What is Lemonbrat?
Lemonbrat is probably the biggest fursuit commissioning service out there. It’s a site that allows people who lack the skills and or materials to make fursuits of their own, to get their own fursuits made by professional fursuit makers. They do this through a whole review and design process which we will get into later, but as you could imagine, being the biggest site doing this, they’re pretty damn good at it. However, this article is going to try to give the most honest review of Lemonbrat possible, no pulling any punches.
The Fursuit Process
Let’s start by discussing the process of starting to get your fursuit made before we get into anything else. To start, you need to get a quote. They do this by making you fill out an understandably extensive form where you declare what parts of the suit you want made, what you want the suit to look like, your name, postcode, and in the end it should tell you approximately what your suit should cost. Make sure if you are filling this out that you are extremely detailed and clear about what you want, because after all, you will be spending a few grand on this and it would be pretty sad if you finally got your suit and something was just completely wrong.
Anyway, after 3-4 days they should get back to your initial quote with a response via email where they will give you a more specific estimation of the cost of the suit according to the details you entered as well as the parts of the suit you want made, but this price is not final. Whatever price they give you in that email, you should be prepared to pay a bit more. In response to this email you can clarify whether you want to go through with the production of the fursuit or if you want to add or remove items from the suit as a result of the cost.
This is where things get a little bit iffy because they don’t really disclose this earlier in the process but they ask you to buy a $70 reference of the suit if you want to continue making the suit regardless of whether or not you have a good reference. They claim that having the reference in their own style of art is a “useful tool” which is honestly completely believable but it’s just a little misleading when they don’t make any mention of that cost clearly earlier on.
Once you have got the reference sheet and it is clear what you want your suit to look like, you can move on to payments and sending measurements over, and in all fairness, they are super reasonable with financing. You obviously don’t have to pay all of the money up front but they do ask for a deposit ⅓ the cost of the suit before they can consider construction of the suit. From there, you can continue to pay for the suit in monthly installments and even if you’re behind on a month, if you just notify them and say you can’t afford the installment for the month, they are pretty cool about you paying it the next month. However, if you are looking to get a refund on your suit, Lemonbrat automatically keep 25% of the money and you can only get the refund within the window of time they are constructing the suit.
Only once the suit is paid for in full does the construction of your suit begin which is pretty reasonable considering that there are several suits likely ahead of yours that have been fully paid for which means they have to take priority. Also things like not responding to their emails, not sending measurements or just generally not being cooperative can delay your suit even further. Once they do begin making it though they will keep in touch and send you pictures of how this suit is coming along so verify whether or not you are happy with it. And then hey presto! Your suit is made and they’ll ship it over to you.
So, overall aside from obscuring the reference sheet thing which has its justifications, it’s a pretty standard commissioning service just a little more expensive than most.
Not A Lemonbrat Fursuit
Image by Lacy via Pinterest
What is Lemonbrat’s Pricing Like?
Fursuits in general tend to be pretty expensive, so if you’re looking to buy one you should definitely make sure you have the money to do so. Fursuits aren’t a necessity, you don’t need one to be considered a furry, so if you can’t afford it, don’t bother buying some terrible cheap alternative, the price is worth it. If you want to learn more about general fursuit pricing look here, otherwise, let’s discuss Lemonbrat’s pricing
Their pricing is broken down depending on what part of the suit you want. Most of the expense is going to come from the torso of the suit and the head of the suit. Each of these will probably cost you upwards of $2000 and while that may sound like an outrageous amount of money to pay for a suit, that’s pretty much what you’d get charged for it regardless. You could probably understand why the head costs so much, it’s the most detailed part of the suit and requires the widest variety of materials and is also the most desirable piece of the suit, so people are willing to pay that kind of money. However, why does the body suit cost so much money? What other expenses are there? Well, let’s go through the pricing.
Fursuit Body
Image by Hobsyllwin18 via Pinterest
Bodysuit Pricing
Firstly, the base value of the suit immediately depends on what kind of suit you want. Do you want a plantigrade suit, or a digitigrade suit? What is the difference? Well a digitigrade suit has extra padding around the thighs to make them look more animal like and will cost you around $1950 as a result. Plantigrade suits don’t have this padding and so are quite a bit cheaper and will cost you about $1650. Then, if you want a feminine bust for your suit, that will cost an additional $300, not to mention if you want masculine muscles that will cost you another additional $500. They also charge extra for extensive spots, stripes or general patterns, typically this comes at about an extra $1000, but if you’re adamant on going crazy with these patterns it can cost up to an additional $4000.
