STAR WARS Research
Posted by MRL on Oct 26th 2009
Well, based on the incredibly wide range of comments on the Star Wars clothing I think its our responsibility to inform all of you better on what you are seeing. With the comments I've seen, we aren't doing so well at that. We do know many of you feel strongly about your perceptions and I hope this helps.
Our fabrics are as close as possible to the originals and use fabrics from multiple countries (whew, that's a lot of travel) - no one can make every single material 100% since many items no longer exist in any way- some of the clothing pieces haven't existed for decades and longer. About 90% of the fabrics in our line are exact (after 18 months in the archives with the originals and Lucas approvals we should know), all colors, seams, cut-patterns are 100% exact. Where the material was not available, we have had to make many custom samples from scratch at great cost to come as close as possible and with the thought in mind that it must be commercially possible to make at textile mills. Our strong collaboration with the archives and Lucas Licensing is what allows us the ability to offer the outfits with confidence.
There are no adequate swatches available of anything original and nothing is allowed to leave the Lucasfilm archives adding to our huge challenge. Very few people have actually seen the costumes and I fear there are some people who simply don't understand the process involved to make something available and attainable. Could we have made one outfit more perfect if price was no object? Possibly, but no one would buy it and where would we be? And you the fan who deserves the chance to choose and own something from the Star Wars legacy?
A key example of where perceptions can be understandably different: there are dozens of Jedi robes from the same movie, same character and sometimes multiples for a single scene- all slightly different from each other. We must choose the most representative for the intended look. Could you find one in another scene different, maybe, but it doesn't mean one or the other is less or more right.
It took 18 months of research just to get to this point. No one can fully appreciate what we've gone through which is unfortunate, but we understand and you still deserve our best. Should you feel a fan has done a better job and can give you a genuine, documented approval from Lucasfilm then by all means act, our goal is never to stunt your creativity, but in the meantime your trust in us and Lucas is well placed
Our fabrics are as close as possible to the originals and use fabrics from multiple countries (whew, that's a lot of travel) - no one can make every single material 100% since many items no longer exist in any way- some of the clothing pieces haven't existed for decades and longer. About 90% of the fabrics in our line are exact (after 18 months in the archives with the originals and Lucas approvals we should know), all colors, seams, cut-patterns are 100% exact. Where the material was not available, we have had to make many custom samples from scratch at great cost to come as close as possible and with the thought in mind that it must be commercially possible to make at textile mills. Our strong collaboration with the archives and Lucas Licensing is what allows us the ability to offer the outfits with confidence.
There are no adequate swatches available of anything original and nothing is allowed to leave the Lucasfilm archives adding to our huge challenge. Very few people have actually seen the costumes and I fear there are some people who simply don't understand the process involved to make something available and attainable. Could we have made one outfit more perfect if price was no object? Possibly, but no one would buy it and where would we be? And you the fan who deserves the chance to choose and own something from the Star Wars legacy?
A key example of where perceptions can be understandably different: there are dozens of Jedi robes from the same movie, same character and sometimes multiples for a single scene- all slightly different from each other. We must choose the most representative for the intended look. Could you find one in another scene different, maybe, but it doesn't mean one or the other is less or more right.
It took 18 months of research just to get to this point. No one can fully appreciate what we've gone through which is unfortunate, but we understand and you still deserve our best. Should you feel a fan has done a better job and can give you a genuine, documented approval from Lucasfilm then by all means act, our goal is never to stunt your creativity, but in the meantime your trust in us and Lucas is well placed
-RC