Disguise Inc — the costumes and accessories division of Jakks Pacific — is plotting an expansion throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).
The new senior leadership team will be led by 12-year Jakks veteran David Carscadden — currently managing director of Jakks EMEA — who will now take the helm of both the Disguise and Jakks teams in the region. Carscadden will be joined by EMEA Sales and Marketing Director Tony Lewis and UK/EMEA Design Lead Lynda Morris.
“This year we have been focused on maximizing our existing licenses and building structure for new brand acquisitions to be announced soon,” says Disguise President and General Manager Tara Hefter. “With the recent awards of some large licenses with a global scope, it made sense to hire in industry talent and start growing our team now. With Tony and Lynda leading the business, we have the groundwork ready to develop and expand into new regions and countries quickly. We can activate faster on new licenses and brands and bring these incredible new costumes and accessories to retail for all major dress-up holidays in EMEA.”
Lewis, a 30-year costume industry vet with experience at Character World, Amscan, and Christy’s, will recruit a sales and business development team for the UK and EMEA in an effort to expand retailer and buyer relationships. Morris spent 7 years in the Halloween space at Rubie’s Costume Co. and will build a new creative and development team in the UK in an effort to ramp up design this year for production in 2022. Lewis’ team will design hundreds of new costumes for Disguise’s new and existing licenses.
It’s been a busy year for Disguise. The company recently inked deals to create costumes and accessories for Ghostbusters, G.I. Joe, Bluey, CoComelon, the Universal Brand Development portfolio, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, PAW Patrol: The Movie, Nintendo’s Kirby, and Moonbug’s Blippi, in addition to a deal with Funko to produce a line of Pop! Masks.
