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In an episode of the Netflix Daredevil TV series, we find out Daredevil commissions a suit from

Melvin Potter, the man who makes the special, armored suits for Wilson Fisk.

Which led me to wonder if a similar character developed Daredevil's outfit, or if Matt Murdock himself has created all of his own costumes.

Since I'm aware Daredevil has had several costumes, the scope of the answers should address as many versions of his outfit as possible.

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There has never been a canon answer for WHO made Daredevil's first costumes. While it has never been confirmed it is likely a character named Leo Zelinsky is responsible for the creation of Daredevil's costumes. Zelinsky is a known costume maker for numerous superheroes and villains in New York City.

  • Daredevil's first costume was made at least partially from the boxer robes of his father, Battling Jack Murdock, hence the red and yellow color palette. It has never been confirmed who made this first costume.

first two Daredevil costumes

  • His change to the red costume was in Daredevil #7 (1965). The creator of that costume was also unknown but certainly welcome by most comic readers.

Leo Zelinsky, costume designer to superheroes and villains alike first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #502 (2004), and was created by J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita Jr.

History

Leo Zelinsky was a simple tailor who owned a small shop in a bad neighborhood of New York City. Then, one fateful day, the Thing came in looking for a new costume after losing all his clothes in a fight. Zelinsky designed and made Ben Grimm a new uniform on the spot, impressing the crime-fighter with the quality and speed of his work. Through word of mouth, Zelinsky became a huge hit with the superhuman crowd.

Leo dealig with Spider-Man and Doctor Doom

Zelinsky has made costumes for superheroes--such as members of the Avengers and the X-Men--as well as for villains--like Doctor Doom. To avoid confrontation between the heroic and villainous extremes of his clientèle, Leo divides his schedule between heroes and villains. On Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday Zelinsky works for his hero clients; on Tuesday and Thursday he does work for villains.

Leo also maintains a strict confidentiality policy for all of his clients, protecting their identities while he works on their attire. However, Zelinsky once broke this policy when he revealed information about the villain Killshot to Spider-Man in order to prevent a murder. Spider-Man prevented the crime but the masked villain escaped.

  • Daredevil will be sporting a new look for the Secret Wars. It appears to be a fusion of his Hand outfit and his armored costume look. The costume is said to have been created by SHIELD.

side-by-side comparison of armored Daredevil, Daredevil when he was master of the Hand, and Secret Wars costume preview

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  • You say "first costumes". Any idea about the others (latest versions), or alternate versions (such as Secret Wars)?
    – user31178
    Apr 26, 2015 at 4:23
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    Your quote says Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday are for heroes, but the image says Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
    – KSmarts
    Apr 27, 2015 at 14:15
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In Daredevil #001 "The Origin of Daredevil" (1964) we learn that he made his own costume (from some old shirts and his father's boxing outfit).

He claims to be able to 'see' the colour with his sense of touch but his choice of clashing yellow, black and red would strongly suggest otherwise.

Daredevil sews his first costume

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    "If only those kids who laughed at me could see me now, in my bright yellow bodysuit! This will show them!"
    – KSmarts
    Apr 27, 2015 at 14:18
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    Good answer. Deserves to be the accepted answer in my view.
    – LogicDictates
    Apr 24, 2023 at 18:42
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During his run on Daredevil, Mark Waid had several ideas, each one worst than the previous, and among the bottom rock was the new costume introduced in Daredevil #14 (2015).

Matt, having gone public with his secret identity, and being in the process of writing his autobiography, decides to literally drop the mask after a conversation with his publisher, as Daredevil now needs to reflect "who he truly is". He then gets a shave and an actual suit for a costume, the suit being seemingly made by professional tailors. (click to enlarge)

making of costume, and Daredevil entering the court wearing it

Now you'd think this is the least practical type of suit, but Daredevil manages to fight and do acrobatics wearing it, and by the time of issue #17, we learn that fortunately,

he kept the original suit under the "suit" suit, and Mark Waid's run comes to an end.

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    Wait, what? How does he rip off his suit and end up wearing a mask!? Did he rip off his hair and have the mask underneath? The mask covers the sides of his face and connects to the suit that was under his clothes! Was he wearing a full-face fake Murdock mask!?
    – DavidW
    Apr 24, 2023 at 17:39
  • @DavidW - You can see him putting on the gloves of his classic costume just before he rips off the new costume. This suggests to me that while he was wearing most of his classic costume beneath the new one, he didn't have the mask and gloves on, and put the mask on between panels.
    – LogicDictates
    Apr 24, 2023 at 18:30
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He's also apparently had a costume made by "Ronnie", the same costumer who created Gwenpool's outfit, as per issue 1 of Gwenpool.

enter image description here

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    ^_^ Pretty sure the intent is that those are fake, or badly mined, quotes, but you get my upvote.
    – FuzzyBoots
    Apr 24, 2023 at 19:15

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