Fursuit Paws
Image by Pinterest
Paws and Sleeve Pricing
Paws and sleeves are the least costly parts of the suit, most of the time these will not break the $700 mark but they prices do vary greatly. For a standard pair of hand paws, you’ll probably be paying around $300. For a pair of puffy paws though that’ll be about $400 and for feral paws meaning they have wilder hair, you’re probably going to be paying around $500. If you’re looking to accessorize these paws with some short claws, that’ll cost you an extra $45 or for some long claws an extra $105. Then for a pair of feet paws, the cheapest option, slipper paws, which are quite fragile and designed only really to be worn indoors, is in the realm of around $350. If you want something a little sturdier than that to wear outdoors, that can cost up to $450. But, if you want something that’s sturdy and large to give a sort of cartoony feel, you might want a pair of stompy feet which will run you about $550. Accessories like claws cost the same as with the hand paws. Arm sleeves for your paws will cost about $175 and leg sleeves will cost an extra $20 at $195
Extra Tidbits
If you’re looking to get a tail on your fursuit, on average, Lemonbrat charge around $200 for a tail depending on the length and the kind of tail you want. If you want a tuft to knee length tail, that’ll be your cheapest option at around $145, but if you’re looking to get a tail closer to the ankle region then you’re looking to pay upwards of $250. However, if you want to go all in and want a tail that drags, then you’ll probably be paying upwards of an additional $350.
Fursuit Tail
Image by eBay
Are Lemonbrat Suits Good Quality?
Now we arrive at what is probably the most important question about this site. Is all this money even worth it? It’s a hard question to answer, because people seem to have vastly different experiences with their orders from Lemonbrat. For some, the quality of the suits are great, they’re durable, they’re well fitting and they are spot on to the original vision for the suit. Others however have complained that the suit was falling apart at the seams, some suggesting that they have pushed for quantity instead of quality in recent years. This customer even recalls the artists getting the species completely wrong and making their fursuit look more like a mouse than a cat, as well as getting the tail wrong and getting the length of the suit wrong. Fitting seems to be the most common complaint among the bad reviews by its customers. Sometimes the suit is too long or the head is too big, stuff like that that is hard to rectify as the suit has already been completed. One customer also recalls wrong colors being used and details they explicitly asked for being overlooked. Having said that, many people on this reddit thread also describe their pleasant experiences with Lemonbrat and how happy they were with the final product of their suit. Overall though, for the sake of accessibility and convenience it looks like you’d have to sacrifice a bit of quality.
Full Fursuit
Image by Reddit
Some of the Things Lemonbrat Don’t Offer
Not to continue to tear into Lemonbrat but there are some small things that they overlook or that they just aren’t able to make likely because of lack of expertise or demand. The clearest example of this has to be protogen suits. Protogen suits are suits that have a mask that has a face that is completely made up of LEDs or whatever lighting. This doesn’t make Lemonbrat any better or worse because there are very few people who are able to make actual protogen suits anyway mostly because there are very few people who both know how to make a good fursuit and can work proficiently with circuitry.
They are also unable to offer quad suits. These are suits that are designed to allow its wearer to walk around on all fours. Once again, these suits aren’t exactly in high demand but Lemonbrat don’t have any fursuit makers on board who are able to make suits like this. Apart from this, Lemonbrat pretty much covers everything, we’re just nitpicking.
Protogen Fursuit
Image by Reddit
What Do They Do Apart From Fursuits?
They cover everything so well in fact that they don’t just offer custom fursuits, they also offer a plethora of other accessories and fun little outfits. These include: custom kigurumi, hoodies, pajamas, backpacks, masks and big dice plush animals. Although I’m not entirely sure about the relevance of the last one, all of the aforementioned items can be commissioned just like a fursuit, from its design, to patterns, to extra features. However, I’ll admit that these are pretty overpriced, the hoodies starting at a price of $600 and the pajamas starting at $800, you might have to break the bank a little for these clothes.
Kigurumis
Image by Racked
How Much Do Fursuits Typically Cost?
This pricing isn’t to imply that fursuits are super cheap and that you are getting ripped off by Lemonbrat, it’s quite the opposite. Fursuits in general are super expensive which is why you shouldn’t buy one unless you can completely afford it as it is easy to get scammed out of your money for a terrible quality suit. If you want a good fursuit made by a professional artist you will almost undoubtedly pay upwards of $3000 and you may even be asked to do things like make a duct tape dummy of your body so that they can get the fitting correct. Suits will always cost this much for three reasons, materials, time and experience. You need to find someone who first has the experience and is willing the time of day to make you a fursuit which is a scarcity in itself, then these people need to pay for materials that they are using to not only make your suit but hundreds of others. So, for the most part, Lemonbrat’s suits are quite reasonably priced, especially considering that they aren’t just some local fursuit maker and work on a global scale.
Are There Alternatives to Lemonbrat?
When it comes to alternatives to Lemonbrat there are actually quite a few options depending on what you want. If you want something second hand and aren’t really too fussed about commissioning your own suit then a site like TheDealersDen or eBay might be for you. However, if you are adamant on commissioning a suit of your own, then you can look to sites like Etsy or Pinterest for people advertising their fursuit service. Alternatively if you want a site that specializes in fursuit making only, then you might take interest in sites like ArtozaStudios and GoFurIt. If you’re not keen on ordering from Lemonbrat following, all of these sites are also definitely worth a look to commission your fursuit.
