It's hard to think about how stuffed animals were made before spinning wheels, sewing machines, and massive factories that automate our favorite plushies' cutting, sewing, and stuffing. Today, plushie production is a global industry, with over 100 million stuffies sold yearly in the United States alone, but our lovable pals had simple origins.
Stuffed animals intertwine with human history. From wooden horses from ancient Egypt to stately cats from the Renaissance to the original teddy bear to today's never-ending selection of plush friends, people have always found comfort in something soft to hug.
Plushies Before Industry![]()
Though we have modernized what plushies look like and are made of, their origins date back to ancient civilizations. Evidence excavated everywhere from Egypt to Rome to Siberia shows that children were running around with cloth toys from the earliest days of human history. One of the oldest stuffies found is a raggedy doll filled with straw from 300 B.C. Rome.
Many cloth toys are unlikely to have survived thousands of years, as textiles were not as resilient as they are today. Fabric was laborious to make and needed to be used for other necessities like clothing, so other materials, like wood, ivory, and clay, were used to make toys. These toys were sturdier than cloth ones, giving historians a better chance to find them today. The more traditional stuffies that have been found, though, show the care many people took to make comforting toys.
Ancient plushies were used as more than just children's toys. In Siberia, a plush swan, fashioned of reindeer pelt and wool and believed to have been made nearly 2,400 years ago, was found in the Altai Mountains. Historians think it was made to represent the local tribe's story of how the universe was created. In its preservation, the swan shows how detailed ancient plushies could be.
From playthings to religious symbols, ancient civilizations had an affinity for toy animals that we still have today.
Stuffies During The Industrial Revolution
Before the Industrial Revolution started, another era of stuffies occurred during the Renaissance. A step above simple cloth animals, wealthy families had ornate stuffed animals made for their children. These plushies, handcrafted with expensive fabrics and fine details like lace and jewels, were more ornamental than playful.
Families with fewer resources could still make toys. Children could make simple dolls by using a small ball or a spoon to create the head, wrapping some cloth around it, and tying it off with a string. Native Americans still make traditional corn husk dolls.
A manufacturing boom started in the 1830s. Though many inventions started making communication and transportation easier, the Spinning Jenny made fabric production easier and more efficient. More fabric meant that making stuffed animals was faster and cheaper.
During the first phase of the Industrial Revolution, the plushie giant FAO Schwarz popped up in 1862. FAO Schwarz became known for its large and realistic plush toys. The company also created one of the earliest Christmas toy catalogs in 1876, marking the holiday season with a toy exhibition. The massive reach FAO Schwarz had across the United States would not have been possible without the industrial innovations of the time.
The Teddy Bear
During the second phase of the Industrial Revolution, parallel thinking occurred in Germany and America. In Germany, the Steiff Company, founded in 1880 by Margarete Steiff, was well-known for its plush toys, which started with a fabric elephant. In the 1890s, Margarete's nephew, Richard, joined the company and amped up stuffie production with various new animal designs, including a movable bear.
Around the same time, Morris Michtom, a Russian immigrant and inventor, got the idea for a plush bear after the Washington Post published a political cartoon about one of Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt's hunting trips, where, after not finding any game, assistants tied up a bear for him to shoot. But he refused.
Word of this incident traveled across the pond, and both Steiff and Michtom christened their stuffed bears as Teddy Bears in honor of the president. The Steiff Company and Michtom's company, Ideal Novelty and Toy Company, are still around in some form today, continuing to make the traditional stuffed animals they started with and more innovative plushies.
Stuffed Toys Today
With the machines available today, we can make almost anything. With fabrics that Ancient Rome couldn't dream of, there's everything from classics like the teddy bear to mascots and TV characters. During the 1900s, Disney spearheaded the sale of plush merchandise paired with its movies. Later, whole franchises were about plushies, like Hello Kitty and Paddington Bear.
The long history of stuffed animals made some of them rare collectibles. Ornate dolls from the Renaissance or Ty Beanie Babies can be found anywhere from the bottom of bins at thrift stores to some of the highest bids on eBay. In 50 to 100 years, more modern trends like Pillow Pets, Build-A-Bears, and Squishmallows may earn a similar status.
Other innovations set modern plushies apart. According to new research, weighted stuffed animals are currently trending, providing psychological benefits. Modern tech also lets us have stuffies that light up or sing to us. As we become more environmentally conscious, companies are leaning into eco- and hypoallergenic-friendly stuffed animals.
As stuffed animals have become nostalgic rather than a novelty, it's also become more common for adults to have extensive plushie collections or openly travel with a comforting pal. Stuffed animals aren't just for children anymore; everything from natural-looking animals to bright and colorful characters or axolotls is available for all ages.
Your Plushie's History
Stuffed animals have had quite the journey, from simple cloth or wooden animals to decorated ornaments to specialized representations of everything we love today. Knowing the long and winding path stuffies have taken, it's time to make some history with your own little (or big) pal.
Whether you're looking at your pristine collectible or the raggedy plushie you've had since you were born, know that your love for your stuffed friend connects you back to the beginning of human history.