If you’re looking for the next breakthrough startup, the costuming and cosplay community may be your best target. Across the developed world the Cosplay trend is alive, well and flourishing. Whole communities are popping up dedicated to the art of portraying one’s favourite characters at events like Comic Cons or, at halloween parties or, you know, just for the heck of it.
Within the entertainment industry the trend has not gone unnoticed, who among us has failed to see someone daughter dressed up as a Disney princess, or a teenager dressed up as Harley Quinn.
Merchandizing is pouring into stores with many shopping chains such as Spencers, now making a healthy living off of the trend.
There are also serious careers to be had. In California, the Cinema Makeup School has a rigorous academic program dedicated to placing costuming and makeup artists with Hollywood Studios and elsewhere, more mainstream colleges and universities are following suit.
Yet the Cosplay community is very poorly served. A few apps and photo sharing sites exists; however, no one has developed a business solution that will allow that community to properly express themselves and communicate online.
There exists an almost endless amount of content that can be curated. For the entrepreneurs that end up channeling all of this passion, there may be a wealth of riches to be had.
One idea that has emerged in several corners is to create a buy and sell app that would allow cosplayers to search for missing pieces of costumes they may be working on. Others would no doubt seek to target photo sharing; however, the cosplay community is notoriously protective of their digital images, so any attempt there may have to be conscious of the legal limits.
Across the internet, “How To” and Do It Yourself (DIY) guides sites are popping up, along with calendars of events, get together s and communities for real-life costumed role-playing (Yes, that’s a thing).
No one has, as yet, found the magic bullet necessary to combine all of these functions into an app or community site that will serve the cosplay community properly.
What seems to be missing is a consciousness as to just how large the community is. Comic-Con style events now exist in all 50 states, with many part of the U.S. hosting hundreds of events, centring on everything from comics, horror, sci-fi and fantasy, to gaming or even very specific franchises, like Star Trek, Star Wars or even Xena Warrior Princess.
How can a community so large have gone so long without its own popular App, when we already have Apps for doggy play dates, finding cup cakes, or even Star Trek community dating?
This is the golden age of Cosplay, even in the vast majority of silicon valley types don’t know it yet.
One gets the feeling that its only a matter of time. When that App finally arrives, someone in Silicon Valley is going to be very very rich.