 |
 Custom
Plush Spreads Out
By Beth
Michaels
May 1, 2003
In
response to the hyper-competitive market for plush items, plush
toy manufacturers and retailers are reporting increased sales of
custom designed plush toys. Custom plush manufacturing has made
larger inroads into the plush market as manufacturers respond to
retailer demand for more timely products and to fill the sizable
collectible demand.
Hallmark’s
Bunnies By The Bay™ |
Gordon
Tucker, president of DANU USA, explains that this
buying trend “has been and will continue to be [on the rise]
as retailers look for more and more ways to be competitive in pricing,
and most of all, make sure their products are unique and not the same
as their competition in the industry.”
The DANU Corporation has been in custom or private-label plush manufacturing
for 15 years and with the largest design team in the industry, has
staked a position as a leader in the development of new plush fabrics
according to Tucker. DANU product designs are generated from customer
art or from in-house graphic artists, and the company’s clientele
includes The Disney Stores and Kids “R”
Us, as well as Linens & Things and Starbucks
Coffee Company.
Yours
Truly Beanie Baby |
Well-known
designer Mary Hamilton created Hallmark’s Bunnies By
The Bay™ and Mary’s Bears™,
two custom plush products that have been eagerly embraced by the buying
public. Each item is designed exclusively for Hallmark and has earned
collectible status from dedicated plush buyers. The Yours
Truly Beanie Baby, a Hallmark Gold Crown Club-member exclusive,
has been available since late March and is expected to secure the
same results.
Hallmark
creates unique plush designs for its important seasonal calendar,
and items must be attractive to customers and collectors alike, says
Hallmark’s Rachel Bolton. “Quality and exclusivity are
important,” says Bolton. “[But] for promotions, the focus
is not only on quality, but on its value.”
One of Mary Meyer Corporation’s most successful
custom designs is the Flip Flops line, now being
sold in gift stores. David Quimby, Vice President of Sales at the
70-year-old company, explains that his company looks to produce custom
designs with its own resources rather than contract other help, and
it has paid off handsomely.
“We have our own design department and craft our own toys,”
Quimby says. “So even though we sell them to our customers,
we don’t go any place else and buy someone else’s stock.
We are definitely getting a bigger piece of the [requests for] ad
specialty toys.”
Writer's Bio: Beth Michaels is a freelance
writer living in Barstow, California, and the proud mother of a son,
Kai.
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