Know your enemy!

But – I want to get serious for a moment here. When the zombies come, most of these outfits are not going to be your best bet. You need something thick, close to the skin, and completely covering you.

Probably your best bet is leather or  street bike gear made of tough material like cordura. Head down to your local Harley dealer or motorcycle dealer. The leather and street bike armor are made to protect you from road rash, cuts, and scrapes. A full jacket and pants ensemble with steel toed boots and leather gloves are going to be a great zombie fighting uniform. Add a full helmet with a chin strap and you are going to be mostly protected from claws and bites.

Thick denim or canvas would be my 2nd choice. Again, you want head to toe coverings. If you have something like a denim shirt, use duct tape to wrap around the sleeves and anywhere there is loose material for something to grab onto. You may want to duct tape ankles, especially without boots, and gloves onto hands. You really need head protection – so make do with what you can find.

Sports armor and the like aren’t a bad idea, but will be of little use if the rest of you is exposed. Again, try to tape down what you can to make it harder to grab onto.

Well fitting chain mail, as pictured , would be great too, but this is something you won’t be able to find after the fact, and something that needs to be pre-made.  Of course, you will look great at ren faires if you go this route.

Sooo – stay safe, and remember to aim for the head!

If you’d like to see more images from this shoot, they can be found here: http://chaincrafts.blogspot.com/

Also, some of the armor from the shoot is currently available in my store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ChainCrafts

(the kid’s armor isn’t for sale. My little ones wanted to keep it in case zombies show up ;) )