ContenderWear

Custom Dance Costumes

Riverside, California

Announcement    🌟DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE
Our products are listed on multiple platforms, each with its own pricing tier:
✨ETSY: There are commissions involved on Etsy and include a sales commission, a payment processing commission, and listing fees. These additional fees are worked into the product pricing.
✨DIRECT WEB STORE: Our direct webstore is the second tier, and the pricing of products are geared to encompass payment processing from the third parties: PayPal, Credit Cards, GooglePay, etc. Visit ContenderWear.com
✨CASH/SAME-AS-CASH: This is our lowest pricing. We can chip in shipping to the continental US OR offer up to 90-day lay-away for orders over $300 of our ready-made items. Call us at 951.268.4452
************************************************************************
🌟CRAFTMANSHIP, QUALITY, AESTHETICS & TIMELY
We are all about:
✨Craftsmanship: Well made is how to best describe LSC costumes and garments.
✨ Quality: All garments are made of the highest quality fabrics & embellishments, within specific price points that your budget dictates.
✨ Visual Appeal: My touch includes the visual appeal to evoke a specific mood, feel, and overall emotion of the wearers and their onlookers, whether it is an audience of peers & judges or wedding & prom attendees.
✨Since we don't overbook, deadlines are met.
✨Free shipping of ready-made custom costumes with specific payment methods.
✨Ready-made custom costumes are discounted. Commissioned costumes generally run higher, considering size, rhinestone brand, and payment type.
✨ Simply put, The BEST!
************************************************************************
🌟SERVICES
✨Custom dance costumes to your specific measurements
✨Custom cosplay costumes to your specific measurements
✨Custom dance costumes to generalized sizes
✨Semi-Custom costumes
- We even work with your new active wear separates & bases
✨Soloist custom dance costumes
✨Group dance costumes
✨Custom & semi-Custom Bridal wear to your specific measurements
✨Stone work & embellishment on costumes, evening-wear, prom & bridal
✨Alterations & tweaks
************************************************************************
🌟RATINGS & REFERRALS
Customer ratings for can be found on Google under "Lona Smith Creates" in Southern California and a few here on Etsy.
************************************************************************
🌟BRANDS
Lona Smith Creates™ (AKA LSC)
ContenderWear™ (AKA CW)
Plain Brown Label™ (AKA PBL, PBL Costumes)
HotMess Dance Apparel™ (AKA HMDA)
NuptialWear™
Havasu Bikinis™
Bitsy Butik™ (AKA BB)
************************************************************************
🌟WEB MUMBO-JUMBO
We have multiple domains all pointing to the same website:
✨LonaSmith.com
✨LonaSmithCreates.com
✨ContenderWear.com
✨HotmessDanceApparel.com
************************************************************************
✨All items are made with love and great attention to detail in-house...
we don't farm or contract pieces out to a third party.

Creatively unique,
L♡na

#dance
#costumes
#customdancecostumes
#customdancecostume
#customcostumes
#customcostume
#couturecostume
#couturecostumes
#dancecostumes
#dancecostume
#vaultingcostumes
#bodysuits
#vaultingunitards
#jazzcostumes
#musicaltheater
#musicaltheatre
#cosplay
#pageantcostumes
#pageantdresses
#promdresses
#formaldresses
#wedding
#bridal
#bling
#plainbrownlabel
#contenderwear
#hotmessdanceapparel
#cheeraudition
#auditionwear

