These are really pricey. Not to be a turd, but you can get custom Trek tunics for $100 that look amazing (in velour or double knit - your choice). I have one (plus pants) and my wife has the mini dress for $150. All done to our own measurements. Just saying, if these are going to be mass produced, and not custom fitted, they could be a little cheaper.
Hey, thanks for posting in my little uniform thread.
Before I get into why I'm excited for these tunics and other stuff (I hear that TWOK uniforms maybe coming later this year...), let me give you a bit more background on me. My personal obsession in my
STAR TREK fandom has for a few years now been
STAR TREK costumes and replicas (most likely because as a kid I
LIVED in my green, and gold, 1975 Donmoor
STAR TREK shirts). I've had money stolen by a disreputable
STAR TREK costumer (Orion Woman Raven Costumes), and can list James Cawley (Jim Kirk of
STAR TREK: PHASE II and William Ware Theiss' costuming apprentice durring
Next Gen), among my closer interweb aquantinces. I also moderate the Phase II costuming board.
Actually, if you hunt around on some of the boards that cater to custom Star Trek tunic and uniform recreation, that's in the ballpark. Let's see $100 and $150? That'd be Stephanie (Murraymousie on eBay) right? Or something commisioned from someone else using the inaccurate Roddenberry patterns. Either way, while nice and serviceable, that's
not really the same thing. The stuff Anovos is dealing with isn't just a
STAR TREK shirt. It's something that hasn't ever been offered before...100% screen accurate
REPLICA tunics and dresses made using patterns taken directly from screen used 40 year old tunics and dresses.
Just making the fabric has been difficult for these guys. For the better part of a year they've been dealing with very difficult fabric and color matching recreations (right down to matching the weave) of materials originaly made in the early 1960's. For instance, the fabrics Anovos is using for the third season TOS tunics and dresses were custom manufactured using samples of the
original fabrics that CBS/Paramound had in storage.
See those rolls of 3rd season double knit above? Draped over the tops of each roll is a piece of 40 year old original series fabric from Paramount/CBS' archives.
So the fabric they're using isn't something matched and purchased from existing stock, this is newly manufactured fabric made just for this company. The collars are made using the correct and hard to find
springweave material, not the black ribbed material that most others use. Then there's the insignias.
No fan made insignia looks that close to the original. Look at the gold mylar crinkle. People over at the
Starfleet 1701st board have been trying to make that stuff for years with no success in finding the right backing materal. Anovos had it made. I have only one insignia on a tunic that looks that good and you know who made it? James Cawley using the right material, and using William Ware Theiss' original brass embroidery dies. And if Anovos' stuff can come that close, well, $275 is worth it.
John
p.s. After all of that concider that CBS/Paramount of course want their cut as well, so you can imagine...
p.p.s. Remember, a TOS tunic would cost you $200 at Shadowdale Creations, and you'd never get it, and it wouldn't be this accurate if you did.
