Faux Fur: Why is 3 inches the max length?

[GotWookiee]

I run a page about Chewbacca costuming (linked in my signature) and have advised many people over the years about building Wookiees. I am often asked about faux fur and I always explain that faux fur doesn't work because no one makes faux fur longer than 3" anywhere in the world.

The only options for Wookiees are to hand-knit the suit (like the original trilogy suits) or buy custom hair fabric from National Fiber Technologies (like the RotS suits were). NFTech is the only company in the world that makes long hair and fur on a fabric backing. Sometimes when I tell people that they call bull**** and swear that have seen something somewhere, but they are never able to back it up.

I was told here many years ago that faux fur's max length is 3" and sure enough I have never ever found faux fur longer than that. Okay, I do occasionally see 3.5" hair, but you get the point.

Why is that the limit? Is there something about the process involved in making faux fur that makes it impossible or impractical or is the market for long hair fabric so small that NFTech is the only supplier.

 

[johnnyappleseed]

I assume the market is the primary reason that nobody is producing material backed hair in such lengths. Also, I assume that safety might be another issue.

 

[mdb]

Not safety but taxes/tariffs probably as well as the machinery required- as in specific parts or possibly whole machine.

6001.10.20 - Knitted or crocheted "long pile" fabrics of man-made fibers - United States International Trade Commision Harmonized Tariff Schedule
Computer-Controlled Cut Loop Pile Knitting Machine (FG-88) - China textile machinery, knitting machinery, artificial fur machine in Textile Machinery
Note here the pile can be made between 4-36mm, so it's variable but not to the limit needed.
Knitting Tech. book
This kind of fur is high pile and is woven with slivers of fibres rather than yarn (to paraphrase) you can see this when you look at the back of the fabric and also by the way the fur side is uncut.
Acrylic fibre tech.
Knitting Tech.
Journal of the Textile Machinery Society of Japan:   (1990) , 
Journal of the Textile Machinery Society of Japan

And I found more than 3"
Monterey Mills: Knit Pile Fabric Manufacturer: Shag
3 and 3/8"

Another method not mentioned it to use a mix of extensions and wefts. Wefts are pre-sewn into rows that you can then sew to a base suit for all those areas (torso arms and legs) that don't require the fine hand work and save that for the face and possibly hands. It would save possibly hundreds of hours of work. It's all in the quality of the wefts though.
You can hand or machine sew wefts too.
It reads like the original was hand knotted not knitted?

 

[GotWookiee]

Yeah, I mentioned that I had found 3 and a half inch faux fur before, still well short of the length needed for a Wookiee. Probably enough for an Ewok, though.

Interesting note on taxes. Perhaps the limited market combined with tarrifs on the product is the reason NFTech is the only one doing it. Still, the notes on the machine you linked said it could do a maximum length of only 36mm. That makes me think there must be more to it than that.

I'm aware of the use of wefts. Actually a Wookiee in Chicago built his suit this way a number of years back. It does work well for the body but it doesn't look right when the wind blows as the hair's direction is limited.

Interesting info about faux fur. Thanks a bunch.

The original trilogy suits were hand tied into a cotton suit. Yak hair and mohair was used. NFTech did not yet exist at that time (they weren't founded until 1979). One of the original suits was modified for use as the various Wookiee senators in Episode I.
NFTech supplied hair for the SW Weekends suit, the Wookiees in Episode III, and possibly the LFL tour suit.

If you have a chance to see any of the OT suits on display (either with the Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit or Star Wars in Concert) it is clear that the original suits hair layers are not that thick and the under suit is visible in a number of places. It appears to be the same color as the hair.

 

[chwbcc]

NFTech supplied hair for the SW Weekends suit? I'm not sure that is actually true however things may have changed since I worked at Disney.
The Chewie suit I knew hadn't changed since Star Tours opened about 10 years before SWW.

The suits were made from dyed yak hair mixed with synthetic hair sewn directly on a fabric backing. If you looked between the muscle pad and the fur it looked like carpet backing (just softer, no glue) with rows of stitches about 1/2 apart. As far as I know Creative Costuming made all the suits by hand.

The heads used a combination of same hair applied directly to the underskull. There wasn't any laytex or silicone covering the underskull. The hair was styled to cover the sides of the mouth. On set most people really can't tell the difference. He's so amazing they just stare in awe.

The shoes look exact to the movie set references you have on your site. except ours had a 3",5" or 7" lift on them depending on the performer. The shoe inside the shoe shell was a modified old canvas converse

The hands were just brown fabric gloves with the top of the gloves covered in the same wookie fabric and they covered your entire forearm.

Maybe I chould build one... When is SW Celebration? hummm

 

[Dougie Fett]

Very interesting info chwbcc! Thanks for sharing!