Announcement

Last updated on Feb 19, 2024

🌟DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE
Our products are listed on multiple platforms, each with its own pricing tier:
✨ETSY: There are commissions involved on Etsy and include a sales commission, a payment processing commission, and listing fees. These additional fees are worked into the product pricing.
✨DIRECT WEB STORE: Our direct webstore is the second tier, and the pricing of products are geared to encompass payment processing from the third parties: PayPal, Credit Cards, GooglePay, etc. Visit ContenderWear.com
✨CASH/SAME-AS-CASH: This is our lowest pricing. We can chip in shipping to the continental US OR offer up to 90-day lay-away for orders over $300 of our ready-made items. Call us at 951.268.4452
************************************************************************
🌟CRAFTMANSHIP, QUALITY, AESTHETICS & TIMELY
We are all about:
✨Craftsmanship: Well made is how to best describe LSC costumes and garments.
✨ Quality: All garments are made of the highest quality fabrics & embellishments, within specific price points that your budget dictates.
✨ Visual Appeal: My touch includes the visual appeal to evoke a specific mood, feel, and overall emotion of the wearers and their onlookers, whether it is an audience of peers & judges or wedding & prom attendees.
✨Since we don't overbook, deadlines are met.
✨Free shipping of ready-made custom costumes with specific payment methods.
✨Ready-made custom costumes are discounted. Commissioned costumes generally run higher, considering size, rhinestone brand, and payment type.
✨ Simply put, The BEST!
************************************************************************
🌟SERVICES
✨Custom dance costumes to your specific measurements
✨Custom cosplay costumes to your specific measurements
✨Custom dance costumes to generalized sizes
✨Semi-Custom costumes
- We even work with your new active wear separates & bases
✨Soloist custom dance costumes
✨Group dance costumes
✨Custom & semi-Custom Bridal wear to your specific measurements
✨Stone work & embellishment on costumes, evening-wear, prom & bridal
✨Alterations & tweaks
************************************************************************
🌟RATINGS & REFERRALS
Customer ratings for can be found on Google under "Lona Smith Creates" in Southern California and a few here on Etsy.
************************************************************************
🌟BRANDS
Lona Smith Creates™ (AKA LSC)
ContenderWear™ (AKA CW)
Plain Brown Label™ (AKA PBL, PBL Costumes)
HotMess Dance Apparel™ (AKA HMDA)
NuptialWear™
Havasu Bikinis™
Bitsy Butik™ (AKA BB)
************************************************************************
🌟WEB MUMBO-JUMBO
We have multiple domains all pointing to the same website:
✨LonaSmith.com
✨LonaSmithCreates.com
✨ContenderWear.com
✨HotmessDanceApparel.com
************************************************************************
✨All items are made with love and great attention to detail in-house...
we don't farm or contract pieces out to a third party.

Creatively unique,
L♡na

#dance
#costumes
#customdancecostumes
#customdancecostume
#customcostumes
#customcostume
#couturecostume
#couturecostumes
#dancecostumes
#dancecostume
#vaultingcostumes
#bodysuits
#vaultingunitards
#jazzcostumes
#musicaltheater
#musicaltheatre
#cosplay
#pageantcostumes
#pageantdresses
#promdresses
#formaldresses
#wedding
#bridal
#bling
#plainbrownlabel
#contenderwear
#hotmessdanceapparel
#cheeraudition
#auditionwear

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Lona S.

Contact shop owner

Lona S.

About ContenderWear

Sales 15
On Etsy since 2017
Video summary: Our custom dance costumes are a big hit! Check out the photos of our customers in their very own custom dance costume by LSC brands: ContenderWear, HotMess Dance Apparel, Plain Brown Label. Our customers entrust us with their soloists and groups alike for Lyrical, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, Musical Theater, Acro, and Cosplay custom costumes, be they beautiful, exquisite, funky, sassy, traditional, or historical.

Made to order or ready to ship our costumes are one-of-a kind, custom, and original works of art.

We are humbled by their repeat business and trust.
Video summary: Our custom dance costumes are a big hit! Check out the photos of our customers in their very own custom dance costume by LSC brands: ContenderWear, HotMess Dance Apparel, Plain Brown Label. Our customers entrust us with their soloists and groups alike for Lyrical, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, Musical Theater, Acro, and Cosplay custom costumes, be they beautiful, exquisite, funky, sassy, traditional, or historical.

Made to order or ready to ship our costumes are one-of-a kind, custom, and original works of art.

We are humbled by their repeat business and trust.

Custom Dance Costumes, Custom Dance & Cosplay Costume, Custom Leotards, High End Dance Costumes, Budget Dance Costumes, Custom & Semi Custom

Shop members

  • Lona Smith

    Owner, Designer, Maker

    Lona started sewing costumes back in the 1980's. It started with Halloween and historical costumes for her son. That took a turn toward custom dance costumes for her daughter. Lona has been sewing custom dance costumes since 2000.♥♥♥

  • Scott Smith

    Owner, Maker

    Scott, Lona's other half, has lived in the Riverside area of So. California his whole life, is an RC hobbyist, and is still the occasional dance dad now that his dancer is grown up & a studio owner. Scott is part of the team! Way to go Scott! ♥♥♥

  • Nance

    Sewist, Assistant, Maker

    Nance has lived in various parts of the world: HI, TX, Japan, mostly So. California. She is married with 3 grown children & 7 grandchildren & is a long time sewist. Nance helps create ContenderWear masterpieces & HMDA bases during busy times♥♥♥

Production partners

  • Scott Smith

    Moreno Valley, CA

    Scott lends his hand with the electric saw and staple gun. He also helps with the hammer.

