Make sure when you are in your craftsmanship judging to disclose any store-bought pieces. It helps the judges make the best decision on who to give the awards to.
Cosplay community views toward buying cosplays
Cosplay is about having fun! However, it wouldn't be a complete discussion without talking about the general perception about buying cosplays. Most cosplayers that I talked to say that they have no issues with people buying their cosplays since the whole point of cosplay is expressing your love of a character. However, there are some people who believe that cosplay is about making the costume yourself and that buying a cosplay is "not real cosplay". IGNORE THESE PEOPLE! They represent an extreme minority in the overall community and their views should not dissuade you from cosplaying. The only place where it is unacceptable to buy your cosplay is in craftsmanship cosplay judging.
Cosplay is for everyone and that includes people who buy their cosplay.
Now these are my views and experience in talking with other cosplayers. I have been cosplaying for so long (+14 years) and this has always been the predominate view. Cosplay is for everyone and that includes people who would rather buy than make their costume.
That being said, I do recommend at least giving it a try to make your own cosplay at some point. I personally find it very rewarding to make something with my own hands but everyone is different.
Wow that was a lot! Hopefully this will help anyone out who is considering buying anything for their cosplay. If you have any suggestions on what you would like me to cover, send me an email! I'd love to hear from you.
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