After all is said and done. The photo shoots are completed. The closing ceremonies for the convention have ended. And it's time to finally stop being the characters you have worked so hard to be, it's time to hang up the fuku, cloak, or armor. As I am prone to do, after the con, I just kind of throw everything on the ground. This is not helpful for the next convention, and can damage the pieces. In my 10 years of cosplay, I just hastily threw my cosplays and pieces in one tote. Having so many cosplays really stacks up and creates a lot of clutter, so I have spent the past few months researching and going to countless storage aisles and stores. I really hope this post can be super helpful to those of you who also struggle to stay organized like myself.
First thing's first: What are we storing? Is it armor? Is it just basic cloth pieces? Does it need to be hung? All are super important questions.
Starting off with the piece we are storing, we can determine the size of the storage container we need. If you can hang it, like my Sailor Uranus fuku, you can use garment bags. If not, you want a storage container that isn't too big, nor too small. Sometimes, if you have a lot of similar sized cosplays, you are able to buy containers in bulk (the Container Store is perfect for instances such as these.) That being said, garment bags come in all different colors, so you can easily tell apart the costumes you have stored. The garment bags are useful when it comes to not having a lot of extra floor space to store on, but having a larger closet. Storage containers can be easily labeled by masking tape or a label maker, if you have one.
The garment bags are cheaper, and can be found in most stores and on Amazon.
Whereas, with storage containers, there are tons of different options, and has more stores that they can be bought at. I myself, have several different sizes of containers to store all my different cosplays. My Maya from Borderlands 2 cosplay; wig, goggles, body suit, pants, belt, class mod, shoes, and rifle all fit into one tub. Not all weapons can break down for easy storage, but I will explain weapon storage further in another article! I hope this was helpful to you.
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