Editor’s Note: Graftobian Make-Up Company was one of eight NCA Vendor Members who have supported the association’s Help Halloween Happen campaign. In this Q&A with NCA Executive Director Ed Avis, Graftobian President Eric Coffman discusses the company’s views on the upcoming Halloween season.
Ed Avis: We’re grateful for Graftobian’s support of the Help Halloween Happen campaign, Eric. Hopefully the campaign will increase sales for all of our members. What has been selling well for Graftobian this Halloween season?
Eric Coffman: The FX kind of stuff, blood and guts, has been the leading thing for us all year long as far as costume shops. All the bloods we make, from powder to gel to paste to stage blood, have been selling well. We’ve also seen jumps in make-up for bumps and bruises and severe trauma kits. This is a year-around product line -- I think it’s safe for costume shops to buy these products because customers buy them all year, not just at Halloween.
Avis: Those kinds of products are used by characters in haunted houses during this time of year. How do you think that business will be, given the COVID crisis?
Coffman: There are still going to be haunted houses this year, though I would expect activity will be down 50 percent or more. But on the other hand, people who have been staying home want to learn how to do something, and that could include face painting or using make-up to create bumps and bruises. That’s one reason supplies for face painting are still doing well this year. It’s something people can grab a hold of and learn at home. There’s also the fantasy category – hairspray, color and glitter, all the stuff that fulfills people’s fantasies – those are still selling well.
I get on web sites about FX makeup and see people posting pictures of a disjointed finger or a compound fracture and they ask, “How did I do?” and they get feedback from other people. There’s a lot of support out there among people watching other peoples’ creativity blooming. That’s why these particular things are selling, because they’re not terribly complicated. When it comes to an injury there is really no wrong way to do it!
Avis: Speaking of make-up, do you have advice for shops selling make-up during COVID?
Coffman: I had a costume shop for 13 years. If I still had that shop, I would allow people to touch the trial make-up, but only after I had scooped up a bit of it with a clean, sanitized scooping tool and placed it on a piece of palette paper. That way you can give them a daub of this or that so they can get a feel for how it functions. Then they can just put the piece of palette paper in the trash. In fact, we’re having some special palette paper made into small pads that would be perfect for that. We’ll announce it on our web site.
Avis: Does Graftobian have any other new products on the market?
Coffman: When COVID came out we started a sanitizing line. We created a sanitizing spray and a hand sanitizer, and we already had our brush cleaner. That became our sanitizing trio.
Avis: Thank you, Eric. Happy Halloween!
Eric Coffman
1-800-255-0584
1-608-222-7849
Did you enjoy this article? If so, please support the NCA! Membership also includes benefits ranging from discounts to education to networking. Click here for details.