Fiesta Sees Growth in Plush Manufacturing

Fiesta

Founded by Harold Kleinman in 1972, Fiesta originally imported plush for skill games on the Santa Monica Pier in California. Kleinman purchased retail closeouts to give as prizes and sold his excess to amusement parks around the country. Fiesta entered the retail business when Rich Rossi, a manufacturing representative, asked Kleinman for permission to sell their products to the gift market, and steady growth followed.

Fiesta’s transition from amusement parks to toy stores was a gradual process based on the combined knowledge of a loyal staff. Lauber had sold plush for Benji Meyers and Ace Novelty, an amusement company, in 1988. Play By Play bought Ace in 1996, and Lauber remained as senior vice president for four years before taking his current position with Fiesta in 2000.

"The success of Fiesta is due to the dedication of our employees," Lauber told TDmonthly Magazine. "We have many employees that started with Harold on the pier and are still here."

Their average employee has been with Fiesta for more than ten years. "They know their jobs and how to do them, and more importantly, they know our customer needs."

The company's biggest setback was the loss of their product development manager Del Clark, who passed away on New Year's Eve in 2000. Tom Hoppe, Fiesta's executive vice president, took over for Clark.

Hoppe has a team of product development people that work with him daily. "We do work with a few artists that submit concepts, but most of the creative work is done in-house," Lauber said.

Fiesta is known for designs that combine function and fashion, such as their Animal Rockers and Transformables, pillows that convert to standing plush animals. Back Pack Trolleys with matching handbags and hats as well as plush banks have distinguished this company from their competitors.

In addition to the manufacturing of their popular products, Fiesta does custom and private label work for an undisclosed list of clients. They signed licensing agreements with Vimrod and Co-edikit Live Out Loud, introducing a limited line at the Atlanta Gift Show in July with plans to expand by January 2007.

Last Lemon, a U.K. based cartoon production and licensing company, created Vimrod along with the Pea Tree and Harold's Planet. Live Out Loud by Co-edikit is similar.

"These are both social expression lines that we think have a lot of appeal," Lauber remarked.

As Fiesta expands into more sophisticated gift items, their success will depend not on luck or timing, but experience.

What follows is information on the most popular Fiesta products.