(27 Oct 2019) LEAD IN:
Halloween is nearly upon us (31 October 2019), and in many parts of the world, the focus is on humans dressing up to go trick-or-treating.
But there's a growing trend to include household pets in the fun.
And this year, pet-geared offerings from retailers include everything from bumble bee or pumpkin costumes for dogs to guinea pig-sized pineapple and shark suits.
STORY-LINE:
It's the look every aspiring trick-or-treating canine would kill for, and retailers say sparkling light-up details are among the year's top trends.
At this store in Los Angeles, man's best friend is spoilt for choice.
And costumes for pets is a burgeoning market.
According to the American National Retail Federation, 172 million Americans celebrate Halloween, of whom 29 million dress up their pets.
It's a trend that's been building for several years, the Federation says: in 2010, 12% of Americans said they had Halloween costume plans for their furry friends, while this year, it's 17%.
Molly Knight and her companion Pirate are trying to find a costume that suits Pirate's personality and age.
Knight says the pair are seasoned Halloween costumers, and for them the date - 31 October - is especially significant.
"Halloween is Pirate's birthday. It's our favourite holiday - every year we it spend together, we go out we look for costumes," Knight explains.
"One year he was a bug. One year he was a pirate. One year he went in drag. Last year he was a spider. He loved his eight legs. This year, he's going as a hot dog because he's half Chihuahua and half Dachshund. He's 13 now, so he's got to be kind of more refined as an old man-slash-teenager."
Across the United States, spending on pet Halloween costumes is booming: the retail federation estimates $490 million will be spent this year.
It says that figure is more than double what it was in 2010, when the Federation first started surveying this kind of spending.
Halloween pet offerings now fill rows abnd rows of racks in big pet stores in Los Angeles like PetSmart.
Today PetSmart's District Manager Becky Koliboski is out and about offering customers tips.
"The new trends this season are the light up costumes. We have them in the pumpkin, the bumble bee and also the spider. And so it's great to take your dog out at night and they're lit up where everyone is going to be looking at them and you can find your dog to. In addition to that we also have great costumes with reflective items, with the collars, with the little tags to go around their necks, so it's all about light up this season," she advises.
Pet-owner Katie Young is on the look out for just the right costume for beloved pet Levi.
She's weighing up whether Levi would look best as a bumble bee, a shark or a hotdog.
"This will be one of the first times we actually bought a store-bought costume - we usually do housemaid, or homemade," Young explains.
"But I'm really liking the selection, the variety, the lights that are on, it makes me feel a little bit more comfortable taking him outside in the dark. Being a dark dog, it's nice to have lights and reflective surfaces on the costume so I know he's going to be safe and not get hit, which is very important to me, he's very important to me. So, his safety is important to me."
Retailers say social media is influencing costume and decoration ideas even more so than usual this year.
According to the American National Retail Federation, Pinterest was the source of inspiration for 18 percent of shoppers, while 14 percent checked either YouTube or Instagram.
Old-fashioned store-browsing was still cited by 28 percent, the Federation estimates.
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