The United States spends over $10 billion each Halloween. In 2023, it is estimated that Americans spent over $4 billion on costumes alone.
When you take a look at how expensive costumes can be, this figure makes a bit more sense.
Having multiple, low quality costumes for each Halloween has become the norm: An expensive endeavor that hurts one’s wallet and the environment.
Halloween, often referred to as “Halloweekend” on college campuses, is a highly anticipated event. People often attend multiple parties to celebrate, encouraging the need for multiple costumes.
One driving force behind this modern Halloween culture is social media.
Social media is the perfect place to show off your Halloween looks, but it is also a large motivator of costume decisions- especially on short-form, visual platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
Social media’s contributions to the fear of repetition make sense when considering its fast-paced nature. In order to prosper on these platforms, creators must be one step ahead, ready to show viewers something new.
There are countless accounts dedicated to costume ideas for individuals and groups of all sizes, providing pictures of the necessary pieces and even links for where to buy them.
Around the Halloween season, it is common to see trends of “rating my past costumes” and “my Halloween costume list.”
A costume set from Spirit Halloween is likely to run you $50-$60. This price becomes even more absurd when considering the poor quality materials.
Many of their costume pieces list polyester as the main material. Polyester is a synthetic polymer that is not biodegradable.
According to North Carolina State University, white cotton takes several months to break down, polyester never does.
Plastic-based materials like polyester are popular in fast fashion due to their low production cost.
It is these materials, plus a culture of overconsumption, that generate over 90 million tons of textile waste each year, according to the National Library of Medicine. The United States alone contributes around 11 million tons of waste, with the average consumer tossing out 81.5 lbs of clothes each year.
Even if the items are not thrown away, the mass production of fast fashion items like these costumes contributes to 10% of the world’s carbon emissions and 20% of global water pollution.
Though fast fashion may be cheaper than clothing from decades past, American consumers purchase five times more clothes than they did in 1980.
However, we can still find ways to celebrate Halloween and feel our best while reducing our environmental impact and spending.
- Focus on Accessories
Recognizable accessories, such as fairy wings or a witch hat, can be purchased and combined with pieces you already own. Plus, wearing something you already own provides an added level of comfort.
- Thrift
It may take a bit more time and creativity, but there are many costume pieces to be found and outfits to be created in thrift stores.
- Get Crafty
A lot of costumes can be made with just a few art supplies. Creativity is also an easy way to transform old or thrifted pieces into a new costume.
- Reuse Old Costumes
It seems simple, but reusing old costumes from years past, from yourself or a friend, is a good option to maximize the lifespan of purchases.
