LDC Top 50 2024
Fraser Smeaton
CEO
MorphCostumes
The lightbulb moment for MorphCostumes was during a lads’ weekend in Dublin. “One of our mates rocked up in a blue head-to-toe Lycra fancy-dress costume,” says CEO Fraser Smeaton. “It got the most incredible reaction.” Smeaton teamed up with his brother and friend to design their own Morphsuit in 2009 and set up a website.
Their test order of 200 products sold out in six days. Today, their Edinburgh-based business sells 1,200 different costumes via Amazon, select retailers and TikTok Shop. “We’re really ambitious for MorphCostumes, but you can’t maintain the same level of obsession for 15 years without exploding,” says Smeaton. “For long-term success, you need balance.”
For long-term success, you need balance.”
Q&A
As the business has scaled, how have you and your co-founders maintained your friendship?
You hear so many stories of friendships falling to pieces under the stress of running a business together, but we all knew we got on really well and had complementary skills. In 15 years, we haven’t argued once over pay or shareholdings: we’ve all made amazing decisions that have helped the business and we’ve all made massive mistakes that have hurt it – but no-one gets more, no-one gets less. We’re all pulling in the same direction.
What’s been your toughest moment?
Morphsuits were our niche ‘wow’ product, but demand started to decline. From a profit high of £4m in 2012, we dropped to a £1m loss in 2015. We had to make half of our employees redundant to save the business and it was really tough. We re-focussed by going direct to consumers via Amazon and expanding into inflatable and generic costumes. Morphsuits account for less than 10% of our revenues now.
What’s your ambition?
We want to be the world-leading company in costumes and accessories and become a household name. If someone needs a fancy-dress costume, we want them to search for ‘Morph Costumes’ first.
What’s your proudest moment?
I spotted three Union Jack Morphsuits at the Olympic Games in Paris, which was such a great feeling. In a very small way, we’re still changing the world!
