Jazwares has detailed the formation of its Costume Play division, a new department that will focus on the development of licensed costumes for all ages to be led by the costume industry veteran, Stephen Stanley.
Under Stanley’s watch, the division will look to bring stylised features and innovation to the costumes sector, enabling fans to dress up as their favourite characters from across the pop culture and entertainment space. The division will produce costumes for fans of all ages.
Items within the portfolio will span dress-up trunks with outfits, masks, and role-play accessories for kids’ everyday costume play, as well as high-end cosplay outfits, masks, and accessories for comic conventions. The division will also develop pet costumes, seasonal Halloween items and treat carriers.
Jazwares’ first lineup of dress-up trunks and everyday costume play products will be available beginning Spring 2022, with all-new styles launching across retail channels for Halloween 2022, including hundreds of costumes, masks and other costume accessories featuring beloved characters from the Star Wars galaxy, the Marvel Multiverse, Spider-Man’s Spiderverse, and Squishmallows.
Costume industry veteran, Stanley will oversee the Costume Play team as General Manager. Stanley, a co-founder of the Halloween and Costume Association, has more than 20 years of costume business experience. He served previously as co-president of Disguise and was most recently managing director of the licensed costume business at Rubie’s Costume Company.
Reporting to Jazwares’ executive VP and partner Michael Rinzler, Stanley leads a team of costume industry executives. He is joined by divisional design lead Anthea Koveos Rodgers, who was previously head of costume design at both Disguise and Palamon.
The team will also consist of Halloween & Party senior sales director Michael Esposito, who was most recently national sales manager at Rubie’s; senior brand director Thomas Schilling, previously category manager at FunWorld and the Marvel and Star Wars brand manager at Rubie’s; and VP and general manager of Jazwares Costumes in China, Terry Ma, who joins the company from his previous role as general manager of Disguise China.
Rounding out the team are Angelina Castro as marketing director, Maxwell Lux as Senior Brand Manager, and Daniel Jung as Associate Brand Manager.
“As we continue to grow Jazwares’ offerings into new categories of play from pet toys to costumes, we are thrilled to launch a dedicated division for all things costume play,” said Rinzler. “Stephen has earned an incredible reputation as a leader in the Costume business and we are thrilled to welcome him and this tremendous team of industry experts into the Jazwares family.”
The Jazwares Costume Play team is supported by Jazwares executives across multiple areas, including global licensing, sales and planning, design, product management and development, and Jazwares China.