Shop policies

Last updated on Feb 20, 2020

Shipping

See item details for estimated arrival times.

Customs and import taxes

Buyers are responsible for any customs and import taxes that may apply. I'm not responsible for delays due to customs.

Digital downloads

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Payment options

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Accepts Etsy Gift Cards and Etsy Credits
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Returns & exchanges

See item details for return and exchange eligibility.

Cancellations

Cancellations: not accepted

Please contact the seller if you have any problems with your order.

Privacy policy

More information

Last updated on May 11, 2022

Frequently asked questions

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ContenderWear & PBL are shipped with very specific care instructions.

HotMess Dance Apparel items can be washed under gentle setting or by hand with mild detergent (i.e. Zout, Woolite Gentle Cycle) and line dry.

Customer provided bases: follow mfr instructions.

All fabrics are washed before use. Items that are dyed may bleed.

Any of our brands: we recommend a steamer for smoothing the fabric rather than an iron, which may easily burn or leave marks/residue on the fabrics.

All Archerciser products are spot clean only.

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Are your products new? custom dance costume, custom dance costumes, lyrical tap jazz dance costumes, musical theater theatre dance costume, custom acro leotards costumes, custom semi custom dance costumes, swarovski, preciosa, rhinestones, award winning dance costumes, custom order, custom orders

Yes, all our items are new, made from new fabrics, trims, & notions. We are a smoke-free environment.

The models of our apparel & costumes wear undergarments & panty-shields. Our products are NEW products, FREE of body fluids, buggers, BO, etc.

To date, all the fabrics that we have worked with have been washed prior to starting a project with them & after completion. The fabrics that we use are mostly procured from the Los Angeles Textile District, which means they are stored in warehouses and shops.

Upon washing the textiles, we can better determine the fabrics' or trims' suitability for specific needs.

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How are payments handled on Custom Costumes (Dancer Measurements Specific)? Custom dance costumes, custom dance costume, lyrical jazz tap dance costumes costume, musical theatre dance costume costumes musical theater, broadway dance costume

All custom orders for ContenderWear™, HMDA, PBL, and LiturgyWear™ require a non-refundable 50% deposit.

Once a design is created, we offer options as they arise. Notification is sent out when the garment is complete. Final payment is required within 30 days of the completion notice. If the item has not been paid for in full after the 30 days, the item will be be put up for sale to recoup the unpaid balance.

A custom order is where we create an item/items specifically to fill your specific order and needs. Please do not confuse this with items that are one-of-a-kind customs that are ready-made. Please note the difference of custom order vs. (ready-made) custom design.

See our ready-made layaway plan on our Web site.

Shipping orders over $50 custom dance costumes, custom dance costume, ready to ship dance costumes, one of a kind dance costume, high end dance costumes, jazz costumes, tap dance costumes, unique dance costumes, original dance costumes, original dance costume, acro costumes, custom leotards dance

For orders over$50, the parcel is insured & signature is required.

Upon delivery attempt, USPS will leave notification: please go on-line and reschedule delivery when you will be there. Address must be the same as your Etsy purchase/account.

USPS will hold your item for 14 days (10 working days) from their initial attempt to deliver before returning the item(s) to us.

Returned, Unopened Orders: Please contact us to issue a new postage item in our Etsy Store "ContenderWear". Once you pay for this, the parcel will be reshipped.

If you do not accept your shipment, you will be responsible for shipping, insurance, and a 20% restocking fee, excluding custom products made specifically for you to fill your order, as they are nonrefundable.

What brand are your rhinestones that you use in your applications? custom dance costumes, custom dance costume, bling, lyrical dance costume, dancers, competition dance, preciosa, swarovski, budget, musical theater costumes, musical theatre costumes, tap jazz costumes costume

We offer 4 brands.

