Costume firm gets a leg-up with Halloween

Los Angeles: Melody and Amy Tsai help run Leg Avenue, their family's costume and lingerie business in the City of Industry that had $87 million (Dh320 million) in sales last year.

Amy, 42, is in charge of merchandising, while her sister Melody, 30, leads the creative team that designs hundreds of Halloween costumes, including cute bumblebee, sassy sheriff and sexy zombie.

Originally from Taiwan, the Tsai family immigrated to Southern California in 1984 in search of financial stability. They started out buying cheap toys, hosiery and other odds and ends in downtown Los Angeles and reselling the goods at swap meets and flea markets. It was a family effort, with Amy helping out and Melody tagging along.

Unique products

"I remember when I was two or three," Melody said, "as soon as we set up the tables at the swap meets, my mum would cut open a box, throw some blankets in there and I'd go to sleep. That was our weekend."

First came the stockings: Tired of competing solely on price, Amy pushed the family to create unique products that would sell at higher markups. Their first success: thigh-high stockings with biker zippers sewn up the back, for about $8 a pair. That was followed by other stocking variations.

On the advice of a customer, Amy went to a Halloween trade show in 1996 and took along samples of the family's multicoloured fishnet stockings. They were a big hit with vendors.

"At that point, I didn't even know what Halloween was," Amy said. "But I went back home and told my dad: ‘Wow, Halloween. One day a year. People buy a lot.'" Leg Avenue then began adapting for Halloween the risque, role-play outfits they were already producing.

— Los Angeles Times