FAQs

 

How much does a mascot costume cost?

The price of a mascot costume can vary greatly for a number of reasons. So, the real question here should be: “What SHOULD a mascot costume cost?”.

What you ultimately end up investing in your mascot costume will largely depend upon:

  • Why you want a mascot in the first place.
  • What conditions it will be used in.
  • How long you need it to last.
  • How your mascot fits into your branding strategy.
  • How complex is your character to make?
  • Do you actually need a custom mascot costume? (The answer is “YES!”)

Clearly, if you are looking for a "street character" that is only meant to stand on the corner and wave at people, and you have little regard for your reputation, $1,000 - $2,000 would probably do the trick.

If on the other hand, your mascot is going to be a high-profile representative of your brand, you owe it to your organization to budget and invest accordingly in a professionally made mascot costume.

A successful and marketable mascot character needs to be supported by a properly made mascot costume. With this in mind, a typical investment for a full mascot costume, head to toe should be in the $7,000 - $9,000 range. There’s no need to pay more than this, but paying anything less is just asking for trouble. (Also read: Why Should you Invest in a CUSTOM Mascot Costume?)

What should you expect from a custom mascot costume?

The “sweet spot” price for a mascot costume should be in the range of $5,000 to $6,500.This is a fair price for a mascot costume that will perform the way you need it to represent your brand properly and generate revenue for you.

At this price, you should expect the mascot company to provide you with:

  • A colour drawing of a unique character designed exclusively for you.
  • A guarantee that the mascot costume will be a reasonable representation of the agreed upon final drawing.
  • The right to use the character and the image for no additional cost.

The mascot costume itself should be:

  • Custom designed to fit your needs; single or multiple performers, weather conditions, high activity, etc.
  • Performer friendly with a good field of vision, lightweight and comfortable. Above all else, safe to wear at all times.
  • Durable, made from high quality long lasting materials that are resistant to water and weather, lasting several years with proper care.
  • Washable from head to toe with a minimal amount of maintenance.
  • Accurate and believable as a character. It hides the performer and allows for outfit/jersey/clothing changes.
  • Marketable, allowing you to generate revenue through sponsorship, merchandising, and appearance fees.

How do you choose the best mascot character?

The cost of creating a custom mascot costume is wholly dependent upon the complexity of the character you have chosen. A dog or a bird, for instance, will not be as costly to create as a "Spartan" or a "Knight".

However, in addition to considering cost, the initial mascot concept you choose can also greatly determine the initial acceptance of your mascot character and long term success of your overall mascot program.

Animal before Creature before Human before Object

Our counsel to any client looking for a new character, is to choose a living being over an inanimate object first, and then an animal over a human. We strongly urge you to consider this direction for several reasons that we would be happy to discuss with you over a phone call.

Your mascot should wear your logo...not BE your logo

Many times, clients offer us a logo as inspiration for their mascot character. Often they are looking for us to turn their logo into a mascot costume. But sometimes, that doesn't work. Nor does it always make sense. The logo may not directly translate well into a mascot character from which we can build a mascot costume that needs to move around and interact in a real world setting. And, oh yeah...it is helpful if the costume is designed to allow your performer to see, walk and breathe!

We have a motto: Your mascot should wear your logo...it doesn't have to BE your logo. Let your logo do its job and use your mascot to promote your company by wearing your logo proudly rather than trying to imitate it.

Of course, we always take inspiration directly from our clients when it comes to developing a mascot character and subsequently building their mascot costume. We have a full graphic service that will draw your mascot character concept to properly accommodate performers' safety and mobility while still maintaining the inspiration of your initial mascot character concept. We only proceed with the build once YOU are satisfied.

Ultimately, whatever you choose as your mascot character, quality. accuracy and durability are never compromised when you choose a TMC Original™ Mascot Costume. Please call us for more advice about choosing the best mascot to represent your brand.

Why should you invest in a CUSTOM mascot costume over a cheap one from the internet?

Costumes can be ordered on the Internet with the click of a button for as low as $300. But, these costumes tend to fall far short in terms of functionality, quality and durability and can't seriously be considered a “mascot costume”. With a cheap costume it's more about what you DON’T get than what you do.

Firstly, it will likely be made of extremely low quality materials, which makes it:

  • NOT durable. You will likely need to replace it in 18 months.
  • NOT washable. You have to pay for dry cleaning, which is hard on fabrics and will shorten its lifespan even further.
  • NOT performer friendly. It will be heavy and hot and not easy to move around in.
  • NOT safe for the performer or fans because it may be made hard materials or have sharp edges, wires, metal etc.
  • NOT believable. It likely won’t be an accurate depiction of the character you were expecting it to be.

