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KOOLAID:
A PTS CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY |
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Anybody who thinks KoolAid costumes are easier to sew than MRI straps,
rocket-booster supports, and low-earth-orbit camera calibration systems
obviously hasn't thought the problem through.
"The toughest part was that a pitcher is a complex 3D shape," says Sally
Lindsay Honey, PTS's president. "We had to create 2D patterns that could
be sewn together to make this 3D object, and we had to get it right."
Please note: The KoolAid project was developed for a particular customer. We do not sell the costumes. |
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real evolution in costume design.
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THREE CRITERIA
Actually, the costume had to meet three design criteria:
1. It had to be lightweight. The costume was going to be worn by people,
and people get tired. So the lighter the better.
2. It had to be exactly the right shape. The KoolAid pitcher is a logo,
in effect, and must not "morph."
3. It had to be cool. The high season for KoolAid is summer: brutal
conditions for people wrapped in fabric and foam. Kraft Foods, the
parent company, thought that having the KoolAid Man collapse from heat
exhaustion would probably send the wrong message.
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 THREE CRITERIA
PTS collaborated with the costume's creator on an innovative design: a
lightweight fabric shell "inflated" with a built-in electric fan to
maintain the costume's shape and keep the wearer cool.
STAYING "IN SHAPE"
Starting with nothing more than a 14" clay model, PTS created the 2D
patterns, then chose fabrics (red rip-stop nylon for the pitcher, clear
vinyl for the rim and handle) to meet the weight specs. The patterns
were correct and the costume looked great on paper, but the thin shell
combined with constant air currents meant that the costume's shape was
always being distorted.
The obvious answer, building a rigid internal skeleton, would work. But
that would make the KoolAid man look like a small, optimistic zeppelin.
PTS had a better idea. They identified the essential control points for
the pitcher's shape, and sewed in a series of fabric "baffles" to create
and maintain it. The result was a lightweight, cool costume with an
unchanging shape, made entirely of textile.
BREAKTHROUGH
"The KoolAid man was a real breakthrough in costume design," says Honey.
It also led to commissions for other inflatable characters, including
all of the usual Christmas suspects. PTS was soon working on
12-foot-high candy canes, toy soldiers, drums, and elves. They built 100
"Jingle Bears" for the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto,
California, one of the most profitable shopping centers in the world. On
the non-Christmas front, PTS took a couple of weeks to stitch a quartet
of ten-foot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The costumes were enjoyable projects in themselves, and have changed the
lives of suffering costume-wearers everywhere for the better. More
important, however, they are another example of how transcendental
sewing skills can be used to create an amazing variety of stuff. This
lesson has not been lost on commercial, industrial, medical, and
aerospace/defense customers around the world.
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Why stop with pitchers of KoolAid?
These elves are PTS creations, too. |
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