Over the past four years, CosCove has grown from a simple idea into a thriving marketplace for cosplay resales, a networking hub for cosplay commissions, a convention directory, and a thriving cosplay community. This success stems from the vision and dedication of its founders, CEO Mengshu Shen and Sherri Cui—high school friends who teamed up to bring CosCove to life. In 2020, during the lockdown, Sherri was coping at home like so many others when she received a call from her longtime friend, Mengshu, sparking the beginning of their CosCove journey together.
Sherri recalled, “Mengshu had the idea [for CosCove] first. She called me in December 2020. I remember I was just locked at home the entire time, [I had] all that pent-up energy with nothing to do.”
On that first phone call, Mengshu remembered, “We were brainstorming ideas, and we were like, ‘Hey, you know this thing we’ve always loved’—cosplay, events, and conventions—‘what if we actually turn it into a reality and do some good for the community and the environment as well by focusing on the secondhand aspect of helping people buy used costumes?’ That’s how everything started.”
For Sherri, the call was a welcome opportunity during the pandemic and lockdown.
Sherri remarked, “To receive that call from her and having a project to work on was definitely exciting.”
When asked if their idea stemmed from prior entrepreneurial experience, they admitted it did not; instead, it was born from their shared enthusiasm and love for cosplay and its community.
Sherri mentioned, “We were so excited to be working on something with cosplay, and we decided to just jump into it.”
Now, both co-founders have distinct roles in the creation and operation of CosCove that help the marketplace thrive.
Mengshu explained, “I handle the community-related things, operations, finance—so all sorts of random things.”
Sherri, eager to further highlight Mengshu’s contributions, remarked, “I handle all the tech, so I think that gives more context to what Mengshu does—she does everything else.”
By the time of our conversation, CosCove was four years into its journey, growing from the humble beginnings of that first phone call.
Sherri remembered, “At first, it was so simple. It was a homepage saying what we wanted to build, and from there we developed the features. We weren’t like, ‘We have to do this and it has to be successful.’ We were more like, ‘Let’s see what we can do. Let’s see how far we can get and what we can learn.’”
Both Mengshu and Sherri are longtime members of the convention and cosplay community, with a friendship rooted in shared experiences. Naturally they brought these experiences with them as they built the site.
Mengshu reminisced, “We were great friends starting in high school. Sherri has always been a talented photographer, and back in high school, we loved Halloween. I was into dance, anime, and cosplay, so we started doing photo shoots back in the day. We just kept in touch with each other, traveled to different places, and did fun photo shoots [together].”
Even as community members of the cosplay scene themselves though, they sought outside perspectives when building CosCove.
Sherri explained, “We actually talked to people. That was a big part. We interviewed many cosplayers, people that buy second hand costumes on Facebook, but also cosplay makers, commissioners, and people that commission costumes as well. I love talking with the community to understand what we should do next and how we should build things.”
This input helped guide the direction of CosCove, but frequently the requests were similar to the pair’s own goals and hopes as well.
Mengshu noted, “When it comes to the CosCove marketplace, I think a lot of the things that we wanted are not that different from the fan base. So, a lot of times when we get feedback from the community, we’re like, ‘Oh, that’s a great idea! We hadn’t thought of that before.’”
CosCove continues to evolve thanks to user input, which they routinely get from users.
“We receive great suggestions, so we implement them. If we haven’t implemented them yet, it’s only because we’re a little backed up. There’s always so much to do,” Mengshu said.
One recent feature added was convention listings, inspired by user feedback.
Sherri explained, “We added conventions relatively recently because of the feedback we got, which is not something we considered before. It immediately made sense, though. I live in quite a rural area now, and it’s actually difficult to find out about events near me unless you stumble upon them by luck or a friend tells you. When you do see conventions, it’s really hard to tell what type of convention it is, what activities they offer, and you may have to go digging for that information. So, this is something we’re building both for ourselves and thanks to feedback from cosplayers who also had difficulty finding that information.”
When asked about any unannounced upcoming features they could discuss, they mentioned a wish list function in development.
Sherri revealed, “I will share just a tiny feature we’re working on, which is the wish list function to mark down what you’re interested in so you can save it for later.”
