Hellin Kay
Photo: Courtesy of Yandy.com
Sexy Halloween costumes have been mocked, analyzed, bemoaned and bought with equal amounts of vigor every Halloween for the past decade or so, but whether or not you choose to partake, the question remains—Who thinks of this stuff? Since 2006, the answer to that question has been Chad Horstman, the CEO of Yandy.com, the oft-maligned progenitor of over 3000 "sexy" Halloween costumes including Sexy Big Bird, Sexy Corn, Sexy Chinese Take-Out, and this year—Sexy Pizza (the most popular costume based on Facebook likes). We spoke with Chad about the creative process, the costume concept he won't touch, and the Miley Cyrus phenomenon:
When does the brainstorming for Halloween start?
It's pretty much year round. This year I was in Nebraska looking at the cornfields, surrounded by Cornhuskers fans, and I thought, for the midwest girl, a sexy corn costume would do well. We keep an ongoing list of ideas and we make at least a sample of almost all of them, and then narrow it down from there. We'll try it on a model, show it to the girls here in the office and in customer service and decide if we want to go forward.
Hellin Kay
Photo: Courtesy of Yandy.com
So what are you looking for at that stage?
It has to look flattering and we have to think girls are actually going to want to wear it, or it has to be really funny. Usually when we come up with ideas, there are very few that we don't wind up producing. It's never too ridiculous to be a sexy costume. There are the standard sexy costumes, like a French maid, there are the scary ones, but we also want something unique and different that will make you stand out, win the costume contest, something not everyone is going to have. Ours are all limited editions, so there won't be that many of them out there.
What kind of research do you do? Are you looking for trends, cultural moments, what?
We stay abreast of trends and news, but lots of times we just get lucky. This year we had a sexy killer whale, which we debated back and forth whether to make it or not. Not a lot of girls want to say they're a whale on Halloween. But it was really cute, we produced it, and then just last week, there was a big documentary, Blackfish, on CNN. Last year we paired a Big Bird mask with a yellow dress for our sexy Big Bird costume, and we got a lot of press because of Romney. A lot of it is pure luck.
Hellin Kay
Photo: Courtesy of Yandy.com
How fast can you get a topical costume like Miley into production when something breaks right before Halloween?
Two weeks. We make everything in the USA, and our prices are a little higher for that, but the quality is better, and those are often the more relevant costumes, so it's worth it. This year, we took a Beetlejuice outfit we already make and paired it with a nude bikini, which was just a new color of a bikini we already had.
When you create a "sexy" costume, are you trying to appeal to men or to women? Whose head are you trying to get into?
A certain type of woman. Someone confident, who wants to stand out and look good. But it's definitely a girl with a sense of humor, as it would have to be to go as sexy pizza. Our first exclusive four years ago was a series of furry animals, those were just really cool and kind of luxurious. It fit right in with the rave scene that was coming out at the time. That's a different girl, someone out of college who can afford something a little more expensive.
Hellin Kay
Photo: Courtesy of Yandy.com
Is there anything you WON'T make into a costume?
We don't do nuns and we don't do priests. I'm kind of religious, believe it or not, and I won't cross that line. We don't want to offend anyone, and if you look there's actually no nudity on the site, and we do try to keep it to a certain level. Almost every site sells that [nun and priest costume], but I think its kind of offensive and weird. We don't sell any religious costumes; I wouldn't do a rabbi either. We do sexy Santa, but he's fair game.
What's your personal favorite this year?
Probably the pizza. Although the french fries, I feel like it didn't get enough attention. Jon Stewart might love pizza, but I like french fries more. The hamburger last year did well, so that's why we did the fries this year. Sometimes we try to create groups of costumes. The troll costumes were designed with that in mind, and our whole group of underwater creatures. Girls often go in groups and want to match in some way.
Hellin Kay
Photo: Courtesy of Yandy.com
What are the elements that make a hit costume?
I think all of our sexy costumes, aesthetically, they have short skirts, most of them are tight-fitting. Our hit costumes are usually ones that people would never think to touch in reality. Sexy pizza, sexy watermelon, they're funny and weird in concept but also sexy at the same time. The watermelon is pink, and actually really cute—one girl will say it's ridiculous, but the next girl will say, I'm buying it.
Yandy.com has always been an online-only business, but what's the impact of the internet on your company? Do you try to create costumes that go viral?
I think we always have that in the back of our mind now that it's happened a bunch of times. That's why almost nothing is off-limits. When something goes viral it definitely helps with the sales. It gets our brand out there in a big way.
Hellin Kay
Photo: Courtesy of Yandy.com
So how did you get into the business of making sexy Halloween costumes?
I always wanted to start my own business. My brother Evan and I started the site thinking lingerie would be a popular thing to buy online because it's private, and people would be happier shopping that way. The first year we carried Halloween costumes made by lingerie designers, and we were just there at the right moment to fill that niche. Guys just throw something together, but girls really want to look good, they give it some thought. A lot of people make fun of our costumes, but we're designing things that we want to be funny. We know it's ridiculous, and the girl that buys it knows that we know. They want something funny. 70 percent of our business is actually in lingerie, so for people to be like "why do they sell sexy this, sexy that"—that's our core business. It's right for us.
Do you think there will ever be a point when we hit maximum sexy on the Halloween costume front?
The costumes aren't getting sexier as such. If anything, we're trying to make them fit better and have better coverage so girls feel more comfortable. We're adding inches to the skirts. In terms of concept, we are definitely starting to run out of ideas—we've tried fruit, vegetables; those didn't do so well. A scuba diver could go visit the fish, I guess. At this point it gets harder to come up with ideas, so that's where the more news-relevant costume become bigger hits.
Hellin Kay
Photo: Courtesy of Yandy.com
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