justifying fursuit costs?

[Calun the Bat]

Hey guys, what have you spent, or what do you plan on spending for your suits?

I'm going to be working on a new head from a blank I purchased. This, however, is for a cosplay, and not a true fursuit. (though I could easily reuse the head)

Since I have a bat fursona, though, I was hoping to make a true fursuit later on down the road. I was wondering, I've seen a lot of different prices that people have paid for their fursuits in total. What do you look for in a suit's cost? Do you commission, or do you pay for materials and make your own? I'd love to make my own, but my fursona is an easy peasy color scheme and such, so I also theoretically wouldn't mind just commissioning one.

I have plenty of time before that happens, but I thought I'd get opinions! Hope to hear from some of you!

[saph the sergal]

plan on spending for mine? what ever the cost is

why the quailty of the suit and its durabilty to hold up and plus the simles you get from kids because to them your a giant moving teddy bear thats come alive (even if the head gets silly hot and humid) its the reactions and joy thats justification in itself is it not

also just my advice thread for going to cons and fursuiting motly just fursuiting http://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=25161.0

[Cheza]

The thing with fursuits is usually that "you get what you pay for"
Tho it's ofc not always the case.
But in general, the more you pay, the better the whole experience and end result should be.



My first suit head (the one seen in my current avi) cost me ~$350. I got a slight deal because the maker (Guinn's custom creatures) had trouble finding a buyer. Most likely because the eyes are tiny bit derpy.
My partial (made by Lundicos) also cost me around ~$300. And it shows since things are a wee bit wonky here and there. But I supported local builder when commissioning it, helping them improve their skills and hopefully gain some more attention.
I also bought another partial for around the same price from the same guy, tho I gave that one away as a gift.
My second head (also by GCC) cost me ~$450. It's really beautiful on the outside but the padding and stuff on the inside is kinda weird (making it kinda bothersome to wear) and the jaw tend to always hang slightly open.


I'm ok with all that tho, since I realise I'm not going to get a Clockworks-suit for that amount.
My suits are still beautiful and precious in their own ways, and I love them all.
To me, they're priceless.
(Worth mentioning is also that the two GCC-suits are premades I "adopted" and the partials have got a bit of history to them as well)




Chezawoof (my main fursona) is really special to me, so if I ever decided to get a suit made of her, I'd be happy to pay as much as it'd take to have her brought to life the way I'd want her. Which essentially means, "as much as the "right" maker is asking"
I'm a disaster with a needle, so if I tried to build a suit myself, the result would probably look like something from a really really really bad horror movie. Which means that it wouldn't result in something I'd be happy with.




The easiest way to "justify" the price of a suit made by a skilled and well-known maker is to consider that it could easily end up costing a lot more to try and make a "perfect" (as in the way you want it) suit yourself (unless you're good with sewing and stuff like that, ofc) than to just commission it from someone who builds suits for a living. By commissioning someone who's great at what they do, you know what you can expect, and you're guaranteed to get a nice-looking suit that'll last for a long time and that'll put a smile on countless peoples faces.




But that's not saying building a suit yourself is a stupid idea in any way. Some people feel that having a suit you built yourself is much much much more valuable than one you commissioned, because -they- built it themselves. It's usually also cheaper, provided you haven't got your thumbs growing in the middle of your palms like I do xP