We pulled our sales data from January through mid-June to see which costume styles were actually moving so far this year. Some results confirmed what we expected. Others didn’t. Chef costumes, it turns out, are having a moment that we couldn’t have predicted. This post covers our top performers, what’s driving each category, and what the numbers suggest heading into the fall. If you’re planning ahead for Halloween or just curious about what’s popular right now, this is where to start.
Chef Costumes Came Out of Nowhere
No costume style sold more units in the first half of 2026 than our Chef RamsMe Costume. That isn’t something we expected to when we came out of Halloween in 2025. Chef costumes have never been a top-tier performer for us, but the first half of this year seems to have shifted that. The style has a lot working in its favor: it’s immediately recognizable without requiring much coordination, layers cleanly over a base outfit, and reads across a wide range of body types. The more likely driver is the continued cultural elevation of food and cooking as entertainment. Celebrity chef culture, cooking competition programming, and high-profile restaurant personalities have kept the profession front of mind in a way that eventually shows up in costume demand. It took a few years, but here we are.
Star Wars Peaks in May, Not October
Our top-selling Star Wars-inspired costume through mid-June outsold styles from any of the newer movie releases in the last five years, which says something consistent about how this franchise translates into costume retail. The visual recognition is strong enough that it holds up across years, not just release cycles. Three separate styles in this category sold consistently in the first half of the year, and the peak wasn’t where you’d expect it. April and May drove the strongest numbers, not the October window that accounts for most costume retail volume. May the 4th is likely the reason for this lift. This annual Star Wars cultural moment has become a genuine shopping occasion, one that moves costume inventory in a way most single-day cultural events don’t. Convention attendance, themed parties, and couples costume planning keep this category active year-round in a way most others aren’t. Browse the full Star Wars costume styles collection if you’re planning ahead.
The Cop Costume That Keeps Selling
Police officer styles are perennial in costume retail for a reason: they’re immediately understood, work across a wide range of occasions, and don’t require accessories to land. The Bad Cop Babe Costume was our top individual performer in this category, posting more units than any single nurse or maid SKU. That said, the French maid category outperformed when you count across all its styles, which points to the same principle: recognizable, occasion-flexible, and easy to pull off.
School Uniform Style Is a Stronger Seller Than Expected
Our third-ranked costume by units through mid-June is a school uniform style, which placed ahead of several categories that would have seemed safer bets at the start of the year. The consistent appeal isn’t hard to explain once you see it in the data. School uniform styling crosses over between standard costume shoppers and cosplay communities in a way that most other costume categories don’t, which broadens the demand base beyond the traditional Halloween window. It’s also a style that tends to travel well in terms of sizing and fit variation, which reduces friction at the purchase decision.
Cheerleader Costumes Are Climbing
Cheerleader styles didn’t crack the top tier by units in the first half, but the direction of travel is worth noting heading into summer. The category showed consistent sell-through and is getting real cultural lift right now. Cheerleader costume demand historically builds through late summer as Halloween planning starts in earnest. Our cheerleader costumes collection covers the full range of styles if you want to get ahead of it.
Our Fall Prediction: Chun-Li
If we had to pick one costume style to watch heading into Halloween, it’s this one. The Chun-Li Street Fighter Battle Costume posted solid first-half sales, but the more telling signal is the product page traffic. A lot of people are looking at it. That gap between views and purchases usually means one of two things: people are saving it for later, or they’re still deciding. Either way, the interest is there in a way that tends to convert when a cultural moment catches up to it. Gaming is having a sustained cultural moment that shows no signs of slowing, Street Fighter has been having a visibility resurgence, and Chun-Li is one of the most recognizable characters in the franchise. Our guess is this one looks very different in the year-end recap.
The first half of the year tells one story. The Halloween window tells another, and that’s where the data gets more interesting. If you’re shopping now, our full costume collection is a good place to start. Check back at the end of the year for the complete 2026 recap, including whether the Chun-Li prediction held up.