The advertising and marketing firm wanted somebody to get the vomit out of the Tony the Tiger mascot costume.
They’d employed the unsuitable man — a modeling company actor, however not somebody accustomed to shifting round in a giant foam-and-fake-fur costume.
“It was an disagreeable job to wash it out, however we bought all of it cleaned,” defined Mary Hickey, the founder and proprietor of Chicago Mascot Co. on the Northwest Facet.
That explains, in a roundabout manner, how Hickey discovered herself in Orlando, Florida, in December, watching the Iowa State Cyclones vs. the Miami Hurricanes within the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Extra exactly, her eyes have been educated on one among her firm’s creations: a big Pop-Tart, full with air-brushed fake pastry slathered in “sizzling fudge” and sprinkles.
It was a giant second for Hickey, head of the household enterprise, which she based in 1976 and which additionally homes Chicago Costume Co, and Broadway Costumes in its 33,000-square-foot brick warehouse at 4727 W. Montrose.
“I used to be fairly proud. The whole lot went just about to plan,” stated Hickey, 71, who first picked up a needle and thread when she was 5, sitting down at her mom’s Singer stitching machine two years later.
“The whole lot” included having the Pop-Tarts mascot rip itself out of a foil (truly Mylar) packet.
Benny the Bull; the Cubs, White Sox and Bears mascots; sizzling canine; pretzels; pickles — even milkshakes — all have come out of Hickey’s manufacturing facility, a second-floor area stuffed to the rafters with rolls of froth, glue, spools of garish-colored threads, assorted buttons and bolt after bolt of shaggy material.
The corporate constructs about 100 mascots every year. They’re all handmade, each taking about six months to develop and two weeks to assemble. They aren’t low cost: anyplace from $11,000 to $20,000 per mascot, Hickey stated.
“It positively is an funding, however when you’re a Main League staff, this can be a huge a part of your model,” she stated. “Folks pay cash for Benny the Bull to indicate up at their marriage ceremony or their bar mitzvah or the corporate occasion.”
Sure, you may pay loads much less, however, Hickey says, you get what you pay for. The manufacturing facility is affected by different firms’ substandard mascot heads and toes — a few of which Hickey and her kids, Courtland Hickey and Chrissy Gilley, have been employed to salvage, together with mascot heads that don’t flip in sync with the human head inside, and footwear so huge and clunky the performer inside can barely stroll.
“Many instances we get shoppers who’ve had their mascot made some other place that was cheaper they usually convey it us and say, ‘We are able to’t see out of this … the fingers are huge mittens they usually can’t seize something with or maintain a Sharpie and signal autographs,’” stated Gilley, the corporate’s account supervisor.
Or a shopper may need assistance cleansing a mascot head, which is how eradicating the vomit from a Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger head ultimately led to a deal to make six Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts mascots.
As a result of they’re, properly, Pop-Tarts, the mascots don’t have a separate head. They’re what Mary Hickey calls a “pod.” The mascot is a bit like a soft-sided sandwich board, with openings on the aspect and backside for legs and arms. It’s all saved in place with zippers and magnets.
Mary Hickey says she hates it when the imaginative and prescient display screen that enables the wearer to see out is just too apparent. So the Pop-Tarts’ cartoon eyes and grin are in the course of the physique, whereas the perforated display screen — for the human eyes — is cleverly hidden larger up.
“It’s like in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ once they pull again the curtain — they’ve simply destroyed that phantasm,” Mary Hickey stated.
Generally, an organization doesn’t want a model new mascot, only a makeover for an previous one — as was the case with the Rockford IceHogs, an American Hockey League staff. Amongst different issues, the mascot was a too-portly pink pig that wasn’t notably cell. A slimmed-down “Hammy” mascot debuted in 2022, though the change initially irked some followers, who drew up a petition (with about 3,700 signatures) looking for to dump the brand new mascot for the previous one. The IceHogs had Mary Hickey tweak the top to make it extra interesting.
“My job is to verify my prospects are joyful,” Hickey stated.
Mary Hickey and her youngsters say there’s virtually nothing that may’t be made right into a mascot.
“Do it. Stump us. I don’t assume you may,” Gilley stated.
How about an invisible man?
Courtland Hickey has an thought for that too, involving slender, virtually clear wires.
“I’ve typically stated there’s nothing I can’t do. Give me sufficient time and sufficient cash, I can do it,” Mary Hickey stated.
