- You just kinda have to move your hands
and hope for the best.
Simply no other job like this I can think of.
? Flexin' like a winner ?
- The most important thing, I think,
is to have fun.
? Got it all ?
? Got, got, got it all ?
- So I'm a little bit like a superhero, in a way. [laughs]
? Winner ? ? Winner ?
- You have everybody in the stadium
looking at you, and you just run out.
It's a big responsibility, I would say.
? Hey, hey, hey, hey ?
? Winner ? ? Winner ?
[sewing machine clacks]
[playful music]
- Brian Adams: Olympus Mascots was created
at some point back in the 1960s.
We have 250-ish total employees.
- Amber Micoliczyk: They reached out to me
and they're like, "Hey, do you wanna be a mascot sewer?"
And I'm like, "I have never heard of anything
like that before, so sure, why not?"
- Brian: We've probably done 25,000 to 30,000 mascots
through the years.
- Steve Deau: We did a forklift,
like a wearable forklift costume.
And it had the forks in the front
that just kinda went up and down.
And a hidden button on the other side
for, like, the backup noise.
Full-body robot. [electronic noises]
Top to bottom.
The Racing Sausages come through here.
We probably make new ones every, I don't know, five years.
- We're working on a very high-profile project
right now that I can't tell you about.
[machine buzzes] [sanding]
- Brittany Jacob-Thacker: Most of our costumes
are in between 60 to 120 hours, with the average of them
being probably in the 70 to 80-hour range.
We consider, like, the performer's activity level.
We go a lot by, like, height range too
to make sure it fits, like, a certain height range of person.
There's a lot of different aspects
that all kinda go into it.
- So when I see the picture, I have to navigate
how I'm going to make this a 3D thing.
I go on to the mannequin, I start measuring out things
so that I know what the proportions are
so I know how to make something what it should look like
on the form.
- Brittany: So a lot of it's fur.
We have fur, Tempo, double knit
are probably the big ones that we use.
I particularly like when we do fur costumes
just 'cause it's cool to put different colors together
and different textures. [lion roars]
[monsters exclaim]
- We work with hundreds of customers
every single year.
Pro sports teams, collegiate sports teams,
restaurants, brands, different characters,
you know, representing everything
down to even elementary schools.
[brisk brushing]
? One, two, three, whoo! ?
? Give it to me, give it to me ?
? Give it to me, whoo! ?
? Give it, give it, give it to me ?
? Give it, give it to me ?
- It's very strange, sometimes, to just be like,
watching a Packer game or something,
and a commercial comes on and it's like,
"Oh, I made that," you know?
It's like, you know, it gives me a certain level of pride
and just, like, this costume made it onto TV
and looks pretty good. [chuckles]
- John Sidem: Feels like art come to life.
Like, our art that we're working on here,
you know, becomes this full-scale, realized thing.
? Whoo! ?
- And then, it's like,
you forget about all of that hard work,
and you're like, "Wow, like, this is what
it comes down to at the end."
- Brittany: The people that work here are just amazing.
It's the reason why I come back every day.
It's the reason why I have a smile on my face.
It's the reason why I love coming to work
because it's a great group of people
and we get to make some really fun stuff.
? Whoo! ?