There are around 10,000 Santa Clauses at malls, stores as well as firehouses and hospitals. Check out the website who discovers all the na...
There are around 10,000 Santa Clauses at malls, stores as well as firehouses and hospitals. Check out the website who discovers all the naughty ones.
lIronically,plIronically, Rich Williamson has only dressed up like Santa Claus a few times in his life. "I wore a Santa suit for a neighborhood party once and so many people were like 'Our kids are asleep, could you go into the room and make a noise?'" the actor claims. "I would bump things to make them open their eyes and say, 'Go back to sleep and get up in the morning and you'll see a surprise.' The parents were ecstatic about it."
Williamson has built a name from bringing Christmas-related joy to thousands of people, but it's not been done by wearing the traditional white and red outfit he's wore himself. In running Planet Santa, the largest online retailer of Santa-themed costumes and clothing, Williamson spreads suit-based cheer all over the world.
This isn't a site that is for people looking for something adorable for the holiday party or to frighten sober citizens when they stomp around at SantaCon It's an online store for serious Santas. Its Kris Kringle costumes run from $100 to around $500. The site's customers are the one who is in the middle of the mall, giving his flu shot a good workout as thousands of kids are swarmed across his lap, in search of the most recent Lego creation.
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The offices of Planet Santa are in the Old City District of Philadelphia that looks more like a posh shopping district as opposed to it look like the North Pole. From around Halloween to Christmas every year, Planet Santa takes up the back storeroom in Pierre's Costumes, a custom costume maker and rental shop that is operated by Williamson. Through a group of women finishing the last touches to costumes for the regional version that is Elf the Musical and down a hallway that is filled with every army uniform, hoopskirt and mascot head that you can imagine is the massive cargo bay which belongs to Planet Santa.
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It's nothing too extravagant, just boxes and boxes of black boots and curly white wigs as well as furry white and red ensembles to sustain the belief that a huge man magically appears down the chimney each December 24th. When I visit the place just before Christmas, you will find piles of FedEx boxes taller than six feet sent out to customers across the nation who are preparing for Christmas celebrations. This is only one of the four pickups scheduled for today.
Jennifer Valosen, the general manager of Planet Santa who has been in the business for over 10 years, claims that they've sold out of the "Classic Look Velvet schoolgirl outfit with Real Metal Buttons," which is a burgundy-colored version of"the "Coca-Cola suit," a style popularized through the company's holiday advertisements in the early part of this century.
Although neither Valos or Williamson have conducted the calculations however, they estimate that they burn through 8,000 to 10,000 Santa suits every year. In addition, they have hundreds of boots that are patented that are the most popular in the market. It's a good thing that Planet Santa will also take delivery of thousands of of white gloves as well as 500 Gallons of Ben Nye hair as well as Beard Whitener.
Planet Santa offers about a dozen different suits, the majority of them supplied by Verona which is a Pennsylvania-based Santa costume wholesaler Halco. Halco's CEO Terri Greenberg claims she and her parents Williamson have a long history in time and Planet Santa is "very easy to work with." Although it's not her largest customer (she won't reveal that information) Planet Santa is among the few.
But it's the iconic suit which it developed and produced and is what sets it apart. Santa Gordon Bailey - who has been an expert "real beard" Santa for 37 years, is the director of his own Santa and the Business of Being Santa school in Southern California, and literally wrote the book with the same title on how to become an expert Father Christmas -- recommends that his students all purchase one of Planet Santa's outfits. "They offer the minimum quality of Santa suit that the malls, other stores, Macy's, and just about every large photograph operation would require," Bailey says.
The suit is made of velvet rather than the plush material used in earlier and more expensive Santa suits. The suit also features additional (faux) fur on the front, around the collar and around the sleeves. The main benefit of the outfit is the fact that Williamson has gathered many years of Santa's feedback to provide it with distinct advantages.
There are four large belt loops (rather than the industry-standard two) to ensure Santa's big belt tucked within the "bowl full of jelly" belly throughout the day. Also, there is an "parade sleeve," a piece of fabric that is tight around the wrists to keep the huge sleeve in position to ensure it won't slide down between his elbows as the sleigh's occupants wave.
