Fursuit Rentals?

[___]

Hello all!
Me and my mate were toying around with this idea, and I was hoping to get a little feedback on it.
We were thinking of starting a cosplay and fursuit rental , though we aren't sure of what concerns people may have, or  even if there's would be a demand for it. So far, the whole thing is called Incognito Cosplay Rentals (Get it? )


So... Here are some of the concerns that we were thinking people may have about out items, please feel free to comment and help us expand!


Sanitation

Spoiler for Hidden:

Everything will be washed after each use, and those with contagious skin conditions will be asked not to use our items, and +those that sweat profusely not to use bodysuits and heads+ (<-- This part is in question.).


 Patrons will aslo be asked to wear a protective clothing underneath the suit, and to practice good hygiene while wearing them to keep them clean as possible. (Shower caps, leotard, etc) We also ask patrons not to yiff in any of our items as well.

Damage to Items

Spoiler for Hidden:

Before using the service, patrons are to sign a contract stating that they are responsible for the cost of lost, damaged, or stolen items. "You break it, you buy it". Items will be retired and put up for sale after a bit of wear is evident at a reduced price.

Costume Choice

Spoiler for Hidden:

I understand that we wouldn't be able to have all of the choices of animals, sizes and colors, since the fandom is so diverse, though we could use the most commonly used.


These would be what we would start with, and when demand rises, we could branch off.


Fursuits
Wolf (White)
Fox (Normal Coloring, Orange w/ Black Tail/Eartips)
Cat (Black)


Cosplay
L from Death Note
Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist
Naruto from Naruto (Of course!)


Props
Katana (Not real!)
Cape
Trenchcoat
Glowsticks

Costs

Spoiler for Hidden:

The cost would be pretty high, so I said, maybe to offset some of it, maybe we could offer advertisement on the site of the fursuit builder's work in exchange for a discount, as well as the fact that many well-known builders are known because of word of mouth.

We were also thinking to start off with, we could start off by only offering partials starting only with handpaws, ears, tail and feetpaws, then working up to the head, and finally a full body suit.

I'm working on a website, though most of it is here, its pretty empty.
http://incgonitocosplay.weebly.com/


Thank you for any and all suggestions and critique you can give!

[WingedZephyr]

How do you put a poll on the thread?

Polls are created from the board list, there's a separate button for "New Poll" instead of "New Topic." But there's also an "add poll" button at the bottom of the thread.

[___]

Polls are created from the board list, there's a separate button for "New Poll" instead of "New Topic." But there's also an "add poll" button at the bottom of the thread.

Thank you WingedZyper.

[WingedZephyr]

No problem.



And if you don't mind me saying so, there's a couple things you might need to think about with the fursuit rentals.

Fursuiting is a physically involved activity, with plenty of sweating and body odor shared among these hypothetical rental suits. Even if they are cleaned after use, there are some things that just can't come clean enough. You might be surprised at the number of people who have no care whatsoever for other people's belongings. Despite any kind of rules or consequences you may put in place, there will be someone who will end up seriously damaging at least one of those outfits. And at the cost of a fursuit, you have to ask if that's a risk that can be covered.

There are also so many body types you'd have to deal with, especially if you cater to both males and females. It's not like you can just have one size of one suit and tell everyone "well, you either fit into this, or we can't help you."


But... in theory, it would be nice to rent a fursuit for events if it was truly clean and could be offered at a cheaper cost than buying one yourself.

[___]

No problem.



And if you don't mind me saying so, there's a couple things you might need to think about with the fursuit rentals.

Fursuiting is a physically involved activity, with plenty of sweating and body odor shared among these hypothetical rental suits. Even if they are cleaned after use, there are some things that just can't come clean enough. You might be surprised at the number of people who have no care whatsoever for other people's belongings. Despite any kind of rules or consequences you may put in place, there will be someone who will end up seriously damaging at least one of those outfits. And at the cost of a fursuit, you have to ask if that's a risk that can be covered.

Hmmm... That's true with the odor, so maybe people who know that they sweat a lot shouldn't be allowed to wear anything that they may sweat on... They would be able to wear the ears, handpaws, (maybe) feetpaws, and tail.


As for the coverage for the items, I was thinking that it would be like "You break it, you buy it" with patrons having to sign some sort of Terms of Service, and suits being sold off when they accumulate some wear on them. (Not stinky ones though. )

There are also so many body types you'd have to deal with, especially if you cater to both males and females. It's not like you can just have one size of one suit and tell everyone "well, you either fit into this, or we can't help you."

We would probably have to start out with the absolute most common of sizes, then work our way down, so for awhile, it may be that way...


Could you put padding inside of a fursuit that's a bit too large, I'm wondering...

But... in theory, it would be nice to rent a fursuit for events if it was truly clean and could be offered at a cheaper cost than buying one yourself.

