Is Cosplay Really That Expensive? Let's Find Out

As a cosplayer, at some point, you probably have asked yourself, "Is cosplaying too expensive?" Or perhaps, you would had enough of this hobby destroying your bank account?

Before deciding if your hobby is too expensive, or not, read the article first!

- About how cosplaying can definitely break your wallet and even your financial life if you’re not careful

- But cosplaying is also CHEAPER than you think

- This is how to NOT make the cosplay too expensive for you

WHY IS COSPLAY SO EXPENSIVE?

If all your newest costumes are custom-made of Worbla and embroidery, you’ll probably run out of money fast! Let’s face it – cosplaying can be a really expensive hobby. How so?

1. Many Decent Costumes Will Run You Over $100

The most elaborate ones can be hundreds if not thousands of dollars. While some easy-to-make costumes like sports Anime can be dirt cheap, others not so much. For example, once you start looking into characters that require expensive materials (e.g. Worbla, embroidery), you’re spending a good portion of your paycheque!

It’s like playing a gacha game. You can easily go from free-to-play to spending like a whale!

2. Most Cosplays Have a Short Lifespan to Make or Buy New Costumes

There’s nothing wrong with cosplaying trendy characters. After all, you get the most engagement with your followers and fans during this period if you can cosplay at peak hype! The problem is that it’s also the most expensive time to do this.

If you’re buying the latest and greatest costume, you’re usually paying full price because it’s brand new. And unless you’re very skilled at sewing and crafting, you’ll be spending a lot of time getting that new popular character made as soon as possible, which also adds extra costs.

3. Not Being Careful with Your Spending

Like many hobbies in this world, it’s easy to go overboard with your cosplay spending. When you see professional cosplayers in their beautiful and elaborate outfits/dresses, you just wanna look exactly like them, no matter how much money you need to spend.

And this is how you go broke! I’ve seen cosplayers going into huge debt which is unfortunate. It goes without saying, but your necessities (e.g. food, rent, bills) always come first before cosplaying.

4. TIME = MONEY

Of course, if you enjoy seeing and crafting, then there’s no issue. But unlike other hobbies such as playing video games or watching Netflix, getting good at cosplay-related skills like sewing takes years to get good at. So time is a huge expense when you’re costume-making.

Some get burnt out from the mistakes and frustration, making you wonder if it’s worth the journey. Cosplay-making in itself is a demanding hobby. It requires practice, concentration, a ton of tutorials and in this context of this article, TIME.

HOW COSPLAY IS CHEAPER THAN YOU THINK

You can literally take clothes out of your closet and make a cosplay for cheap! Now let’s talk about why cosplaying doesn’t have to be expensive.

1. Trying Cosplay Characters That Are Out of Their Budget

For example, cosplaying a Pokémon Trainer is going to be waaay cheaper than going all out with a Zelda dress with full embroidery.

Being financially responsible is definitely important, especially with cosplay. Like for me, I make a decent income but I still prefer not to go overboard in spending money on cosplay. And fortunately, I know most cosplayers who are the same; they try to be reasonable and not spend too much.

2. Spend Less on a Costume Doesn't Mean the Quality is Bad

Not at all. You can look amazing as a Pokémon Trainer, especially if you have nice detailing and the costume fits you well.

On the same token, you can look terrible in a Zelda dress if it doesn’t fit you well (i.e. too small or too big). Or the dress is made of cheap material that’s not meant for a dress. So more money doesn’t necessarily mean good!

3. The Closet is Your Friend!

There are literally characters you can cosplay using stuff that’s inside your closet! Some of these characters can be as cheap as $10! Check out my closet article for more ideas. But in general, you can go for characters with casual clothing such as Pokémon, Steven Universe and Dragon Ball Z.

As mentioned in the previous point though, I don’t recommend trying to use cheaper materials for things that should use higher quality (e.g. cardboard, shiny reflective fabric). It’ll just look bad and tacky in my opinion. It’s better to pick a character that’s easily done with cheaper materials, than to go for a character that you know requires expensive stuff.

4. No Need to Buy New Costume from a Fancy Cosplay Website

I’m sure if you keep buying costumes from cosplay stores all the time, you’d definitely be broke! There are many other ways to obtain new cosplays, such as buying used costumes, buying/selling costumes off Facebook, reusing and recycling parts of your costumes, borrowing costumes and more!

Also, you don’t have to cosplay brand new characters all the time. Many cosplay stores have a clearance section to get rid of their overstock on costumes that were popular but not anymore. I.E. the post-cosplay hype characters.

SUMMARY - IS COSPLAY EXPENSIVE?

YES, BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE! Just like many hobbies (e.g. rock climbing, Netflix binging, cooking), you’re going to have to spend some sort of money to take part in it. And cosplaying is definitely no exception to that.

Just like you don’t have to buy a Lamborghini or Ferrari to be a car hobbyist, you don’t need to go all out with Worbla armor to be a hobby cosplayer.