Making Halloween costumes, not textile waste
Amy Jaquish, Contributor
My knees were scuffed, my legs were sore, and my arms were tired as I desperately tried to learn the cheer routine to AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.” This was the only part of my costume I couldn’t make—it had to be learned.
After watching America’s Sweethearts: The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, a Netflix Original TV show, I decided that would be my Halloween costume, and launched into shopping for it.
With Amazon, I was met with high prices, low quality, and a feeling of guilt brought by the company’s carbon footprint. Oceana, an organisation dedicated to protecting the oceans, estimates that around 23.5 million pounds of Amazon’s plastic packaging waste have entered the Earth’s seas since 2020.
Weighing the impact Amazon would have on my wallet and the planet, I turned my back and headed to Spirit Halloween. Despite offering better quality, its prices proved too high for an outfit I may only wear once.
According to a survey by the National Retail Federation, I’m not alone in this thought. For the 2025 season, they estimate that $4.3 billion USD will be spent on Halloween costumes, which is up from last year’s $3.8 billion USD.
With Amazon’s estimated environmental waste and Spirit Halloween’s high prices, I decided the best course of action for me and the planet would be to make my own costume.
Though the holiday comes once a year, a 2019 survey by Fairyland Trust found costumes contain the same amount of plastic as 83 million disposable water bottles. In the United Kingdom, for example, around seven million costumes are thrown out every year.
According to Recycling Europe’s new life-cycle assessment, three kilograms of water and carbon dioxide—the component of greenhouse gas contributing to climate change—are saved for each repurposed piece of clothing.
With a closet already bursting at the seams and several resources available to make eco-friendly purchases, I felt confident that I could find what I needed to decorate myself as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader (DCC).
Where to search
My old band uniform was the first item I stumbled upon—an oversized blue button-up shirt that was too long to suit the costume. Using a pair of scissors, I cut the shirt to my desired length and tied it into the iconic DCC ‘Kelly knot’.
Next, I needed bottoms, and found some shorts that I had bought a year ago from Winners, along with a pair of cowboy boots I had gotten from Texas.
Winners is a store actively participating in reducing the waste associated with overproduced items. On their website, they claim to include a “department or specialty store cancellations, a manufacturer making up too much product, or a closeout deal when a vendor wants to clear merchandise at the end of a season.”
While I didn’t buy the shorts specifically for this costume, my choice in buying them from Winners was an ethical one.
Alone, the items I found in my closet contained the majority of what I needed to be a member of Dallas’ squad. All I was missing was the iconic white vest and a pair of blue and silver pompoms.
Staying true to my goal of being eco-friendly, I stayed away from the tempting white vests on Amazon and headed to my local thrift store, where I found no vests, but rather a white denim jacket, which was easy to alter with some shears.
Unfortunately, the thrift store didn’t have pompoms, but a trip to my local Dollar Tree gave me everything I needed to make a pair from scratch—glitter stick paper, adhesive gems, and a duo of red and silver pompoms.
I used the glitter-sticky paper to cut out the classic blue stars and stuck them onto my boots and white vest. The adhesive gems came in silver and black. So, I used that silver to outline the stars. In an effort not to waste material, I used the black to bedazzle my phone case.
A challenge was offered, however, by the bright red and silver pompoms, which clashed with the DCC’s classic royal blue colour.
Upon further investigation, I discovered that Dollar Tree sold zip-tied tinsel on a stick. This led to easy removal so that I could create the perfect pompoms. I also made sure to use the rest of my sticky paper to cover the brightness of the red handle.
I had finally completed my costume.
Now, all I had left to do was learn the routine.
