The massive Halloween costume stores started to pop up all around New York late September. I was looking for some quick item for a show I was designing so I decided to just pop into a few to see if I could grab the item. While combing the racks and racks of bagged costumes I started to form a question that began to bother me greatly. 

If a costume company is selling a character's costume from a well known tv show or movie, does the costume designer for that production get paid/recognition? (ie: There were about four or five different costumes for Eleven from Stranger Things and all I could think of: "Are the designers getting paid for her deign work for each of these being sold?")

My first stop was to figure out if designs for movies and tv shows had any legal protection. Here are a few things I found:

• "In general, there is no copyright protection for the shape of clothing, and that includes many costumes. In copyright law, “useful articles” don’t get copyright protection because they are considered functional, rather than aesthetic. This means nobody can own a copyright in something like the shape of an automobile or a television set". -The Reeves Law Group
• "In a 1989 case, a court of appeals refused to protect costume designs even though the company had registered its costumes as "soft sculptures" with the Copyright Office."..."There may be instances where a movie company that owns a series such as Indiana Jones could complain that your costume sale -- for example, hat, jacket and whip -- could violate trademark laws if you used the name of the character in your advertising. -Dear Rich
• "...how can something (like clothing) that is not itself eligible for copyright protection be an infringing derivative work? However, a very similar argument was made in the Batmobile case, where the defendant was making and selling actual cars, and the court rejected it, reasoning that the Batmobile was under copyright and therefore cars that looked like the Batmobile were copyright infringement. The same would presumably go for costumes." -Knowmad Law

​From what I could find, even if the character is copyrighted or trademarked, the clothing they are wearing can not be. The patterns or artwork on them could potentially be, but the clothing itself can't. 
I also looked if I could find any information about if designers are involved in the creation of these bagged Halloween costumes of their costume designs. I couldn't find any information. I would be interested in learning what happens once a costume has been filmed; what rights do a costume designer have to any Halloween costumes of their designs. 
Something that did come up in my research was collaborations between costume designers and merchandising and/or the lack-there-of. The Hollywood Reporter has an article from 2016 speaking with a few costume designers about merchandising fashion linked with the shows they designed for. It answered a few questions and just piled more in their places. 
So, for now it seems like designers don't collaborate on the Halloween costumes of their designs that you can buy at these mega Halloween stores. If you want to be your favorite character from a tv or movie I would suggest learning about the designer a little, gathering photos, and thrift the items or looking in your own closet to pull together the look for the character. It is fun, eco-friendly, and maybe in some way a nod to the designers who created these looks to begin with. 
This may be my hot take. What do you think? 

I have written about eco friendly and green theatre practices twice before: See here and here.
Whenever I find something clothing related that can help our planet I want to share!

I have recently been diving deep into the UK television programming and have come across a show called "Second Chance Dress". The premise of the show is a bride is looking for her wedding dress and is given the choice of three other women's used bridal dresses. This is fun television and it is GREEN! Buying second hand dresses and even re-purposing second hand dresses (premise of a TLC show "Something Borrowed, Something New") is a great way to keep good quality cloth and clothing out of landfills. So many companies in the fashion industry burn last season's clothing/scraps/unsold pieces as opposed to donating or selling items, that it is a great practice to buy high quality, sustainable sourced fashion, or vintage/consignment/thrift. I understand some in theatre/film/television need to use fast fashion in their designs (I do sometimes) but, if you can re-purpose pieces in designs or everyday life, try to incorporate the practice.

I am so happy to see a show (even if it's not their main objective) that is shedding light on reusing fashion.