The Furry Community and Cost

As we are all aware, lately being a furry has gotten ever increasingly more expensive. Whether it be artwork, or fursuits, or convention tickets, they're all going up at higher rates than inflation. For many thousands of furries, this has become a barrier to entry into the furry community. However, we also hear from all sides of the issue that it is imperative that we support artists and convention spaces, since they're community run and driven. Sounds contradictory. So, how do we go about reconciling this? Especially as leftists?

Over the last five years, we've seen immense growth in attendance numbers in our conventions. If we analyze one convention over the course of one year, we see an increase of 18%. Furry Weekend Atlanta saw a growth from 15,021 attendees in 2024 to 17,736 in 2025. Clearly, our community is growing. At previous rates of artists and fursuit makers, they should be making a decent living, right? Unfortunately, that's not the case. As we see capitalism spread into our community, even though we strive for independent and self-run businesses, we have seen inequalities arise. Artists who were very popular in their local spheres have felt the burden of having to compete with national and international YCH artists who can offer cheaper prices as more and more furry marketplaces pop up online. Artists have to compete in quality, style, and competitive pricing in order to stay relevant. Some artists receive more attention, and therefore can raise their prices to the worth of their work, and others fall behind and have to drop their prices to get the same attention. Fursuit makers often have to compete not just within the furry market, but the greater capitalist market. Things such as the fur and machinery needed to craft quality fursuits are at the whims of the greater capitalist market. As more and more furries join our community in record breaking numbers year over year, more and more requests and commissions for fursuits are getting made. Artists have a choice, keep prices low but have a constantly filled schedule and minimal compensation, or raise prices and still fill their schedule but live a better life as living expenses all around them skyrocket.

Alternatively, furries approaching this situation face their own skyrocketing living expenses. As a community built from many different backgrounds, including those such as the LGBTQ+ community and those living with mental illness, much of the community is not granted the same degrees of economic freedoms as others. Racial minorities, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, those with mental illnesses, they all are communities that are across the board paid less than their non-community counterparts. Some exceptions exist, but they do not change the fact that most furries are not financially wealthy. Yet, each day, we see an increase in prices. Pins become more expensive. A T-shirt that cost $20 now costs $35. Conventions that cost $50 to attend now cost in excess of $200. Not to mention rising hotel costs built into those last ones. Furries are forced in several cases to trek across cities to afford a hotel, or have up to 6 furries sharing a room with frequent examples of furries sleeping on the floor, just to afford the cost. Fundraising room parties also take place, in order to help furries afford things like food while at conventions. This extends even to meetups. Furries here in Mexico, where I live, frequently run fundraisers at their weekly meetups to help afford better things like more decorations at the next seasonal party, or to help support the venue we meet at.

Two conflicting situations. To be reductive, cost of living skyrockets as the community grows, and so artists must raise prices to afford their living expenses and costs associated with traveling to conventions to make sales. Cost of living skyrockets for furries who join the community, and an ever decreasing number of them can afford the art. We have seen this time and time again under capitalism. As communities grow, so does the wealth disparity between those offering the service, and those receiving it. We've seen Netflix skyrocket in price once they had no reason to keep costs low, we've seen housing become a commodity as valuable as gold, regardless of people's ability to actually purchase it. Now, I am not likening Netflix and housing price increases to artists charging what their work is actually worth. I am, however, pointing out similarities in behaviors within the capitalist system at large. A divide that stratifies classes across the furry sphere, as a mirror of society at large, created by forces largely outside of the community. Are there greedy artists out there charging a lot because they feel they can? Sure. Are there furries out there who outspend their means ignoring local artists for expensive famous ones exacerbating the problem? Sure. But neither are the majority.

Combating this increase in divide is a difficult and nuanced battle we must fight. Likely, it won't be something any one individual can accomplish. It takes societal change to reverse the harm capitalism is bringing to our community. I am not advising that a furry cease supporting artists who charge what their work is worth, or what they need to survive with their living expenses. Nor am I suggesting that a furry spend beyond their means in order to support others in the community. What I am suggesting is that we educate ourselves. We look for local artists in our local communities. Maybe an artist in the big city nearest to you, or an artist in a rural town not too far from where you live. Furries should spend their money within their local community, and support their local artists. A lot of the time, they will indeed be more affordable, but if they're not, you're still helping them afford to live near you which benefits you both. Artists should also strive to serve their local communities. Sure, a far off furry making $200,000 a year can easily afford that $150 icon, or $10,000 fursuit. But, if the average income in your community only makes $50,000 per year, then you can be assured that your business is not coming from them. Furries come from all walks of life, if you can afford to live comfortably, but also charge a reasonable cost based on the local cost of living, then you should. Furry conventions should charge a reasonable rate to what their expenses are, with some left over for expense coverage for the following year. Increasing cost of tickets while also honoring contracts that stipulate a set rate paid to hotels/convention spaces is inexcusable, capacity concerns or not.

Furries who attend 15 conventions a year can easily afford to spend whatever cost an artist charges at those conventions. $300 for a reference sheet, $200 for a YCH, $250 for a pair of paws, etc. But a furry who just drove 10 hours to visit that one convention after saving up for a year because they couldn't afford the flight, and who is staying at the hotel down the road because they were priced out of the convention hotel, is not going to be able to afford that very same art. The art then becomes a status, a measure of class. Those with that new T-shirt design are better than those without. Those with a custom fursuit from that prestigious maker are better than those who bought a mask from Spirit Halloween and worked 40 hours to modify it to resemble their fursona. Those who can afford to attend multiple conventions can make more connections and thus intentionally or not create cliques that ostracize new members of our community. This is a divide that grows as our community does, but it doesn't have to. Working together, as a community, we can reduce those contradictions. We can eliminate capitalism wherever possible. We can come together, from all sides of this issue, to better meet the needs of our compatriots on the other sides. If we want our community to be the beacon of inclusiveness and wholesomeness. If we want our community to constantly grow and combat misconceptions about us. If we want our community to remain accessible for all. If we want any of that, we must strive to create a better tomorrow, together. Working within the community, we can't end the external factors that contribute to these issues, but we can mitigate their impacts. We can support artists, and attend conventions, with clean consciences, knowing we're doing our part to keep our community accessible to all. We can charge furries prices that more meet their material conditions, while also still making enough money to live comfortably and meet our needs. They are not exclusive. Their divide is contradictory, and the contradiction becomes the rallying cry of those supporting the increase therein, but the contraction does not mean that artists, furries, and convention staff aren't all living in the same world. Interacting with the same community. Talking to the same people. As Marx famously said, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." Let's embody that within our community, and make it better for the next person who joins.

In Solidarity,

FurInform

Sources:
- https://www.flayrah.com/9330/furry-weekend-atlanta-slows-growth-still-becomes-most-attended-person-furry-convention
- https://ccgit.crown.edu/how-much-do-fursuits-cost/
- Critique of the Gotha Programme - Karl Marx 1875