Launch
The first dance costume hire company to show live stock availability and let customers book and pay online. We fulfilled over 200 bookings — about 7,500 costumes — in our first six months.
star A firstDance costume hire
done properly
In 2017, a dance-school owner grew tired of the same costuming headaches every season — so he rebuilt the whole thing from the ground up. This is how that idea became the UK's leading dance costume hire company.
● A better way
Founded by a dance school owner. Built to do things properly.
Costume Source was founded in 2017 by Aleksis Gallans, who intimately understood the pain of dance costume hire. As the owner of several dance schools, Aleksis faced the same headaches every season — limited options that constrained creativity, confusing ordering, and never quite knowing what quality or quantity would actually arrive.
So he combined his background in business, technology, and live events to rebuild the whole experience from scratch — with one clear mission: to do things properly.
● Our simple mission
Do things properly — by making hire simple, transparent, and reliable
We've transformed dance costume hire by focusing on the things that actually matter to a busy teacher. Here's how we make it better for you.
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Easy browsing & live availability
Instantly view our entire collection and check real-time stock before you commit. -
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Stunning, high-quality costumes
Beautiful, well-maintained costumes that are properly packed, clearly labelled and look fantastic on stage. -
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Exceptional customer service
Timely updates and clear communication at every step, so you're never left wondering.
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Simple, honest ordering
Clear pricing and a seamless flow — book, pay and confirm in one go. No hidden fees, no confusing steps. -
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Hassle-free shipping & returns
Convenient delivery options and a simple return process that save you time and stress. -
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Show-Ready, every time
Every costume arrives professionally cleaned and ready to wear — just open the box.
● Built for you
A world-class platform, designed around dance schools
We've grown quickly and invested heavily in both our inventory and our technology to deliver a superior rental experience — one built specifically for the way dance schools actually work.
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Curated inventoryEvery costume is chosen with your performance in mind — the highest-quality garments that look fantastic on stage.
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Proprietary technologyCustom-built software designed for our complex needs, so we operate with maximum efficiency.
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Always improvingWe listen to feedback and ship upgrades constantly, so the experience keeps getting better.
● Great people
Great people, #ShowReady costumes
We believe great people make the greatest difference. Our dedicated teams oversee every stage of the hiring process to make sure everything meets our high standards — and yours.
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#ShowReadyEvery costume is professionally packed in an individual, labelled garment bag with a hanger. Open the box and it's ready to wear — no sorting, no stress.
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Communication you can trustWe keep you updated at every step, and we're always here to answer questions.
● How we got here
A history of innovation and firsts
We're constantly evolving, improving and listening to feedback. Here's the journey so far.
Pass on Plastic
Our environmental journey begins. We eliminate single-use plastic from everything we do — all packaging is sustainable and recyclable, with no plastic tape or mailing bags.
Named Costumes
Customers can add pupil names to their costumes, printed on the bags to make organising a whole cast effortless.
star A firstHire Costumes, plant Trees
We start planting trees for every single costume hire — and have now planted over 100,000 trees, with more going in the ground every day.
Carbon Neutral
Costume Source becomes the world's first (and, we think, only) Carbon Neutral dance costume hire company.
star A firstAmend Bookings
Because things change, we let customers add and remove costumes from their booking themselves.
star A firstBigger and Cleaner
We open our specialist laundry facility with state-of-the-art cleaning technology, letting us process 95% of costumes the same day they come back to us.
Giving Back
We launch The Costume Source Dance Community Grant, helping dance schools with things like improving studio facilities and providing bursaries to students.
Further Expansion
We move to our new Sparkle Fulfilment Centre — the most advanced of its kind in Europe, designed from the ground up for exactly what we do.
Leading the way in dance costume hire
Costume Source is the UK's leading dance costume hire company, run from our Sparkle Fulfilment Centre in Portishead, near Bristol. We were founded in 2017 by Aleksis Gallans to solve a problem every teacher knows too well — sourcing, sizing, and managing costumes for a show, without the stress.
Since then we've built a string of firsts: live stock availability and online booking, named costumes printed onto the bags, the ability to amend a booking, and a proprietary platform designed around dance schools. We were the world's first Carbon Neutral dance costume hire company, and we plant trees for every hire.
We're not done. We keep evolving, improving and listening to the teachers we work with — because the day costuming a show feels effortless is the day we've done our job. Whether you're dressing a ballet exam, a competition routine, or a full show, create a free account to get started.