Mengshu elaborated, “It seems like a little thing, but because we’re not using a pre-built solution, Sherri literally builds everything. A lot of times, I’m like, ‘Oh, there’s this [new idea] or that one,’ and it seems super simple, but it’s actually a lot of work. That’s why we try to communicate with the community to say, ‘Just be patient with us.’”
Sherri added, “There’s so much that I never thought about before building it ourselves. It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s so much behind this!’”
Despite the challenges of building and running the marketplace, the co-founders view building CosCove as a rewarding exercise.
Sherri noted, “I work as a web developer, so I have related skills for the technical parts of building CosCove. I’ve learned so much building CosCove and explored areas I never worked on before. It’s been a great learning experience.”
Mengshu agreed. “It’s been a very fun process for us, and we’re learning a lot about running the marketplace.”
CosCove has also deepened their connection to the cosplay community.
“We’re learning more about the community. We’re going to a lot more events, and it’s a totally different experience now because we’re running in-person swap events. That has been very different, but it’s been great,” Mengshu shared.
In-person swaps have become a significant aspect of CosCove’s growth.
“When we first started going to events, we had a simple booth, telling people, ‘Hey, there’s a new marketplace.’ Then we started getting questions like, ‘Oh, what is that like?’ The second year, we partnered with a convention to organize an in-person event leveraging our online technology,” Mengshu explained.
Excitingly, their first in-person event was a resounding success.
“The first year we partnered with Matsuricon, and it was an incredible turnout. I think we had close to a thousand pieces sell that weekend, and the engagement was amazing. The entire room was packed from when it opened to midnight. That was the first time we realized, ‘Wow, we’re making a positive impact,’” Mengshu said.
CosCove started with a small team, and I was curious how this runaway success might have affected where Sherri and Megumi put their energy as they scale and expand their operations. Fortunately, with great success came the support of the community.
Mengshu recalled, “The following year with Matsuricon, because we had such a great turnout for the first year, we also had really amazing people who wanted to and were willing to help out. So it doesn’t necessarily fall on the two of us, and that’s what we hope to do in the future as well. We’ll go to some events, and we’ll see how the community receives it, and if the community loves it and enjoys it so much that they’re willing to put it on in the future, then I think that’s how we’ll decide how we expand.”
I was curious if they come across cosplayers wearing pieces they recognize from the site or their in-person marketplaces.
Mengshu affirmed, “We do at our in-person events at conventions. Sometimes they love it so much they’ll show up the next day at the convention wearing what they bought the previous day.”
They explained that online it’s a little different, though still exciting, as they see their network of connections continue to grow.
Mengshu responded, “I’ll see someone post online [on CosCove], and I’ll recognize the seller. I’m like, ‘Oh, we met at this event.’ So there are a lot of these lucky coincidences that happen, and after a while, the folks who are very active in the marketplace, we kind of get to know all of them.”
When I asked if either had a favorite cosplay they’ve seen listed on their site, Mengshu instead spoke of a newfound appreciation she has developed through her role in CosCove.
“I can’t say I have a favorite because sometimes you see folks doing creative and interesting things, and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s really cool.’ And sometimes you see an elaborate cosplay, and you’re like, ‘I have no idea what that is, but that looks beautiful!’ So it’s really hard to say. I do think building the marketplace and seeing what everybody is posting and doing and asking to commission has given us another angle into the community, whereas before, we wouldn’t have known about all of those [cosplays],” Mengshu shared.
Sherri found that it’s shown her how some niche shows and series still get a lot of love.
Sherri said, “I really appreciate that very niche series, shows, characters, or just very old ones still get a lot of love and interest. People still message about them. For example, I saw that one was listed for Bee and PuppyCat. It’s this little show, but I saw a costume from there, and I was like, ‘I’m so happy that somebody else is still participating in this niche space.’”
Sherri went out to point out how this demonstrates what sets CosCove apart from other resale options.
Sherri emphasized, “On Facebook groups, you would see that post, and once that’s gone, you cannot find it in the sea of posts ever again, whereas on CosCove, it still lives on, and people can still find it.”
