Introducing the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of fancy dress and accessories.
Rubie’s was founded in 1951 in Queens, New York, by Rubin and Tillie Beige who ran the neighbourhood candy store selling newspapers, comic books and novelty items. Initially intended as a temporary means of support for his family, Rubin Beige, or ‘Rubie’ bought the run-down store with his army savings of $500 after returning from World War II. He is remembered as saying “nothing in this world is so permanent as a temporary solution” and a by the end of the decade had begun to experiment with new ideas such as introducing a line of novelty hats. He had renamed the shop ‘Rubie’s Fun House’.
As local drama teachers began patronising the Fun House, the store’s reputation grew and with each year came new and stranger requests that Rubie strove to fulfil by adding new lines of merchandise. By the end of ‘60s Rubie’s Fun House stocked everything from moustaches, wigs, more hats and canes to parasols, gloves, ties, spats, belts and even rubber chickens. The store’s popularity, especially at Halloween, ensured the shop became a permanent fixture for decades to come.
By 1990 Rubie’s Costume Company Inc. was an established fancy dress manufacturer. The company signed its first license with Paramount Pictures for a range of Star Trek costumes, and since then has continued to develop into the world’s leading licensed costume manufacturer with huge brands such as Batman, Superman, Star Wars, Frozen, Harry Potter, Power Rangers, Disney Princess and many more in its catalogue, working with all the key licensors and film studios here in the UK, North America and around the world.
Rubie’s opened a UK operation in November 1996 as a new UK Limited company based in Liverpool, where product docked en route from New York. In a short time it grew to become the largest UK supplier for costumes and accessories within the party industry. With its current UK headquarters in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, Rubie’s Masquerade Co., UK Ltd. employs over a hundred people across the business, with a network of sales agents covering the whole of the UK to represent Rubie’s to independent toy and party customers as well as key retailers such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, George at Asda, Toys ‘R’ Us, Argos and Hamley’s, to name a few.
Rubie’s is now the world’s largest designer, manufacturer and distributor of fancy dress costumes and accessories with various Rubie’s offices around the globe. The company has won, or been nominated for all the iconic industry awards, including several Licensing Awards, Toy Industry Awards and ‘Costume Company of the Year’ over the last 5 years. It is the leading light in character costumes here in the UK, throughout Europe and the Middle East and is still run by the Beige family from New York, making it a family-run business for over 60 years.
Rubie’s offers an extensive line of products that inspires the imagination with great costumes and accessories for all ages from everyday dressing-up and kids’ playtime to myriad special occasions; Halloween parties, festivals, charity events, movie launches, sporting occasions and fan conventions to World Book Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Christmas and beyond.