The pants are also equipped with pockets for any candy canes (or perhaps you have a cellphone). Most importantly, the pants are designed for men of larger sizes who usually play this playful and muscular man and that a lot of manufacturers do not consider.
Planet Santa also has its own boots that Williamson created and made in the exact Chinese factory that produces the majority of the "stripper shoes" you'll find in America. The boots are made wide, not only around the calf but all the way to the ankles to allow Santa's longer leg as well as the thick velvet pants Santa will wear in the boots. "The factory kept sending us samples and we were telling them, 'Wider, wider,'" Williamson states about his boots' design around eight years ago. "They thought we were absolutely insane." The boots are now obviously, they're popular with Santas across the country.
Williamson won't reveal how much cash Planet Santa brings in, however "it's enough that it bought me my first Mercedes, and also my second, third, fourth, and fifth." He followed somewhat of a different way to enter the industry. His father and he purchased Pierre's Costumes in 1994. Williamson created an online presence for the company in 1996, at a time when his experience with the World Wide Web was just growing. The site was receiving tons of traffic, however they couldn't come up with how to sell on the internet with just the brick-and-mortar store located in Philly that specialises in theatrical costume rentals and mascot creation.
Williamson has decided that a website for Santas seemed like a good idea. In addition to the fact that Santas spend some more money on their suits and their accouterments than the average costume purchaser, Planet Santa is a seasonal enterprise and he figured it shouldn't require too many hours. Williamson created and programmed the entire site himself. "At the beginning of September my father and I decided to invest $5,000 each, and if we broke even by the end of December, it was worth it," Williamson says. "We broke even in three days."
The biggest error Williamson made in the beginning days was not buying the opposite of his URL. until today, Santa Planet is run by a rival. Although he has no longer coded the site, Planet Santa still doesn't include a large number of bells and bells most likely because the older population who are playing Santa isn't a fan of online shopping. "I think we have people who mail us checks via mail to pay for their purchase, but they're not doing things like we do. It's not click clicking, click, done," Valosen says, saying to the claim that Planet Santa gets a large number of phone calls from Santas who look at things on the web but would like to speak to someone regarding completing the purchase.
No matter how frequently the website is updated, Williamson says that the business continues to grow each year. It could be that there are less and less Santas to choose from since more and more stores want Santa with a beard in their stores. Santa Bailey claims that this year, there's some sort of Santa shortage as all of the 5,000-6,000 (by his estimate) "real beard" Santas are being booked to early, so that shops, malls and other stores have been bringing in a lot of "traditional bearded Santas" (those who use prosthetic facial hair instead of making the hair themselves) to provide children with an extra warm hug.
Valos says that, in addition to semi-custom suits the other fashions that are currently trending are Santas who prefer to wear burgundy-colored outfits instead of the traditional red poinsettia along with longer and more long Santa hats every year. Similar to hemlines, length of Santa hats can go upwards and downwards based on the time of year.
She says that it's her her staff's willingness to accept these orders over the phone and guide each Santa through the modifications they make that make Planet Santa the best in the world. "Honestly, I care about who they are, where they are, and to get them the right thing," she states. "Even even if I'm offering the suit for $200 If it's the best outfit for the individual, I'd prefer to provide him with an expensive 500 Santa suit that's likely to be heavy and too heavy and too thick. The customer-service aspect that will benefit us over time."
Williamson is also content with his position in the local community, and is taking the time to ensure that every client is happy. He also makes sure is pleased that Planet Santa has a presence at all Santa conventions throughout the year and includes Discover Santa, the big annual convention that takes place during July, at Branson, Missouri. While he's only got one memory of dressing up as Santa, Williamson totally gets the reasons why these gentlemen wear it each year. "It is a joy to be around. It's just so corny, but it works," he says. "If you're Santa you'll get an amazing feeling of satisfaction, and I can see how this game is addictive for these people. You're feeling amazing. Once you're accepted, you're permanently in the club."
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