Care Guide

Underarmour

We recommend to wear an underarmour under your costume. It will help to wick away sweat and keep you cooler and it keeps your costume clean and dry longer.

What to buy:

Cooling motorcycle balaclava

Long sleeved underarmour top and bottom

Underglowes

Cooling socks

Maintenance (after suiting)

Let your costume air out for a bit right after suiting. Before and after suiting or storing, it is highly recommended to brush your costume to keep it looking tidy and prevent matting the fur. For longer fur, use a comb or long bristle brush and for shorter fur, a slicker brush does fine when used carefully. Fleece and minky should be brushed regularly as well with a soft bristle brush. Be careful not to pull any of the fur or fibers out!

Spray the inside of your costume head with a 50% isopropyl alcohol and 50% water solution in a spraybottle. Make sure to not get any of the solution into painted or airbrushed areas such as the eyes. If you get some of the solution into any painted parts, just let it dry on its own, don't try to wipe it away. After spraying let the solution dry completely before storing your costume head.

Cleaning

Small spots on the costume can be cleaned with a damp cloth and a little bit of detergent.

For a proper cleaning of the head you will need: Two spraybottles, one with only water in it and the other with water and a small amount of gentle detergent. Please use cold or room tempature water. Do not use hot water, it will most certainly destroy your costume.

Start with spraying some detergent solution inside of the head. Avoid getting water or the detergent on the eyes. Then wipe the inside of the head with a damp cloth, rinse the cloth and repeat as many times as needed to get the detergent out. Then proceed to spray the detergent solution onto the outside of your costume head. Again, avoid the eyes. Cleaning the face part, you can put some detergent solution on to a cloth and rub it onto the face. Spray the detergent solution on to the head and gently rub or brush the solution into the fur. Wipe most of the soap off with a dry towel. Spray water on to the head, rub it in and again wipe it off with a clean, dry towel. Repeat the last step as many times as needed until you get all of the detergent out. Brush the head and leave it to dry in front of a fan.

Make sure that the head is completely dry and well brushed before storing it.

For washing your bodysuit, handpaws, feetpaws and tail, fill a tub with cold or room tempature water and put a good amount of detergent into the water (check the detergent bottle for the right detergent to water ratio). Mix the water and soap together. Submerge all the parts into the soapy water. Use your hands to gently scrub out every inch of the fur. Scrub out spots like the under arms and between the legs where fur gets easily matted. After getting everything scrubbed, let it soak for about 10 minutes. You may scrub again after letting it soak. Drain the tub and carefully squeeze the dirty water out of the parts. Do not twist, squeeze with your hands. Rinse the parts thoroughly with a shower head and squeeze them again. Rinse a few times more until the water is clear when squeezing. Do not hang any of the parts while they are heavy with water. Brush the pieces and but them on a towel or drying rack with a fan blowing on to them. Brush the pieces every hour or so to make sure the fur dries correctly. Drying the costume takes a very long time. Again make sure that all the parts are completely dry and well brushed before storing them.

Alternatively you can use a mini carper cleaner to clean your costume. Just remember to use a gentle detergent with your carpet cleaner. Put just clean water into the carpet cleaner tank. Spray the costume part you want to clean with the detergent solution, rub or brush it in and use the carpet cleaner to get the detergent out. Do not use a solution made for cleaning carpets, it may damage your costume.

DO NOT use steam to clean your costume, it will most certainly destroy it!

Storing

Store your costume in a dry, room tempature place. Hang your bodysuit, handpaws and tail up to prevent the fur from getting permanent creases or crimps like it would if kept stuffed in a container. If your bodysuit has a large or otherwise heavy tail attached onto it, it is recommended to store your body on a large shelf. Head and feetpaws can be stored on a shelf.