Rasta Imposta is an American costume and novelty-apparel brand established in 1992 by Robert Berman in New Jersey. The company gained prominence for its humorous Halloween costumes, novelty hats, wigs, and distinctive food- and object-shaped costumes, most notably its banana costume. In 2025, after 33 years of operation under the Rasta Imposta name, the company rebranded to Imposta Costumes to better reflect its expanded portfolio of costumes, accessories, and licensed products.

The business remains a privately held, family-run enterprise headquartered in Runnemede, New Jersey. It was founded by Robert and Tina Berman alongside Robert’s sister, Jodi Berman.

Origins: The Rasta hat (1992)

Rasta Imposta originated from a single novelty product. Inspired by the growing market for novelty ski hats and the popularity of Bob Marley’s music, founder Robert Berman created a baseball-style cap with wool dreadlocks attached. According to company accounts, Berman sold one of these handmade hats directly off his head at a bar on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, for $20 and a beer. This transaction marked the informal beginning of the business [1].

The product offered a simple value proposition: rather than purchasing or renting an elaborate outfit, wearers could achieve an immediate, humorous transformation with a single accessory. This concept of easy, wearable comedy became foundational to the brand’s identity [1].

Industry expansion (1993)

The company achieved significant industry recognition when Robert and Tina Berman attended a Halloween trade show in Chicago in 1993. The dreadlock hat attracted considerable attention from buyers, demonstrating its viability as a major costume-industry product rather than a mere novelty trinket [1]. This exposure facilitated Rasta Imposta’s transition from a small hat manufacturer to a broader costume business.

Growth into full costumes

Throughout the 1990s, customer demand for complete outfits to accompany the novelty headwear drove product expansion. The Bermans responded by developing additional costume pieces characterized by deliberate humour and unconventional designs [1]. Rather than focusing on traditional fantasy archetypes, the company built a reputation for comedy, parody, and visual surprise. One successful line, termed “Funky Formal Wear,” repurposed exaggerated patterns and non-traditional clothing into novelty costumes.

By the late 1990s, Rasta Imposta had firmly established itself in the Halloween-costume market. Industry sources date the formal introduction of its costume collection to 1998, coinciding with this period of significant expansion [2].

The banana costume

The most commercially significant product in the company’s history is the banana costume. Introduced in 2001 as part of an “easy to wear” concept, it exemplified the brand’s strategy of transforming instantly recognizable everyday objects into wearable humour. The design proved so distinctive that Rasta Imposta secured copyright protection for it, which later became the subject of federal litigation regarding alleged copying by competitors.

“Wearable joke” philosophy

Rasta Imposta’s product development has consistently followed a specific creative framework: taking a recognizable object and making it wearable and funny. Instead of relying solely on conventional Halloween tropes such as witches or superheroes, the company developed costumes based on:

• Food items
• Animals
• Household objects
• Everyday consumer products
• Pop-culture references
• Parodies
• Humorous occupations
• Oversized objects and shapes

This approach helped establish what the company terms the “Humor Costume Category.” According to its corporate profile, Rasta Imposta developed more than 2,000 products spanning baby, adult, and pet costumes, as well as mascot and promotional items [3].

Novelty hats

Novelty headwear served as the company’s original category. The Rasta dreadlock hat laid the foundation for the business, followed by numerous other humorous hats and wigs [2].

Halloween costumes

Costumes eventually became the primary revenue driver. The company developed products across multiple demographics, including babies, children, teens, adults, couples, groups, and pets. Current corporate descriptions emphasize original, humorous designs across all these segments.

Food costumes

Food-themed costumes became a particularly recognizable segment of the brand. Following the success of the banana, the company released designs depicting hot dogs, pizza, tacos, and other familiar foods. This category also includes licensed food-related costumes associated with brands such as Campbell’s, Skittles, and Chiquita.

Mascots and promotional costumes

Beyond the seasonal Halloween market, Rasta Imposta expanded into mascots, promotional costumes, and custom design services. This allowed corporations and organizations to utilize wearable characters for marketing campaigns and events [3].

Licensed costumes

As the business scaled, it secured licensing agreements with major consumer brands and entertainment companies. Documented partnerships include brands such as Anheuser-Busch, Kool-Aid, and Heinz, as well as film studios including Warner Bros.

Rasta Imposta originally manufactured its products domestically in New Jersey. Early production of wool dreadlocks involved sourcing, dyeing, processing, and commercial drying within the United States [1]. However, as the business grew, domestic manufacturing became economically challenging due to competition from lower-cost imports. This pressure prompted a transition to overseas manufacturing, marking the company’s evolution from a local novelty operation to an international costume business [1].

As of 2026, operating under the Imposta Costumes name, the company develops hundreds of new costumes annually and sells more than 10,000 products monthly. It maintains its headquarters in Runnemede, New Jersey.

Rasta Imposta has been involved in intellectual-property disputes concerning its distinctive designs. The banana costume was central to the case Silvertop Associates, Inc. v. Kangaroo Manufacturing, Inc., in which federal court records identified Silvertop Associates as the entity doing business as Rasta Imposta and affirmed its copyright registration for the design.

In 2017, the company also filed suit against Kmart and Sears Holdings, alleging copyright infringement, trade-dress violations, and related claims involving the banana costume design. These cases underscore the commercial value of novelty product designs as protectable intellectual property.

In 2013, Rasta Imposta received the Apparel Magazine Top 40 Innovators Award. The accolade recognized the company’s unconventional approach to costume design and its successful transformation from a novelty-hat maker into a significant player in the broader costume industry [2]. The award highlighted product creativity—specifically the ability to convert ordinary concepts into commercially viable humorous costumes—rather than technological innovation.

Family involvement has been central to the company’s development. Founder Robert Berman was joined in the business by his wife, Tina Berman, and his sister, Jodi Berman. Tina Berman brought prior experience from The Mod Hatter and a family background in the party-rental and costume industry, providing insight into both consumer novelty markets and the professional Halloween sector [1]. The company continues to describe itself as a family-run organization.

In 2025, the company announced its rebrand from Rasta Imposta to Imposta Costumes. Management stated that the original name no longer adequately represented the breadth of the business, which had expanded far beyond its initial novelty-hat focus to encompass a wide range of costumes, accessories, licenses, and promotional products. The change represents an evolution of the existing company rather than a dissolution.

Rasta Imposta’s market position is defined by several key characteristics:

• Humour: Products are designed to function as immediate visual jokes rather than traditional character representations.
• Simplicity: Many designs follow the original Rasta hat principle of achieving a costume effect through a single distinctive wearable item paired with ordinary clothing.
• Recognizability: Successful designs rely on instant visual comprehension; familiar objects like bananas or pizza slices communicate the concept immediately.
• Pop culture integration: Licensed characters, brands, and cultural references keep the catalogue relevant to contemporary consumers.
• Accessibility: Costumes are positioned for quick, easy use at parties, bars, parades, and events, rather than as elaborate theatrical garments.

Rasta Imposta is an American costume company and is unrelated to Rastah, a Pakistani contemporary fashion label. The two entities share no corporate or brand affiliation.

1. Rasta Imposta: Laughter Comes First – Costumers Today
2. Rasta Imposta costumes wins apparel ‘Innovator Award’ – Fibre2Fashion
3. Imposta Costumes | LinkedIn