One of the other features of CosCove that is a key feature of the marketplace is the inclusion of Cosplay Makers—creators listed on CosCove that cosplayers can contact for commissions. I asked how they determine whom to include, and they offered this:
Sherri said, “I think with Cosplay Makers, we truly rely on the community, and because the commissioning process is private and personal, it’s hard for us to know. I think that’s the challenge for anyone looking to commission a prop or a costume, which both of us have faced, and it’s yet another reason we built portions of CosCove. But since we rely on the community, we rely on feedback from both sides, including the maker and the person that’s commissioning the costume. If they’ve gone through the process, they can tell us their experience and give us feedback, and we act on that feedback to verify the makers. We’ll display reviews, for example, to ensure everyone is in a safe and responsible environment to commission costumes.”
I asked if trust is at the core of their resale business as well.
“Absolutely,” Sherri responded. “From what we’ve seen, everyone in the cosplay community in general has been reliable, especially for resales. We have seen the results of the resales go quite well. Buyers message sellers, and they have great conversations. It makes sense because they’re interested in the same characters. Maybe they have the same clothing size, or you know, they have a lot in common, and it sparks off great conversations from there. On the commissioning side, it’s a bit more difficult, but again, we just truly rely on the community to give us their feedback.”
This sense of safety and community is even reflected in their name, though they admit it took some time to settle on “CosCove.”
“Back then, we had so many names. We definitely took our time deciding. This one just rolled off the tongue—it’s cosplay and a cove. A safe haven. Sherri came up with the name, so she may have more,” Mengshu recalled.
Sherri elaborated, “I just envisioned a hidden treasure, a little hidden cove, and it just seemed cute and magical.”
When asked if they could one day imagine taking CosCove internationally for an in-person event, both shared their thoughts.
“Down the road. It’s one of our dreams,” Sherri said.
Mengshu added, “If we get a lot of pull from the community in that direction.”
For now, CosCove already accommodates international shoppers through their online marketplace, with orders coming in from various regions.
“We have Canadians, but we also have quite a few Europeans. Actually, one of my favorite makers is from France, and I see her work and I’m like, ‘Oh, I wish I could buy something from her!’” Sherri shared.
On the topic of sustainability—a cornerstone of CosCove’s mission—both founders discussed how it’s a primary influence on their platform.
“Sustainability is something that both of us have valued for a long time. For me specifically, I see the retail industry in general as being very wasteful. We’re frankly buying more than we ever need. For costumes, too, I think if folks only use it once and then either put it away and never use it again or end up tossing it out, it is very wasteful. A lot of the time, you may create or buy a costume because the show or anime is trending. But after we’ve talked to a lot of people, we realize a lot of the costumes are not getting more than two uses. That’s why a core motivation behind us building out this website is to help people find new life for these costumes that maybe took them a long time to build or even a lot of money. So it’s like, ‘Hey, you loved it for a moment, and now we just want that [costume or prop] to go to a new home and get a new life,’” Mengshu explained.
She continued, “It’s actually a very interesting thread as well because you think about, ‘Hey, I have this costume now. I took beautiful photos with it, and I will be able to track the journey of that costume in the home of the second owner who may now be doing more beautiful photo shoots.’ That was something I really wanted to create—this photo journey of the costume—maybe one day, eventually. But I think theoretically and conceptually, it’s very beautiful. Because your love for this character, your common love, is passed through via the costume. And both of you [the seller and the buyer] are doing good for the environment and connecting with a community. It’s like The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but it’s the costume.”
For Sherri, sustainability in cosplay felt like a natural evolution.
“I think for me it was just natural because almost everything in my life I try to buy second hand. Now it just seems so natural that cosplay should be a part of it, where it hasn’t been before. And actually, I feel like cosplay is a very nostalgic thing to me. One of the best things that you can do for sustainability is to reduce the amount that you buy, which for cosplay means truly buying the costumes that you really feel a deep connection with and that you’re going to enjoy for a long time—[cosplays] that you are always going to treasure. I think that is important to me, and that’s what I love to see on CosCove—when people post that niche costume, and it’s something that they treasured for years, and maybe somebody else can now treasure for more years,” Sherri said.
You can explore CosCove’s online marketplace at https://coscove.com and become part of their vibrant cosplay community.
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