Middle-earth garb
Costume company Burgschneider is launching a line of Lord of the Rings-inspired costumes for enthusiasts
Burgschneider, a Germany-based clothing company that specializes in medieval and fantasy costuming has announced that it's gained a license from Middle-earth Enterprises to produce a line of replica costumes from J.R.R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
The company has been around for nearly two decades and says that it's the largest manufacturer of medieval clothing in the world. Chatting with a couple of friends who are deeply involved in the Renaissance Faire world, they noted that they not only owned several garments from the company, but that they both praised the company's quality and affordability. The company also runs a series of Live Action Roleplaying events that's attracted thousands of players from around the world.
In its announcement, Burgschneider says that it will create a range of costumes and run "immersive" LARPing events from Tolkien's fantasy world. The company says that the first collection of costumes will arrive in Fall 2025, and while it namechecked Gondorian warriors, Hobbits, and Rohan adventurers in its press release, it didn't say what items would be part of that collection.
The company already sells a wide range of medieval-inspired clothing and accessories, as well as collections of class-specific garments, replica weapons and shields, and armor. The company has recently branched into licensed properties; it launched a line of Dungeons & Dragons costumes last year, and this March, it will unveil a line of Warhammer costumes.
We'll have to see what the company eventually delivers this year from Tolkien's world, but speaking with PopInsider in October 2023, the company's Chief Creative Officer, Thomas Miller, said of their Dungeons & Dragons line that "these costumes are designed to be worn and used and abused. They’re not meant to be things that are flimsy, light, and destroyable over one weekend at a con. We want you to be able to run around in the woods with your friends or sit at a table and spill something on it and it’s still going to be the same the next day.”
This isn't the first time we've seen officially-licensed cosplay-level products from Middle-earth. Wētā Workshop's store sells a handful of replicas, including Gandalf's hat, gloves, and scarf.
While costume companies have produced garments for adults for decades, they're largely focused on the Halloween market, producing items that are suitable for only a couple of of uses. The growth of the markets for high-end collectors and cosplayers, a number of companies have begun to lean into higher-end wearables, such as Master Replicas, ANOVOS, Denuo Novo, and others.
This Middle-earth line comes at a time when Tolkien's world has begun to expand at an increasing rate. In 2022, Amazon's Prime Video released The Rings of Power, a prequel spinoff set in the world's Second Age, while Warner Bros. also released an animated film, Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim in December 2024 and plans a pair of live-action films, one about the hunt for Gollum to be released in 2026.
Behind the scenes, J.R.R. Tolkien's estate has been licensing more of its intellectual property. In 2022, the Saul Zaentz Company, which held some of the crucial film rights to Lord of the Rings sold its Middle-earth Enterprises to a Swedish company called Embracer Group. At the time, it explained that it would be able to exploit those rights in through additional films and "continue to provide new opportunities for fans to explore this fictive world through merchandising and other experiences."
Andrew Liptak
"Providing new opportunities" to explore the world through merchandise and experiences seems exactly in Burgschneider's wheelhouse, and this partnership appears to be an example of this change in ownership coming to life.
To me, this feels like another indication that immersive entertainment is something that isn't to be ignored, and goes hand-in-hand with the growing popularity of cosplay as a hobby and vocation. Fans crave experiences with the worlds that they love, and dressing up in the costumes of one's favorite characters and taking part in adventures in those worlds is a way to get closer to them.
I, for one, am intrigued by this new partnership: one of the costumes that I've been eyeing in recent years is that of Gandalf the Grey. Maybe this'll be a good way to kickstart that journey.