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  • Courtesy of Google Images
  • Courtesy of Google Images
  • Courtesy of Google Images
LOS ANGELES — Wally the Welsh corgi is a rising star in the world of Instagram. With 63,000 followers, and 12,000 Facebook likes, he knows how to impress with his lovable personality and costumes. Wally’s recent success happened to coincides with the pet costumes industry’s coming of age, and business is off the chain. The National Retail Federation estimates that 20 million pet owners will dress their pets this Halloween, spending $350 million on the costumes. The online marketplace eBay had 1.5 million pet costumes for sale on Oct. 21 out of 800 million items listed for sale, with 159 million active customers in 200 countries, said Zoher Kapu, vice president of global optimization and data for eBay. Pet costumes represent 2 percent of Costume SuperCenter’s sales. The company sells nothing but costumes and accessories on eBay and other sites. “There does not seem to be a ceiling on what people are willing to spend on their pets,” said Michael Esposito, the company’s business development and affiliate marketing director. The majority of their pet costumes sell for $14.99 to $24.99. You would never know the costume only required a 10th of the fabric needed for a human costume,” he said. “Costume SuperCenter has seen its pet costume sales double every year for the last three years,” Esposito said. He expects the trend to continue. Halloween costumes for pets tend to follow news headlines and movies. The latest “Star Wars” movie isn’t out yet but demand is already high for Darth Vader and Yoda costumes. “In March next year, Batman and Superman – two of the most iconic superheroes – will face off on the big screen, but we are already seeing the competition play out in stores and online this Halloween season with these two costumes neck-and-neck, topping our best-selling list,” said Eran Cohen, chief customer experience officer for PetSmart. It’s close, but the Batman costume is actually outselling the rest of the field, Cohen said. The top five best-selling costumes on eBay for pets are Superman, lion, panda, Batman and necktie. Another popular pet costume consists of a figure that appears to be riding the dog, like a storm-trooper riding a dewback, a reptile from “Star Wars.” Wally personally looks very cute as a minion and a Michael Jackson. https://www.facebook.com/WallyTheWelshCorgi/#!/WallyTheWelshCorgi/photos/a.204985829669793.1073741829.157933547708355/506667209501652/?type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/WallyTheWelshCorgi/#!/WallyTheWelshCorgi/photos/a.204985829669793.1073741829.157933547708355/218565124978530/?type=3&theater