A ''zentai'' suit () is a

skin-tight garment A skin-tight garment is a garment that is held to the skin usually by elastic tension using some type of stretch fabric. Commercial stretch fabrics ('elastomerics') such as spandex or elastane (widely branded as 'Lycra') came onto the market i ...

that covers the entire body. The word is a portmanteau of ''zenshin taitsu'' ( ja, 全身タイツ, , full-body tights). ''Zentai'' is most commonly made using nylon/

spandex Spandex, Lycra, or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity. It is a polyether-polyurea copolymer that was invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPont's Benger Laboratory in Waynesboro, Virginia, US. The ge ...

blends.

Use

The costumes are seen at major sporting events in North America and the United Kingdom. They created internationally recognized personalities out of

The Green Men The Green Men, known as Force (Adam Forsyth) and Sully (Ryan Sullivan), are supporters of the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). They are known for sitting beside the opposing team's penalty box during Canucks games at Roger ...

, two fans of the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...

NHL team. Various professional

street dance Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as: breakdancing, popping, locking, house dance, waacking etc. Social dance styles have many accompanying steps and foundations, created organically from a culture, ...

hip hop dance Hip hop dance is a range of street dance styles primarily performed to hip hop music or that have evolved as part of hip hop culture. It is influenced by a wide range of styles that were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in t ...

groups use the outfits, such as The Body Poets in the United States, and Remix Monkeys in the United Kingdom. Full-body suits are used for video

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wor ...

: the original colors offered enables the person wearing the

chroma key Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fields to ...

suit to be lifted easily from a video image. Other applications have included music videos (

Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo (rapper), Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie (singer ...

' song "

Boom Boom Pow "Boom Boom Pow" is a song recorded by American group the Black Eyed Peas for their fifth studio album '' The E.N.D.'' (2009). It was written by group members will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo and Fergie, being produced by will.i.am. The song feature ...

", including the live performance at the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

), breast cancer awareness, fashion modeling on an episode of ''

America's Next Top Model ''America's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated ''ANTM'' and ''Top Model'') is an American reality television series and interactive competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to b ...

'', social anxiety workshops, television ( Charlie Kelly as Green Man), a participant in public art project "

One & Other ''One & Other'' was a public art project by Antony Gormley, in which 2,400 members of the public occupied the usually vacant fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, London, for an hour each for 100 days. The project began at 9 am on Monday ...

", and social experiments. File:Remix Monkeys Dance Clan group pose.jpg, alt=People wearing vibrant zentai suits with matching T-shirts and caps posing in a white room, UK-based Remix Monkeys is a dance troupe that uses

Morphsuits Morphsuits is a company in Edinburgh, Scotland that distributes branded spandex costumes, based on the existing skin-tight garments, which cover the entire body. The company offers over 80 different designs. The company was founded by brothers Al ...

in their street dance routines File:Morphsuit in downtown Toronto 02.jpg, alt=People in coloured zentai suits with text and logos, Two brand ambassadors for the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...

, with a sports fan File:Female mannequin recoloured with a zentai facing its own shadowy reflection and the lit ones of its companions against the dark night behind the shopping window DSC6241.jpg, alt=red zentai wearing mannequins in a shop display, Red suits used to recolour mannequins to signal the winter sale

Legal limitations

Since ''zentai'' cover one's face, a fine of up to €150 may be issued to those who wear them publicly in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Furthermore, some sports leagues, such as

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

, ban the use of the costume hoods.

Brands

Companies have created brands of the suits including ''RootSuit'' or ''Superfan Suit'' in the United States, ''Bodysocks'' or ''Second Skins'' by

Smiffy's Smiffys is a UK wholesale, fancy dress manufacturer specialising in party fashion, leisure and entertainment products. Founded in 1894 by Robert Henry Smith, Smiffys began as a wigmakers, and today is part of the R H Smith & Sons (Wig Makers Ltd) g ...

and

in the United Kingdom, and Jyhmiskin in Finland. Morphsuits has achieved relative commercial success internationally. Between January and late October 2010, the company shipped 10,000 to Canada alone. The Morphsuits brand has actively tried to disassociate themselves from the existing ''zentai'' community. Superfan Suits acknowledges in interviews that the outfits have existed previously. The term "morphsuit" has become a generic term in the process; one New Zealand-based newspaper refers to competing brand Jaskins as "one of the main online morphsuit brands." Jaskins company founder Josh Gaskin says their origins are unclear, pegging the first usage with ''

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Charlie ...

''.

References

External links

{{Commons category Costume design Fetish clothing Minimalist clothing One-piece suits

Use

Legal limitations

Brands

See also

References

Further reading

External links