A. You can't, they are no longer available. With a few exceptions, the outfits shown on these pages were a short series of 6 or 12 each that were made and offered one time.
Q. How long did it take to make these?
A. Each series of 12 took about 4 months to design and execute. Each series of 6 took 3 months.
Q. How were they sold?
A. When finished, Photographs and Descriptions of them were sent out to the Custom Outfitworks mailng list. People responded and bought them.
Q. What is Custom Outfitworks?
A. Custom Outfitworks was a business created by me, Mark Cole, to distribute the custom GI Joe Outfits that I made. It began as a business in the spring of 1988 and continued until midnight on December 31, 1996 when it ceased to exist.
Q. Why have these pages?
A. The purpose of the pages devoted to Custom Outfitworks is to help familiarize all collectors with these works and their components. So, if they ever find one of these items they will know what they are and where they originated.
Here is some additional information that may answer any questions that arise from these answers.
Outfits-Mailing List
The vast majority of these outfits were offered in a series of 12 each. They were offered as complete outfits in mailings that were made about 3 times a year to a mailing list of friends and GI Joe collectors that I had accumulated over the years. It began with about 25 people. Custom Outfitworks rarely advertised and really didn't need to since the demand was always much greater than the limited supply. The mailing list eventually grew to 265 by the last mailing in 1996. The list grew, mainly through word of mouth and the few people who signed up to be on it at the Shows that Custom Outfitworks participated in. These Shows were mainly the 3 shows a year Sponsored by "Antique & Toy World" magazine at the Kane County Fairgrounds in St Charles, Illinois from 1988 to 1996, but it was also a few national shows around the US.
Individual Items
While making theses outfits, extras of some of the individual items were made. Any such extras were always offered as individual items on the price list for the mailing of the outfit they were featured on. Any that survived that offering became show stock and were sold at Shows.
Also from 1988 through 1992 some individual items were regularly made and offered on Custom Outfitwork Price Lists. Most are shown in the 1991 Video catalog pages.
Q. Why didn't you want help?
A. I come from a Fine Arts background- not a business. I did it to give something personal back to the hobby and as a tribute to GI Joe. I wanted it to be from me and conceptually it just seemed that if I didn't do it all, it wouldn't be.
Thank you,
Mark Cole