Thanks for that, I didn't even think of the damage part...
I added those to the first post.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Everybody sweats. It's not really an issue you can avoid.
Costume shops that rent out mascot outfits don't say, "Do you sweat a lot? If you do, we can't let you rent this." (At least, not that I have ever heard of.)
I understand that you would just be starting out and want everything to remain sanitary, but no matter what, people are going to sweat in the fursuits. Even if you only gave profuse sweaters everything but the bodysuit and head, they would still sweat in the handpaws and feet.

[___]

(Nods) I'll look into other mascot renters and see how they handle it.
I'm wondering how well you can clean a fursuit though, because I can do the handpaws pretty well, from experience, though the stuff with foam and such, I'm wondering how well they'd be able to be cleaned.

With the cosplay part, I doubt there'd be so much trouble! xD

[spark]

With the cosplay part, I doubt there'd be so much trouble! xD

People will wear those out too!  And just because they're not sweating buckets doesn't mean they won't need cleaning.  "Con funk" happens at anime cons too, and no doubt plenty of those smelly people who don't bathe the whole con long will be renting your cosplay suits too.

If you're doing this as a fun thing and a nice service, that's great.  But if you're expecting to make a huge profit, I'd take a second look at it.  Nobody's ever gotten rich renting costumes, just because of the issues raised here.  They're going to wear out, and need replacing regularly.  Even if you clean each one perfectly each time, they'll still get old.  A normal fursuit lasts for years and years, but a normal fursuit only gets worn a few times a year, generally.

I do think this can be made into a viable business, none of these problems are deal breakers,  but it's never going to pay really well, is my point here.

[thaos627]

Partials would be a good option as well, I see a lot of girls dressing as felicia from darkstalkers. I consider it a partial since well look it up & you'll see what i mean, but its basically a full suit.

[___]

@ SparkYea, true that, maybe I should add that people should practice good hygiene while wearing them too. (Kinda common sense, but you'd be surprised at the lack of it these days)

I'm just thinking that the anime cosplay items would be easier to clean because they're more like normal clothing, fursuits have so many little things you have to heed so as not to ruin them... xD

Any money made is a good thing, I don't really care about getting rich off of this, I thought that this would be a good thing to have for people to use cuz buying one yourself is expensive as anything.

I was also thinking about having a deal with a cosplay and fursuit builder that I'd buy replacements from them only for a span of time for even more of a discount. Do you think that would work?




@ Thaos627
Yea! They could mix and match the things they want to use, like a wolf cosplayer could have Ed's red jacket on, and so on. Good idea!

[spark]

[quote author=TheRedeemed link=topic=19276.msg838407#msg838407 date=1328912797
I was also thinking about having a deal with a cosplay and fursuit builder that I'd buy replacements from them only for a span of time for even more of a discount. Do you think that would work


I'm not sure what you mean by "only for a span of time."  I know as a maker it wouldn't matter to me if somebody wanted to rent it out or was just buying it for themselves, I have to do the same amount of work to make it either way, so I'd charge the same.  And I wouldn't want it back after it had been worn at all, let alone rented out, so I wouldn't give a discount if they only wanted it for some amount of time, if that's what you mean. 

[___]

[quote author=TheRedeemed link=topic=19276.msg838407#msg838407 date=1328912797
I was also thinking about having a deal with a cosplay and fursuit builder that I'd buy replacements from them only for a span of time for even more of a discount. Do you think that would work


I'm not sure what you mean by "only for a span of time."  I know as a maker it wouldn't matter to me if somebody wanted to rent it out or was just buying it for themselves, I have to do the same amount of work to make it either way, so I'd charge the same.  And I wouldn't want it back after it had been worn at all, let alone rented out, so I wouldn't give a discount if they only wanted it for some amount of time, if that's what you mean. 

Oh no, I mean to say that I'd only exclusivley buy fursuit parts from them for say 2 years in exchange for a percentage off of the items, say maybe 10%. I'm sorry, I guess I could have been clearer with that... ^^; 

[spark]

Ah, I see.  Yeah, I could see somebody being interested in that.  I might have given a small discount for that kind of thing.  (I'm not making suits right now, I'm finishing up the ones I'm committed to and then taking a break.)  Though I"d suggest taking extra care to get references and make sure whoever you pick out has very good business practices, because ending up with an exclusive agreement with somebody who flakes out on you would be a pretty bad thing!

[___]

That's true... I'll certainly have to do my research.
Thank you so much Spark!


I just got the website finished, if you could, please critique it!

[Harley (Squeak)]

Partials would be a good option as well, I see a lot of girls dressing as felicia from darkstalkers. I consider it a partial since well look it up & you'll see what i mean, but its basically a full suit.

I was just about to comment with this. Partials, in my opinion, would be the best way to go in terms of fursuit rentals. The ranges of people they would fit would probably be much higher than a suit, only because in my experience, people like suits that are fitted to their size, more than the baggy mascot-type suits.


Just my two cents!