Furthermore, a cheap costume will likely be mass-produced. This means it is:

  • NOT custom made, and therefore it is…
  • NOT exclusive to your organization, which in turn means it is…
  • NOT a marketable entity. You can’t prevent or control copies of the same costume entering your own market. (If you can get it cheap, so can someone else!) Nor will you be able to generate revenue from your own character. (See “How can we generate revenue with our mascot?”)

In other words, just because you can spend a little less, doesn’t mean you should! Going cheap may cost you more than you bargained for. It is far worth it in the long run to invest properly in a unique, custom mascot costume from a reputable company…like THE Mascot Company!

How can your mascot generate revenue?

By definition an "investment" is something that will generate a return over time. A custom mascot costume is truly an investment in your brand and should perpetually generate revenue for your organization. Paying $5,000 or more for a mascot costume may seem steep initially. But it is truly an investment that will pay dividends that far surpass the initial cost.

WHAT IS YOUR R.O.M.I.? (RETURN ON MASCOT INVESTMENT)

If a mascot costume is designed properly, and customized to your specific brand, the possibilities for revenue generation are endless. They include:

  • Sponsorships
  • Endorsements
  • Promotional events
  • Merchandising
  • Appearance fees

Simply put, your annual R.O.M.I. (Return On Mascot Investment) should at the very least cover the cost of operating your mascot program. At best it should become a revenue centre for your organization.

Consider this example:

Coleman High School had a budget of $2,500 for a new mascot costume. Upon doing some research, the discovered their budget wasn't quite enough to get a quality custom product that would represent them properly. They knew it was in their best interest to invest just a bit more to get a far superior mascot. So, rather than settle on an inferior costume, they got creative!

Before they even unveiled it to the public, the student body approached a local car dealership and showed them a conceptual drawing of their new mascot. The school asked the dealership for $2,500 per year for the next 3 years for an exclusive sponsorship agreement. The sponsor would receive:

  • Logo placement on the mascot's clothing (school jerseys and shorts)
  • Sponsor mentions in all student led school publications
  • Sponsored P.A. announcements at all home games
  • Signage at all home venues at the school (gymnasium, field, etc.)
  • Access to the mascot for any special event hosted by the dealership

To no one's surprise. The dealership jumped at the deal. For a mere $2,500 a year, they saw the opportunity to :

  • Give back to the community by supporting a local high school
  • Market directly to the parents of the students
  • Create great goodwill with their future customers (the students)
  • Generate great PR

The school was not only able to pay for a fantastic mascot costume, they doubled their R.O.M.I. within 3 years. They used the funds from the sponsorship to purchase merchandise of their mascot character (plush dolls, bobbleheads, key chains, etc). They sold those at a profit which they in turn used to set up a scholarship to help low income students go to college.

How's that for ROMI?

Generating revenue from your mascot program is not only possible, it is vital to the success of your organization. It all starts by investing properly in a quality, professionally made, custom mascot costume.

Call us for more ideas!

Do you need a fan or a cooling vest?

Very often, we are asked if we can install a fan or provide a cooling vest in the mascot costumes we build. While we would do so if our customer absolutely insisted upon it, we very often talk them out of it. Here's why...

The very nature of mascot costumes makes them hot. A highly active performance in a fur suit will do that. The best thing we can do to minimize the heat is to provide discrete ventilation and to make the mascot costume as lightweight as possible.

Installing a fan causes more problems than it solves. Firstly, you are introducing wires and batteries to power it, which may negate the ability to wash the mascot costume. Secondly, in order to be effective, a fan must suck hot air out of the head. If it didn't, it would simply blow hot air back on to the performer. Also, in order to vent air out properly, we would need to put a very obvious hole in the top of your character's head. This detracts from the illusion of your character as a "living thing".

A cooling vest will work...briefly. Usually the cooling packs in a vest warm to body temperature within 10-15 minutes. Once they are no longer useful, the performer is stuck carrying them around for the balance of her appearance. They become 5 - 7 lbs of dead weight, which makes the performer work harder...and get even hotter!

Cooling vests and fans seem like a good idea, but really they are a waste of money and can do more harm than good. While no mascot costume can be entirely "cool", a well made, lightweight custom mascot should be cooler than the rest. Invest in a proper costume, take frequent breaks and drink plenty of water to beat the heat!