Where to Get a custom costume.

[cheeseboy33]

Hello everybody, the haunt I work at is looking to make a costume for the main character which also is what the haunt is named after. So I was wondering where I can go or who I can contact and say hey this is what we want it to look like and we need it to fit somebody this size and preferably make it out of this material. Also how would we protect that costume so that other people do not make money off of it. We would really hate to loose money on a costume that we created and somebody else put in walmart or something like that.

[lurker]

My wife and I do custom costume work. You can check us out at Wickdella.com. Drop me an e-mail or give me a call at 540-742-3350 and we can talk about your project.

[Gravely]

you can't really protect the costume. not in this country. That's why you see mt designs in bag costumes, and why the day after the oscars, entertainment tonight will always have a story about people doing know offs of the dresses the stars wore

you can copyright the characters name

you can also I believe trademark any artwork containing the character


so it's more about the character, than the costume itself really.

heck, I've been making custom wardrobe in this industry since 1997, and still, someone may see a design one of my own actors is wearing, and go right over to a different company, and ask them to make it.
nothing I can do really.

but I would be happy to talk to you about what you have in mind.
I have built signature characters for dozens of haunts over the years

[lurker]

Yeah, you can't protect a costume from people copying it. You can make it so it is difficult to mass produce. You don't see a lot of the Gore Galore stuff being copied. I don't think anyone could mass produce those type costumes and under cut the cost of the originals.

[Jim Warfield]

"Can't Protect"?

But at least one woman 70 miles from me sure was sued and stood to lose her business, house, car and any money.
She had a costume rental business and she had sewn up her own "Barney" costume. (Maybe this is more "character" than costume?)
The company's lawyer said that with such a costume any pervert could have rented it and proceeded to go about molesting children, therein was the angst and jist of the lawsuit.
I think probably anyone could have rented a genuine Barney or made a Barney costume and went about molesting too...?
Unless maybe there was no such thing as an official molester-proof Barney costume?

Many years ago a guy asked if I would make some life-sized Ninja Turtles for his wax museum?
Not me. Not then or now.

[Gravely]

Jim, you're right, that falls under the willfully confusing the public

like an old story about a rental batman falling and hurting a kid at a pizza hut.
so everyone that's there now hates batman and DC comics


so, you can sue, in civil court, it's not a criminal act

and you have to prove that you suffered damages by the actions of the others

in the case of costume shops, they know they don't have the $$ to fight a barney owner, or lucas films or disney, so the lawyer letter usually ends it.

so that's why you should create ART WORK, or whatever and get legal protections on that.
which in the case of movies or tv, is enough

I have legal grounds now for my Gravely character, because of the TV show. over the air broadcast and copywriten scripts and visuals for the show.

[cheeseboy33]

So What I'm getting from all of this is if I design the costume and make that the character/ the characters artwork or possibly tie that into the logo for the house somehow I could legally protect it from knock off costumes. (with the logo would we be able to put a picture of the character in the logo and be ok/ good enough?)

Also how much would a custom costume cost and what are the costs of protecting the things you all have mentioned?

[Gravely]

the legal costs are between you and your lawyer, or one of those on line legal service things

and it can be a drawn out process, and you will have to keep up with it in years to come with the government



as for the costume costs.
well, you would be best to talk to whatever company you like, off list, no professional is going to estimate, or negotiate on a chat board, just way too many variables in what you might like.

[MovieRelics]

So What I'm getting from all of this is if I design the costume and make that the character/ the characters artwork or possibly tie that into the logo for the house somehow I could legally protect it from knock off costumes. (with the logo would we be able to put a picture of the character in the logo and be ok/ good enough?)

Also how much would a custom costume cost and what are the costs of protecting the things you all have mentioned?

If your wanting to make sure that your costume is not going to be reproduced and sold by another retailer, you need to get a copyright for the character / costume design that you create. It's not hard, you just need to make sure that you have well documented your character / costume design that you could show in court that the character / costume design is 1) original and 2) your original concept. Gather all your concept artwork, drawings, photos of the costume completed, and a written description of your costume / character (ie what makes it unique and custom). Get it notarized, seal it up, and provide it to a attorney or safety deposit box for safe keeping. If you have to go to court someday, you have it.

Now if someone goes out and copies your design for profit, you can go after them for copyright violation of the character / costume that you created. But, be warned, your character needs to be really unique and the violating character would have to be very clearly violating your original copyright for you to be able to get a judgment in your favor by a court. Also, you need to have the money to do all this. Court cost, attorney fee's, and more. Plus if you lose, you open yourself up to damages from the other party for their legal fees.

I work in the video game industry, so the idea of protecting one's character designs and concepts is something that I deal with daily. But I'm not an attorney and unless someone else has specifically said they are, I would suggest that you contact a attorney that specializes in copyright and intellectual property. If it's something that your really worried your going to see hanging in a costume shop or wall-mart someday, you should get advice by someone that will be able to tell you exactly what to do to protect your interest.

[Haunted Farm]

I say Wickdella!

There costumes are amazing along with the masks are just great. :-D

[maliciousstudios]

Custom costumes

I would like to direct you to " Creature Corps " we have worked together on allot of stuff and they are simply AWESOME ! Great bunch of people.... or you can go through us ~ we can make custom costumes as well.

[Darkangel]

Castle Blood costumes are the best I've seen for durability ansd design...

DA

[cheeseboy33]

We are still working with the owner of the haunt on finalizing what we want it to look like and be made out of but basically it will be a black doctors outfit. Possibly made from leather but were not sure on the material.