They used to be that price for quite a few years so you aren't wrong. $20K is an outlier price, but it's happened more than once so it's indicative.

The pricing is complicated though. Probably ~15 years ago, there were only a handful of makers and $4K was consider the top end. That's about what I paid for the top of the line back then. They lived in relatively low cost areas and either worked solo or with their partners.

A lot of new blood started to show up and enter the market. Rather than drive down prices, it actually ended up raising them. Many of these new makers were actually partnerships between two people and a lot of them were from the PNW and high cost of living areas. For two people to make a living there, they had to raise prices.

Prices crept up little by little, until big makers started to auction pre-made suits. Several of them have gone for well-north of $15K and that really caused a lot of makers, especially the ones that have been making suits for ~20 years now to really start charging more.

The business model has flipped on its head with most of them. Before, you'd send your design, they'd quote, and you'd decide whether or not to commission. Now, if you want to commission the person that made my suit for example, you send the design, but you have to tell them how much you want to pay... no offers below $10K.

It's all fueled by the fact that there are a LOT of well-compensated furries in tech that shovel money into this stuff. The "suspiciously wealthy furry" is a community in-joke for a reason.

That being said, aside from the faux fur production, you're paying an artist for art. It's not quite the same exploitation as rich people's treats.