Interview: Dreamgirl Update

In August 2024 Dreamgirl, the lingerie and costume company, was acquired by Rob Fitzgerald, the majority owner of StarlineLA and Party King. Now that six months in, BODY publisher Nick Monjo interviewed Fitzgerald.

MONJO: What are the most significant changes you have made since you took over?

FITZGERALD: Wow!  Where do we begin?  Most of the changes that we have made at Dreamgirl have been designed to create a more agile and efficient organization that works more closely with its retailers to predict and exceed the expectations of the end customers. In an effort to provide better support while at the same time reducing our customers’ costs, we have eliminated Dreamgirl’s use of independent sales representatives and provided increased discounts to Dreamgirl’s customers. We are actively ramping up our internal sales team to be able to provide our customers with more timely and accurate information and better respond to their needs.

We are in the process of consolidating the inventory control and ordering databases of Dreamgirl with those of StarlineLA and Party King.  Once completed, our customers will be able to order a vast variety of costumes and lingerie crossing the Dreamgirl, StarlineLA and Party King lines from a single reliable source. Some of our fastest growing customers are already buying from all three lines and see how we can scale together.

We still have a lot of work in progress, but look forward to providing our customers with greater choices, better pricing and a simpler buying process so that we can focus all of our attention on what is really important: providing the best costumes and lingerie that are wanted by the buying public.  

MONJO: Where does DG fit in the intimate apparel marketplace? What makes it a special and different brand?

FITZGERALD: Dreamgirl really hits the trifecta of design, quality and price in the fun and flirty costume and lingerie market. To have the opportunity to leave an imprint on such a longstanding brand is something we approach with reverence, but still have the ambition to take the business to new heights! Dreamgirl’s tenured relationships with vendors and manufacturers in the costume and lingerie space keep the design cycle nimble and allow us to adapt to changing trends on a level that makes us unique in the marketplace.     

For end customers, Dreamgirl strives to provide costumes and lingerie that are more flirtatious and sexy than they can find through traditional retail channels.  We want our lines focused for costume and lingerie pure-play retailers while at the same time being friendly, approachable and reasonably priced for the end customer. It’s really satisfying when we get it right!

MONJO: Are you going to add new elements or categories in 2025?

FITZGERALD: This year our focus is singular: we have a vision to recapture Dreamgirl’s design and magic from its own heyday. Our designers, along with talents from Starline and Party King, are furiously creating great new costumes and lingerie.  

In the costume category, we are building on Dreamgirl’s success in providing sexy men’s costumes and are rolling that under the label of Dreamguy.  We have been doing a number of children’s costumes on a private label basis and will soon be rolling out a line of children’s costumes under the Dreamkids brand. The children’s costumes are high quality, non-licensed and certainly not sexy and targeted for customers that want a top notch costume that captures the tradition of Halloween. Soon retailers will be able to carry a comprehensive line of Dreamgirl, Dreamguy and Dreamkids costumes – allowing them to fill costume needs for the whole family! 

MONJO: What is your prediction for this year? 2024 ended on a positive note for several intimate apparel firms.

FITZGERALD: Overall, we are super optimistic for 2025!!! In the costume category, Halloween falls on a Friday this year which usually results in a barn-burning year. We are especially bullish on brick and mortar retailers! With the recent demise of Party City, we expect that somewhere close to $2 billion of seasonal/party buying needs to find a new source. We think that all of our brick and mortar customers should expect increased demand this year and we hope that they order accordingly! Our order book says that costumes are gonna be big this year! 

Candidly, our customers in the lingerie category continue to see significant market pressures from Chinese companies who have exploited the “de minimis exemption” loophole to avoid paying tariffs and having their products adequately inspected.  We feel that this situation remains imminently unfair!! Dreamgirl’s products go through extensive safety testing and pay the applicable level of duties for import into the U.S. 

Having said that, we have learned that there is always significant demand for high-quality, innovative products. Dreamgirl can’t offer the cheapest products but we can offer products that customers want.  We continue to squeeze everything we can out of our cost structure and the supply chain to remain affordable but plan on winning the battle based in style and name recognition.  Having customers of all sizes that are dramatically increasing their business with us this year acts as a solid affirmation that we are helping them be successful and are on the right path.

MONJO: What else would you like to tell us about DG

FITZGERALD: Dreamgirl is looking for designers!! By having multiple brands under the same umbrella, we have to expand our product offering and come up with a greater number of new and unique styles. So, we are aggressively looking for lingerie and costume designers: freelance, part-time or full-time. We don’t care!  If you are a creative designer with new ideas, please drop Rob an e-mail directly at rob@dgbrands.com.