About Us

Cotswold Costumes is a costume hire shop based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. 

Established in 1982, we began life as Nailsworth Dramatic Society’s wardrobe department. We have continued to grow year on year and now house 6000+ high quality costumes and accessories. Our costumes are available to hire for:

  • Theatre productions
  • Pantomimes 
  • Fancy dress parties 
  • School plays 
  • Corporate events 
  • Themed weddings 
  • TV/film projects 
  • Photo shoots 
  • Vintage events
  • and anything else you can think of!

We pride ourselves on our cleanliness, fit and quality of our costumes. As experts, we are perfectly poised to offer advice on costume choices, styling and fit. Whether you require one costume for a party or a whole show set, no order is too big or too small.

About the Owner

Ruth Killey has been the owner of Cotswold Costumes since 2017, and was a frequent customer throughout her childhood. 

Always a lover of theatre and costume, Ruth chose to study Costume With Performance Design at The Arts University, Bournemouth. Having graduated, she went on to work in costume for theatre, film, Disney Cruise Line, international touring shows, pantomime and in The West End. There she gained a huge amount of experience in costume making, designing, fitting, maintenance and backstage costuming techniques.

When the opportunity came to acquire Cotswold Costumes she jumped at it, and the business has gone from strength to strength since. Ruth has used her expertise to expand the business, strength local connections with theatre groups and increase the quality stock.