I'm about to get a little ranty here, but none of it is meant with a harsh tone at all, so forgive me, this is coming from a FULL TIME builder.
Alrighty, so let's break down first of all, my monthly costs. (My mate and I live in a house, not an apartment, and are independent.He drives regional semi trucks)
Mortgage each month- $1200
Electric,water, etc- $120
Food- $70
misc costs- $80
Gas (we live rural)- $80-$120
So here we have $1520 per month (and that's on the low side, add $120 each month when we had our husky due to her vet costs, food, etc). NOW let's break down the cost of ONE fursuit, let me find one ahhhh HERE:
http://scuddlebuttcreatures.deviantart.com/art/Beck-2014-477392311 With some details:
http://scuddlebuttcreatures.deviantart.com/art/Beck-mask-details-2014-477391128 . I made this suit for a customer back in February. Now let's break this down:
Total cost of suit: $1200 (by my pricing nowdays)
cost of fur: $350
cost of foam for the head: $26
cost of misc materials (paint, eye blanks, screen, apoxie sculpt, polyfill etc)- $50
So there alone just to MAKE the costume you have $426. Now on average it takes me 1 month to make a suit, and that's with 2 others being worked on at the same time. I work 10-14 hours per day, Monday-Friday. There are an average of 50-100 hours per suit depending on the markings. Some, like this wild dog, have to be entirely hand-sewn in since they're too small for a machine to handle. If you do the math correctly you find that per full $1200 fursuit I make $774 before extra costs. Let's break those down
Shipping (2-day or 1 day usually with insurance and tracking)- $40-120 (depending on the destination, I ship internationally as well)
packing materials (I don't just shove suits in boxes and go "here!" I package them with care and include a care guide packet, thank-you card, badge, and business cards)- $25
So to get a suit from concept to creation with the price tag of $1200, I'm spending $839 on just creating the suit and getting it to your door. That leaves $361 that immediately go to bills/the mortgage. Now just for fun (I'm really doing this without any negativity, just running numbers!) let's add up some of the costs of equipment/housework (we've been getting ready to sell this house and I purchased my van from my parents recently, and that needs work)
Juki DDL-5550 (industrial sewing machine)- $742
Juki MO-816 (industrial serger)- $400
Andis clippers- $120
Chevy 1500 van- $500
Transmission for said van- $400
Misc. housework for market preparation- $300
SO, here there's $2,342 just in equipment that I need to do my job as efficiently and as well as I can.Everything was bought after saving up lots and lots. The transmission has not been bought yet for the van. I ran these numbers in hopes of painting a picture of the actual costs behind each fursuit, and the cost of living. I have to make 3-4 costumes per month in order to make a living.
Whenever I hear "Fursuits are too expensive!" I think one thing: You get what you pay for. Fursuits are a luxury item and when it comes to the market of them there is a scale of quality when it comes to pricing. Those of us who make these full time put a ton of time into them and rely on it for our income. One fursuit hardly covers any of our costs per month.
...and THIS is why they are expensive
(Whew! that was fun!
)