Universal Designs's Z-Strap


	Promotional Character Costume made for SKECHERS USA.
		Superheroes and their fascinating appeal that they have on current pop culture is no longer limited to comic book pages, Saturday morning cartoons, or even the big screen. While they all have different costumes, powers and reasons for existing, none are more striking than this brilliantly created Superhero character, designed for Skechers USA. Artwork provided to us by Skechers. As seen here with Skechers newest hero, Z-STRAP, Customized Superhero costumes are an instant vehicle to bring positive attention to your company and help publicize your brand to the general public. From the time we were contacted to fabricate this costume we had approximately 6 weeks to the time of delivery. Below you can see just how Z-STRAP was brought to life.

Sculpted in Chavant NSP Soft clay.
The torso down to the groin area was sculpted
as a full upper piece with the silver ‘Z’ sections
added in as raised detail areas.
To further add to the fabric like look as seen in
the artwork provided, wrinkles were sculpted in
to help convey the impression of a kind of
fabric or skin tight spandex.
As you can see by the look on David’s face,
Coffee was his best friend during this stage of
the project.

			Z-STRAP’s face was not only designed to be expressionless but free of all facial details, with the exception of the eyes. Considering that to be a fantastic design choice on paper, it does however pose certain practical concerns for a real world wearable costume. While in costume, one must be able to breath without any effort what so ever and drink water regularly. Our answer to this challenge shows nostrils sculpted in without any real surrounding nose detail, and we hid a mouth opening in between the lower red Z area just over the chin. The sculpted face area was cast in rubber, and mounted onto a rubberized hood. Head and neck movement was excellent.

“Look, over there on the tennis courts...it’s a bird!...No it’s a plane!!!.....NO! It’s a Z-STRAP on a skateboard” Z-STRAP…. or ‘Big Red’ as he was being called throughout the entire build gets to strut his stuff during a quick photo shoot.

Below we see one of the many test fittings being performed on the costume. David is shown working on areas that would subsequently be pinched and tucked in to allow for better arm movement.	Z-STRAP at the Skechers 15thM Anniversary Celebration.

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