Rainbow Connection

More than four dozen new faces are coming to Kmart, the nation's No. 6 toy retailer—online and at each of its nearly 1,400 store locations—in an initiative to dramatically expand its selection of multicultural dolls.

In addition to the ethnic Barbie and Bratz dolls lines that it always offered, Kmart (which is parented by Sears Holdings Corp., Hoffman Estates, Ill.) is adding many exclusives, including Betty Spaghetty assortments; Jaggets and Jaggettis, urban, fashion-oriented doll and mini-doll lines from Spain's Famosa; the Terri Lee Dolls, which include retro African-American characters created by Pittsburgh Courier cartoonist Jackie Ormes in 1947; Baby Abuelita, a line of musical family dolls created by two moms to promote Hispanic heritage and literacy; the Anne Geddes Multicultural Line, costumed babies of different ethnicities inspired by the famous photographs; the African-American Kenya and Clover dolls, which celebrate beauty through hair play; dolls based on Latino rock band characters from soap opera Rebelde; and porcelain dolls by Brass Key.

Kmart has also created its own proprietary line of dolls, sourced from a variety of manufacturers specializing in various ethnic doll sculpts. The retailer's Just Girlz brand will include fashion dolls, rag dolls and other styles in African-American, Asian and Hispanic assortments and various themes, such as Quinceañera and Damitas, plus pets and accessories.

The initiative will be supported by store circulars, in-store signage and targeted mailers in the surrounding neighborhoods to highlight key products and trends.

On the eve of the program's first major rollout, Playthings spoke with Sears Holdings doll buyer Randy Mead; Philipp Elliott, divisional merchandise manager for toys; and Kirsten Whipple, marketing and public relations director.

Playthings: How did the program get started?

Elliott: We wanted to give our customers better offerings—to meet [their] needs—and one of the areas that Randy developed was this extension of multicultural dolls. You see the continued success of Dora and Diego and lines like that, and we said, 'Our customers are a very diverse, mixed base. Why wouldn't they want more offerings like this that relate to their play?' So Randy really took the initiative to go seek these out ... The toughest thing was, where do you find these types of dolls? The only place you can really find these dolls is [from small specialty manufacturers]. So we developed this line called Just Girlz. It's our branded line of dolls that are really specialty dolls, that you'll be able to find in our stores. Then we extended the Anne Geddes line to include Hispanic and African-Amerian dolls, and we looked at the Jaggets...

Mead: [Jaggets is] one of the top doll lines in Europe, and they really emphasize multicultural individuals within the line. It's starting to come to Puerto Rico and we were seeing requests online from people in the United States, so we found the manufacturer and representatives that would put the dolls here and worked out an exclusive deal with them for the next year.

Playthings: So the idea came from the front lines in the market?

Mead: We looked at how different segments of the doll industry were being run, and this really stuck out as a segment where there was a lot of need for better product ... I spent a lot of time talking with people that had daughters, that had granddaughters, that were [doll] customers themselves in the past, and we found there was a strong need. And then we went online and did a lot of research and we started to dig into it—and Oprah's run a couple of segments on the need for 'dolls that look like me.' It touched my heart, so it really became a passion for me to go after this business.

Playthings: What kinds of dolls did you look for?

Mead: We've put a lot of emphasis on the fashion doll side, [since] the baby doll business if farther along because it's not dominated by two brands. You still had to research it and dig in to it, [but] on our last buying trip to Hong Kong it was a little bit easier to find the multicultural baby dolls than it was to find fashion dolls.

Playthings: What's the early customer feedback?

Elliott: The Terri Lee dolls, the Anne Geddes product, the Rebelde dolls, the Just Girlz 18-inch dolls—all of them are definitely being very, very well received.

Whipple: Some customers have been so excited, asking 'Where can I find them?' They've wanted the dolls right away ... We've had orders for 15 dolls at a time!

Playthings: How did manufacturers react?

Elliott: We've had three doll summits with our current group of manufacturers, and we [also] had different manufacturers contact us based on articles that are out, and they're impressed with our passion on this subject. So we're working with them to figure out the best way to bring them to market, and how quickly we can do it. We worked really hard on this to keep [it] under wraps. We felt like it was a place for us to really get in and make a wonderful mark on society.

Playthings: So some companies were surprised by your decision to expand in this area?

Mead: [Yes.] When I was in Hong Kong, I went into Anne Geddes ... I said, 'You don't have any multicultural dolls,' and the guy got elated. He brought out an Anne Geddes book, and it showed that almost 50 percent of her photographs are of ethnic babies in the costumes. He said, 'She required us to make a whole line of ethnic sculpts, but nobody has ever wanted them.' They had them ready to go, but their entire showroom was Caucasian because nobody ever wanted to talk about the ethnic dolls! We jumped on board really quickly, and that's why they're exclusive to us.

Playthings: Can you tell us more about the new Terri Lee dolls that will also be exclusive?

Mead: Jackie Ormes was the first African-American nationally syndicated cartoonist, and she teamed up with the Terri Lee Co.—because even back in the 1940s there weren't quality African-American dolls. Now Terri Lee is coming back as a retro brand. It's nice timing because [her] autobiography is coming out this fall, and the Ormes Society is doing a lot of great PR. And we're all really excited because Jackie Ormes was from Chicago, so it's been really nice.

Playthings: How did Just Girlz develop? Why will Kmart be sourcing it from multiple suppliers?

Mead: The number one thing that's been a priority for this line is to get to where nobody could tell us that we took the same mold and painted it in different skin tones. So we really worked hard to have different manufacturers working on [the different sculpts.]

Whipple: They were chosen specifically for their expertise in a particular area.

Playthings: Will the multicultural dolls be displayed mostly within their individual brands?

Mead: [Yes.] We want to put the best program together ... We believe in non-segregation, that the ethnic dolls and the Caucasian dolls should be within the Bratz section, same with Barbie. The multicultural section should look like a melting pot so everything is represented the way the world is today.