Going Wild for Wildlife

Blame it on Animal Planet, the cable TV channel devoted to all things in the world of wildlife. With real animals as the stars of their own TV shows, this year more exotic creatures than those found down on the farm are leading the plush parade. And overall sales of the furry, often cuddly, critters remain strong even as a bear of another sort is on the loose on Wall Street.

“Plush is recession proof,” says Steve Swickard, owner of the Estes Ark plush store in Estes Park, Colorado. While Swickard says his shop doesn't follow the traditional major trends—and instead, remains focused on “quality” stuffed animals—he says that today's plush has a more realistic quality that's helping to drive sales. “Kids want a certain type of animal that they see on Animal Planet or in the news.”

Fears of global warming have thus made polar bears more popular than ever, while other wildlife is getting a level of attention never before seen. As a result, for both traditional retailers and online sellers, the hot selling items in the plush category recently have been ultra realistic and exotic animals. While brown bears and other traditional animals continue to be popular, retailers say creatures you don't see every day are the ones breaking from the pack.

“We even have a couple vendors that only make exotic or endangered animals,” says Sandra Chickering, owner of the Placerville, Calif.-based online seller StuffedArk.com. “Part of the fun of our business,” she says, “is trying to find the exotic and obscure.” Today the Stuffed Ark carries more than 1,200 animals—a selection even Noah might have found impressive. “Where else can you go if you need a coatimundi, a platypus, an echidna or a dingo?” Chickering asks. Stuffed Ark does carry some “cutsie items,” she says, but the main interest continues to be directed towards high-quality, life-like plush wild animals, and these critters are selling well throughout the year.

Out-of-the-ordinary animals are also what customers are asking for from Kirk Larsen, owner of the Snohomish, Wash.-based This Place Is A Zoo, which has seen steady sales of pandas, giraffes and even various breeds of dogs. He adds that hippos were especially popular during the holidays.

“My specialty is for the harder-to-find animals like the platypus, octopus, sloth, baboon and clouded leopard, to mention just a few,” he says, noting that sales of stuffed animals remain fairly steady year-round, with the exception of Christmastime, when sales will generally ramp up starting in late October and ultimately triple during the month of December. “The rest of the year has Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's and Father's days, graduation and, of course, there are always birthdays, babies born and events to keep sales going year-round,” he says.

What isn't selling as well, say the retailers Playthings spoke to, are “monster” or otherwise strange plush. While novelty items attract a cult following, few customers are looking for outer-space aliens, monsters or other surreal-themed plush toys, several stuffed toy sellers say. For the most part, more whimsical plush toys remain Internet specialty items as opposed to those carried by traditional plush retailers.

Accessories are also described as non-movers these days. Some specialized plush clothing—worthy of an animal farm makeover—remains popular, but its appeal is small compared to the sales of traditional animal designs.

One product line that has all but gone into hibernation with specialty retailers is the Webkinz from Ganz, which Estes' Swickard says doesn't surprise him. The store chose not to carry it, and he says demand has been light. “We have had very little interest from our customers. I would venture to say that we've had less than 20 customers ask about Webkinz during the past three years.”

In addition to the more realistic appearance of the plush critters, quality also has been on the rise, a fact in which stuffed animal lovers of all ages can take comfort. While there are still plenty of lower--caliber creatures to be found, specialty manufacturers and retailers report that quality has never been better.

“We have always been very stringent on our quality and design standards to ensure that we avoid safety problems, so we haven't had to all of a sudden change how we manufacture our products,” says Sandy Willens, managing director of Bestever Inc., Torrance, Calif. This higher quality does mean some higher prices but Willens maintains that consumers should—and do—recognize the product's value. “We are seeing material price increases, as is everyone, so that in turn is going to make prices of finished goods increase, which we are already seeing in the market. Consumers are ready to step up and pay for quality products they know are being made with the most stringent quality and design standards, and they are not just thinking about price.”

It is this dedication to quality that Swickard says keeps customers coming back to Estes Ark for their plush needs. “The quality of plush has certainly gone up in recent years. There are better fabrics, but more importantly there are better stuffing techniques,” he says.

Even with some products now made in Asia, Swickard says that many manufacturers are taking the time to do things right. “The artists are looking at live animals and using good photographs. With these in place, the designers can produce a very good prototype that is made very well. This can be sent to China, and the factories can produce excellent animals. If you just take a picture and send it to China, you can't be sure what you'll get.”

Additionally, Swickard says that, while he notes the concerns about products from China, this isn't necessarily true of plush, a segment for which factory workers are generally higher skilled than those employed in factories producing plastic products. “Some of the best plush comes out of China,” Swickard says. “They have the best fabrics, and they have skilled workers doing the sewing and stuffing.”

Even the large manufacturers are taking note of concerns by retailers and shoppers over items from China. Materials used for plush toys, says Paul Roche, senior vice president at Aurora World, Pico Rivera, Calif., are being carefully monitored. “Aurora has always followed strict industry standards and last year stepped up safety efforts in regards to anything metal or plastic used with our products. More than 90 percent of our plush products are simply fibers and plush material, so the company hasn't been negatively affected by the issues with China.”

Almost like a migration, stuffed animals continue to expand beyond specialty, manufacturers say.

Notably, plush continues to sell where animals are the main attraction—at zoos, aquariums and theme parks—but also in nature parks and just about anywhere else that children frequent.

“We are definitely seeing more opportunities to sell plush outside traditional toy stores,” says Bestever's Willens, who notes that the company's lines, which are diversified with accessories, wearables and functional soft goods, have branched out into many different types of retail channels. Additionally, plush is selling stronger online. “The Internet has been a growth area for us; it is a positive factor in our business,” Willens says.

This is especially notable given the rise in online plush retailers that have cropped up in the past decade. Today there are dozens of specialty retailers in the plush market, and sales are reportedly strong.

“I'm seeing mostly parents buying for their kids and other relatives,” says Nancy Vega, owner of Nancy's Plush Toys and Gifts (Nancysplushtoys.com), based in Richland, Penn. Vega has run the Internet-based mail order company for the past 10 years, and agrees that unusual wildlife and aquatic animals are today's strongest sellers. Although the site sells other gifts, plush is what customers keep coming back for again and again. “The plush toys and puppets far outweigh the other sales,” she tells Playthings.

In many ways, plush is a natural for the Internet when it comes to gifts. The large stores, such as Estes Ark or This Place Is A Zoo, or even well-known zoos will surely get those impulse buys, but for planned gifts the online retailers think they have the edge.

“Brick-and-mortar stores have limited space for plushies, and left over holiday items have to go into storage to make room for the next holiday items,” says Chickering. Her virtual store, though, can have offer all holiday related items on display year-round. She adds, “With the world as our storefront, we are able to fill thousands of orders a month. It's amazing how many reindeer got sold last summer, and bunnies go all year round!”