Swarovski® and Preciosa® crystals' cut is great and has superb brilliance.
We have worked with both Swarovski® and Preciosa® brands of Rhinestones extensively and use them for our ContenderWear™ brand. Both brands have developed their high quality crystals virtually lead free, making them safer for our customers.

ContenderWear Brand now offered, also a high-end stone, similar to Preciosa pricing & quality. Made in Austria.

LSC Brand Rhinestones are a superb option for our budget friendly brand PBL.

When we say it is Swarovski® it is Swarovski®; when we say it's Preciosa® it is.

#swarovski
#preciosa
#rhinestones

How long does it take to get a ContenderWear™ custom dance costume made specifically for me & ship time of the ContenderWear™ competition dance costume?

-If we have all supplies to create your custom costume, your costume could be completed in 1-3 days, provided that we do not have orders scheduled ahead of yours.
-If we have to procure items for your custom costume, the time frame to create your product will increase, depending on both availability of products, and/or if we have to visit the LA Textile District to obtain it. Delay of items would if they are back ordered, to be shipped to us.
Costumes can take up to 5 days or more to reach you if you are in the continental US, and add two weeks minimum for fittings' travel time. International ships USPS priority allow 4-6 weeks shipping time during Covid-19.

Allow additional time while we are in the Covid-19 Pandemic.

How much and how long to get some of your fabulous fit booty shorts?

For HotMess Dance Apparel™ Shorts, we have made many of the booty shorts on a regular basis. If we have your size pattern, it would cost the usual, which is between usually $23-$30 for each pair. Depending upon the quantity ordered, we may discount that for you.

If we have to make a pattern for your size, add $21 to the order.

Once we have your order and provided we have the fabrics and colors that you want, we could have 10 pair ready within that first day.

Just a note on fabric and colors available: If specific fabrics and colors are needed that we must procure, additional fees would go into the cost of the final goods, but chances are good that we have colors that you would like.

Do you make your own custom dance costume bases? custom dance costumes, custom dance costume, custom leotards, custom dance leotard, custom lyrical dance costume, custom lyrical costumes, custom jazz costumes, custom jazz costume, custom tap dance costumes, custom tap costume, musical theater

Yes, all ContenderWear™ costumes are made from the fabric bolt to stage ready, NOT farming out the work. We want consistency in our products, and we find that contracting out parts of the process would not meet our high standards all the time. We prefer RS & designer closures & try to avoid clear plastic hooks.

HotMess Dance Apparel™: We sometimes work with customer provided parts and embellishments.  These types of items would be dependent upon the customers' standards, and we would only be setting the application standard.

Plain Brown Label™: With PBL, we sometimes purchase national brand bases, where we know the quality to have good consistency (i.e. Body Wrappers®, Balera®, Etc.)
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What is your PBL (Plain Brown Label) brand? custom dance costumes, custom dance costume, custom leotards, custom dance leotard, custom lyrical dance costume, custom lyrical costumes, custom jazz costumes, custom jazz costume, custom tap dance costumes, custom tap costume musical theatre costume

Plain Brown Label™ (PBL) is a brand that we came up with for inexpensive costuming, usually under $400 and can be either custom or "semi-custom."

Semi-customs get custom additions to National factory name-brand (i.e. Body Wrappers®, Balera®, Etc.) items such as leos, crop tops, shorts, and briefs. These custom additions are any one or more of the following:
- appliques
-rhinestones
-metal
-pearls
-lace or trim
-skirt
-sash

Can you tell me what LiturgyWear™ and NuptialWear™ are all about? praise dance wear dancewear wedding attire bridal party bride wedding party, nuptials, marriage wed bride groom MOB FOB MOG FOG

Sure can!

LiturgyWear™ was developed as a response to the many inquiries we get, specifically around Christian Holidays such has Christmas, Easter, etc. The Praise Dancers require skirts, leotards, etc. for their praise dance worship. These garments are usually a solid color and without any rhinestones.

NuptialWear™ is everything for the wedding that needs to be altered, rhinestoned, and so on. NuptialWear is mostly semi-custom, meaning customized alterations and additions on existing product. The garments that we make under the NuptialWear Label, i.e. dresses, lingerie, etc., are very sleek and made of 4-way stretch.

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