Author: Maggie Coetzee
The cosplay community in South Africa has existed for well over fifteen years, and may have started small, but saw a drastic climb during recent years as marked by South Africa becoming the first African country to participate in the World Cosplay Summit back in 2018, and then shortly thereafter in The Championships of Cosplay in 2018, where Kinpatsu Cosplay took second place. Following her the next year was Jinxkitty, who won the grand title.
Below, South Africans representing Africa at the Crown Championships of Cosplay, from left to right (2019, 2020, 2023)
Members of the cosplay community realised early on that there was a need to bring cosplay specific merchandise into the country, and a few sought to do just that, most notably CosKraft, which was established in 2012 and is still operating today.
This is where I have to back up a little, because what do I mean when I say popular culture merchandise in terms of cosplay? There is actually quite a varied list – we are talking about wigs, body modification garments, readymade outfits, accessories, props, crafting materials, patterns and publications.
Since South Africa had no local cosplay supplier, those who sought to bridge the gap by bringing in these items were faced with quite a few difficulties in term of procurement – capital, import and shipping fees, as well as no way to ascertain the quality of a supplier’s products.
In recent years product reviews have become much more reliable, but less reputable resellers have taken to control these reviews by either only allowing positive ones to be visible, or employing bot reviews which are usually apparent by their vagueness.
The second problem that South Africa faces is that our postal system has become less and less reliable, making the import of products much more expensive as we have to rely on costly courier services in order to guarantee the merchandise’s arrival. In a recent poll, 30% of contributors cited that that the shipping fees actually deterred them from placing a cosplay merchandise related order. This has, in part, led to quite an intriguing phenomenon though, namely ‘acceptable alternatives’.
Now, before I discuss this development, I would like to mention that recently more mainstream stores have acknowledged the need to stock cosplay-centric merchandise, and while it has taken a step towards making cosplay more accessible, it is still not quite encompassing enough. Often these products are based on popular trends, so it is generally accepted that if you want something non-mainstream, you will still have to import it yourself.
To return to the concept of acceptable alternatives – this represents a very creative (and often lucky) trait where cosplayers have been forced to analyse what is available in other countries as cosplay materials, and finding something that is locally available as an alternative. As an example – we often substitute sealing / insulation foam for our armour builds, and we have turned to the signage industry for a variety of thermoplastics and vinyls.
Most of these options are, however, passed on by word of mouth or online posts as South Africa also lacks access to cosplay-centric publications. I would like to use the vast amount of information contained within the pages of Cosplay Mode – a Japanese cosplay magazine I have recently discovered – as an example. There is a distinct focus on specific characters that would be an amazing resource for newer cosplayers, as well as unique product advertisements that we are not aware exist in South Africa.
We can also disregard the language barrier that used to act as a deterrent from buying merchandise in Japanese, as with the recent development of Google Lens, anyone with a cell phone now has ready access to translation facilities.
To end with, I’d like to mention the long-debated topic where even I have argued on behalf of the opinions that ‘cosplay can be affordable’, but I have had to face the reality that this is not the case without sound experience and knowledge at your disposal. Those who seek to enjoy the wonder that is cosplay either have to make a serious time investment into crafting their own costumes (which is already not an inexpensive option but could appear thus due to accumulated resources) or they need to invest a decent amount of money to procure ready-made items with a potentially unreliable delivery date.
What would be wonderful is if budding cosplayers could have access to reference material, costume components, wigs, and cosplay specific crafting materials without having to fight the economy to obtain it. This would enable them to immerse themselves in the joy of dressing up rather than the frustration of sourcing items, and would allow the cosplay community in South Africa to grow with more ease.
About the author
Maggie Coetzee is a cosplay creator.