About Us
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Charades Theatrical Costume Hire has been located in St Helens, Merseyside for over 30 years and has quickly established itself as one of the leading costume providers in the UK, supplying high quality theatrical costumes to over 100 productions a year.
We supply to both professional and amateur companies nationwide for Musicals, Plays, Operas, Gilbert & Sullivan, Pantomimes, Photo Shoots, Television and Film. With over 35,000 costumes for hundreds of shows, we can supply complete or part wardrobes for many popular professional and amateur shows.
The same level of service and attention to detail is applied to everything we do. The team at Charades are knowledgeable, enthusiastic and passionate about their craft and we can help with the selection, sizing and preparation of all your costume requirements. An unparalleled stock combined with a dedicated and enthusiastic staff, an attention to detail and competitive pricing makes Charades very hard to measure up to.
We take great pride in the cleanliness, fit and colour schemes of our costumes, and are happy to advise you, on full or part wardrobes. No order is too small ... or too large!
We are constantly adding to our range of shows and maintain our costumes to a very high standard. We supply complete costumes, fully accessorised, cleaned and sized to the measurements taken. Our costumes are charged at a basic rate but this does not include boots, shoes, wigs and some props. These items can be provided, however there is a small additional fee for this.
No size is impossible and no request is overlooked. We like to work closely with your director and wardrobe team so we are happy to meet with you at any time. We love to meet your cast and discuss the colours and cut that they prefer, to ensure that each performer is comfortable in the costume that we supply. For this reason we offer a measurement, delivery, fitting and collection service for a small additional fee.
95% of our costumes are manufactured on site with alterations or bespoke costumes accommodated. New wardrobes are constantly being updated to keep our range of costumes as fresh as possible.
Located in the North West of England between Manchester and Liverpool, Charades is ideally placed to despatch wardrobes to virtually anywhere in the UK. We have ample free car parking for vehicles of all sizes at the front our premises so if you choose to pick up your wardrobe then parking couldn't be easier.
So why not visit us at our new spatial premises located at Bold Business Centre, St Helens, and see how we can work with you to make your show a spectacular success.
Charades Theatrical Costume Hire optional extra add-on services
Come and meet us
At Charades we are happy to meet with your production team at any point to discuss your wardrobe requirements. Meetings take place at our store in St Helens where we can show you some of the garments for your particular production, while discussing your director's ideas over a complementary tea or coffee. Meetings usually take between 1-2 hours, and we do require 10 working days notice before you come and meet with us. For parties more than 4 persons, please let us know at the time of booking.
Before booking an appointment it may be useful to see our online diary to check the days and times that we are available to meet with you. Click here to see our diary
To make an appointment please contact us by telephone or email at the earliest convenience.
Measurement Service (optional / quote available on request)
At Charades we pride ourselves on excellent customer service and satisfaction. For this reason we offer a measurement service where two of our team will attend your rehearsal at a time and place convenient to you, and meet your cast. While measuring the cast it gives us a great opportunity to discuss the colour and fit that the performer feels comfortable in. We don't see this as 'fuss', if the performer feels comfortable they can focus on the important task, the show!
Once the measurements have been taken each performer's costumes are careful chosen from our extensive stock for its appropriate period, colour and cut, and then fitted to the performers size ensuring a great fit. The garments are then pressed and fully accessorised ready to leave us. Each performer will receive their costumes on hangers in a high quality zip up garment bag, ensuring that each costume arrives clean, safe and ready for the show. All you have to do is try it on!
Delivery / Fitting Service (optional / quote available on request)
For us, this is the most exciting part of the process!
We can deliver your wardrobe usually one week prior to your opening night at a venue, date and time chosen by you. The wardrobe, all neatly packed in the Charades van, will arrive in plenty of time before your costume call.
We do ask for a few willing pairs of hands at this point to help unload the garment bags into your venue.
Once all the garment bags are safely in the venue, the cast are free to try on their costumes in an order suggested by the director and wardrobe team.
Our team will advise the cast on how to wear and care for their costumes.
Most costumes that we supply fit great, but we occasionally may need to give a little tuck. This is where our fitting service steps in. Our specialists, on hand equipped with a sewing machine, will do any necessary alterations there and then ensuring that each cast member, the wardrobe team and director are completely happy.
There really shouldn't be any need for the wardrobe team to take garments away with them to alter.
Any costumes that we cannot alter at the costume call will be taken away with us and sent to the wardrobe representative the very next day via registered post.
Collection Service (optional / quote available on request)
If you choose to have your wardrobe collected after the show, the Charades van can arrive at your venue at a date and time chosen by you. We do ask that all the costumes are hung up again in the zip up garment bags that they were supplied in, and that they can be brought to an agreed point at the venue so that they can be safely loaded into the van.
Then all the costumes will be returned to Charades where they will be washed and dry-cleaned all ready for the next production.
If you have any questions about any aspect of our optional extra add-on services, then please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Charades team.
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