Getting ready for your next studio or school dance competition? As costume designers, we know it’s never too early to think about ordering your competition costumes!

Below, we’ve put together a quick timeline of the costume ordering process, which you can use to make sure your dancers receive their costumes well before competition day:

5 Months Before the Competition

Five months before your competition, you should:

• Decide on your costume concept (don’t hesitate to reach out to us for design inspiration and advice!).
• Begin sizing and measuring all your dancers.
• Reach out to a designer for quotes and ordering information.

4 Months Before the Competition

Four months before your competition, you should:

• Finish sizing and measuring your dancers (if needed).
• Collect deposits from each of your dancers (or, more likely, their parents).
• Place your order with your costume designer.

2 Months Before the Competition

Two months before your competition, you should:

• Collect any outstanding payments from your dancers.
• Receive your costumes from your designer.
• Distribute costumes to your dancers, noting any resizing or alterations that need to be taken care of.

1 Month Before the Competition

One month before your competition, you should:

• Take care of resizings and alterations as needed (either in-house or via a seamstress).
• Return altered costumes to your dancers.

And that’s it! If you follow the timeline above, you’ll receive your dancers’ costumes in plenty of time for your performance – and give yourself plenty of time to account for everything else that goes into a successful competition.

If you want to get started on your troupe’s costumes ASAP, be sure to reach out to us via our contact form. We’d love to start working on your school, studio, or team’s next costume!