I'm a shoe designer - needing a plush toy prototyper

I’m working on a character licensed project right now, plush slippers - the client wants caricatures of the shows’ characters rendered in plush.

I’m managing to render the caricatures just fine on paper, infact I’m pretty impressed with what I’ve done so far. I’m enjoying the challenge! :slight_smile: I love getting odd projects like this one!

But I’m not sure about the slipper factory capeability - I’m worried about the interpretation of my specs - I think I need a plush toy prototyper in the middle to make sample ‘heads’ for me - muppet type of plush toy. I think if I can pass someting like this to the factory then i’ve half a chance of it working.

Where on earth do I start? :confused: Should I be gtting this prototype made in China? Or in the UK (where I’m based?) Where do I find toy prototypers who specialize in plush?

Help!

You could maybe start on the plush section of Tomopop. They will usually have postings for plushes made by independent designers.
A blog like Plush it, though it hasn’t been updated for a while has some links and posts about other indy plush creators that you may want to contact.

Hope that helps with a jump off at least.

Hmmm so far I think the stuff you’ve posted is just too hip - as this product is caricatures of real actors and the target customer is not young or hip (it’s meant to be a joke gift product), I really don’t want anything that looks like trendy collectibles. I was thinking more along the lines of toy factory pattern cutter with enough artistic flair in order to turn my renders inot prototypes. Think this is going to be a challenge. I’m going to look at the portfolios…thanks anyway :slight_smile:

There are a few American companies that act as middle men for Chinese factories that could help you out. They would be able to help you go from sketch to factory sample. I’d be careful about any EU standards that they might not address, as most of their work is done for the North America market.

Binkley Custom Plush Toys

Mascot Factory
http://www.mascotfactory.com/

Thanks for that - I just need a pattern engineer, specializing in plush, really, who can interpret my ideas - the actual slipper factory would get the wonderful job of qc and testing! :laughing:

shoenista, my point in posting those was to help you find someone with the skill to do what you are looking for (that may be easily accessible to you), not so they can make a “hip” interpretation of your work. I’m not too sure why you would be having a hard time finding a chinese factory to do this for you.

Hi Shoenista,

I’m pm’d you recently regarding your plush prototypes.

We have experience in the gift market, licensing and plush development so would be ideally placed to assist with any prototypes you need.

Check out your private messages, and I’ll hopefully hear from you soon.

Regards,

Sam.