As soon as Chad Horstman saw the YouTube video of a rat dragging a slice of pizza in the New York City subway, he knew it should be a Halloween costume. "It was just so obvious," says Horstman, 37, founder of the online lingerie and costume store Yandy.com. "We try to make things that people are going to instantly recognize," he says. "With viral videos, it's pretty easy." Yandy expects $1 million in costume sales this year, about 30 percent of which will come from "trend" costumes-outfits relevant only in 2015. Many are made by third-party manufacturers in China, but Yandy also produces its own brand in the U.S., so it can jump on new ideas quickly. It was late September when the pizza rat hit, so Horstman had his Los Angeles factory attach pizza pockets to a preexisting sexy mouse costume; two weeks later, the $90 Sexy Pizza Rat went on sale on the site.
展开▼
