The “Ferrari” of all giant panda costumes will join 2,500 bear sculptures on the Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui on Saturday, interacting with visitors and helping to promote the real deal at Ocean Park.
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The outfit even managed to catch some experts by surprise when it made its debut alongside the sculptures at Hong Kong airport on Monday.
Its maker, Japan-based art studio Zeppet said the cost of making the suit amounted to the price of the “cheapest model of a Ferrari”. The outfit also involved a 10-person team to get it built.
“Its ballpark estimate could buy an affordable Ferrari,” workshop founder and CEO Junya Okabe said in an interview on Wednesday.
The studio’s website lists the costume’s price at US$180,000, or about HK$1.4 million.
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Okabe said such costumes typically took three months to make and required thorough research into the similarities between how pandas and humans move, as well as their body structures. He added that the suit had undergone various design iterations.