Care Guide

Underarmour

We recommend to wear an underarmour under your costume. It will help to wick away sweat, 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

Recommended but not mandatory:

EZ cooling perfomers vest

EZ PCM cooling collar

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 70% isopropyl alcohol and 30% 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. Please avoid inhaling the alcohol solution.

Cleaning

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

Washing the head by hand 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 body 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.

For washing your bodysuit, handpaws, feetpaws and tail, fill a tub with cold or body 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.

Washing with a carpet cleaner

Alternatively you can use a mini carper cleaner to clean your costume, including the head inside and out. Just remember to use a gentle detergent in a spray bottle. 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!

Washing with a washing machine

Bodysuit, handpaws, sleeves and paddings can be put into a washing machine. It is not recommended to put a costume head, feetpaws or a tail (with an articulated structure) into a washing machine as it is not known how well they hold up during a washing cycle.

Bodysuit should be turned inside out and handpaws put into a washing bag before putting them into a washing machine. Paddings should be washed and dried separate from the body. Do not wash them inside the bodysuit. Use a gentle degergent, slightly smaller amount that is recommended in the bottle. Only DELICATE or WOOL cycle should be used with COLD (or 30 °C tops) water tempature. Otherwise you risk destroying your suit. Once the washing cycle is done, take the parts out right away. Turn the bodysuit right side out, handpaws out of the washing bag and brush them before laying them on a rack to dry.

Drying

All fur parts should be brushed right after washing and multiple times during the drying process. Do not hang any of the parts while they are heavy with water, lay them on a drying rack or a clean dry towel instead (towel should be changed to a dry one a few times during the process). Drying a costume takes a long time, so make sure you have the time to check and brush it every 2-3 hours until it's completely dry. Use of a fan is highly recommended when drying a costume.

Paddings should be shaped while wet if they are slightly deformed after washing. Other than that, they can just be put on a rack to dry by themselves.

Make sure that all the parts are completely dry and well brushed before storing them.

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 lay your bodysuit on a large shelf. Head and feetpaws can be stored on a shelf.