Hi Melinda,
We don't always have the budget to rent, but here are two of the best companies with whom I've worked:
The Costumer out of New York: Great selection and customer service. They are QUALITY items of clothing that are well-made for the various time periods we've needed. For our productions of Bright Star and ...Mille, they had great stuff from the 1920s-40s and gorgeous Renaissance and fairy-tale costumes for our Shakespeare shows and our production of R&H's Cinderella.
They can be a bit on the expensive side and shipping to our rural high school was a major expense (almost $700 round trip!). However, their service and quality are amazing! They contacted me several times to quadruple-check our sizes (some of our kids are very hard to fit). For this year's show, the surprised us and sent the costumes a week early and didn't charge us an extra fee.
We've also used Norcostco. I use their Atlanta facility but many of their items have come shipped from their main warehouse in Minnesota. Great selection and wonderful service as well.
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Josh Ruben, M. Ed.
Fine Arts Head
Northwest Whitfield HS (dba, The Northwest Theatre Co.)
Tunnel Hill, GA
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-12-2024 15:35
From: James Fry
Subject: Best Costumer
I am following this conversation as we are always looking for good costumers.
In the meantime, my assistant and I have begun making the costumes from scratch as a way to save some money and to ensure we are getting the look that we want. We have saved some money here, but it sometimes adds some stress to our respective plates.
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James Fry
Director of Student Life and the Malvern Theatre Society
Malvern, PA
Original Message:
Sent: 03-01-2024 18:07
From: Melinda Carlson
Subject: Best Costumer
Who is the best costumer you have used. We have used several across the country but I wanna make sure that whoever for this musical really understands the direction we are going because it's unique.
Thank you,
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Melinda Carlson
Music/Theater Director
VCHS
Edwards, CO
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