SPRING FAIR 2005
Wow, what a fair!
Click for:
Depesche UK - Diddl (with PHOTOS)
Collectible World Studios - Tatty and Whimsiclay
First Stop was Ty. And, boy, were we shocked at the surprises. Ty has changed their usual metal-structured stand for a dreamy castle, which is similar to what is now used as part of the Ty shop and museum at Harrods in London. The first thing we noticed was the beautiful display of ANGELINE.
ANGELINE: I had read the trademark applied for by Ty some months ago, and wasn't sure what to expect. We saw the actual product today and, wow, was it different! Angeline is a small angel. She is has very straggly blonde hair and is dressed in blue, with two tiny iridescent wings near the back of her neck. She is very different to anything Ty has done before. Similar to how Carte Blanche release their ranges, there's a story that goes along with the products. There was an A4 card attached to the display with a story about how she looked in a raindrop and noticed that she had tiny wings and tried everything to make them bigger, until one day she fell down a rainbow and met a little girl, and they became best friends. The story is also attached in a tiny book in a little plastic cover around the necks of the plush, again, similar to the way Carte Blanche tell the story of Tatty Teddy. The plush is gorgeous - a similar size to the Beanie Kids, yet so different. Her hair is very straggly and frizzy and really made us smile. The plush we displayed alone, and also in packaging. The packaging was made up of a round cardboard base, with a slightly round card back behind the plush. Different messages eg. I love You were printed on the front of the round base. Also, there were keyrings - a much smaller plush Angeline who was attached to a plastic clip-keyring. Along with the gifts, there were greeting cards. Small cards (the front about A5 in size) with envelopes, including watery drawings and Ty's usual scribbly black handwriting-like font. Plus, gift bags and tissue paper following the same themes. The Angeline products that we saw are only prototypes and may be changed depending on feedback at the show. There were also some pets on display - small dogs and cats that were a bit smaller than the size of a Jingle beanie that were sat across her knees. These are also prototypes for what may be future products. Ty Europe are hoping the Angeline range may appear in the shops around May time. I can't wait! Also, the Ty rep showed us how insignificant the references to Ty are. The tags, or what were attached to the plush, were star shaped, printed one side only with no reference to Ty Inc - only style number etc. The only reference to Ty, is a tiny heart, maybe about 3cm in height on the back of the cardboard packaging, quite near the bottom. It seems that this is a 'fresh start' for Ty with this range.
PINKYS: Also, a World Preview is the Pinkys range. This is certainly aimed at the young girls! The whole range is pink! The range includes beanies, buddies and what looked like a classic, all developed to be pink only - hot pink! They even had new hangtags - hot pink and silver holographic on the outside, and hot pink on the inside. My favourites of the plush are pink Ratzo beanie and buddy! The buddy is so squishy and cuddly.
The range includes:
Ratzo - rat beanie
Ratzo - rat buddy
Baubles - frog beanie
Rosa - guinea pig beanie
Chenille - duck/chick beanie
Silky - pig beanie
Sparkles - dog beanie
Julep - monkey beanie
Frilly - horse beanie
Pinkypoo - poodle beanie
Fab - cat (I think) beanie
Fab - cat (I think) handbag
Little Gloss - dog classic-style.
There was also a new UK exclusive! There have been a lot of talk on the Ty Cyberboard that this is not an official UK exclusive, but the friendly Ty Europe rep assured us that it was. All regular beanies have style numbers that begin with the numbers '40', although ALL exclusives have their style numbers beginning with the numbers '46'. Mum, the new Mothers Day bear does have a style number beginning with '46', and IS a UK exclusive. The beanie is plain lilac fabric, holding shiny plush letters that spell out the word 'MUM'. The USA exclusive one will follow nearer the US Mothers Day, and will hold letters that spell out 'MOM'. I wonder how many oddities and variations Ty will release, as all the letters were different colours? I must admit, when I heard rumours that there was to be a new UK exclusive, I imagined the usual 'flag-themed' bears, so I was quite surprised to see Mum.
Other Ty news:
PFC, the Pompey bear, will now be available to ALL UK retailers in a limited supply as stock is now low.
The UK will NOT be getting the Garfield buddies, although Ireland will, due to copyright restrictions. Although it is possible that the UK MAY get the Spongebob beanies.
Plus, Ty Europe have really changed their attitude! The staff have always been quite friendly, but today, they couldn't help us enough. The guy we spoke to was very friendly and couldn't help us enough! We even got a free beanie, which we found very unusual. Mistique the tiger was given out to children, to celebrate the launch of the Pinkys range. Plus, all the Ty reps sported pink carnations on their jackets, which we thought was really nice!
Carte Blanche - usually quite impressive, was not as exciting as in previous years. Mike Payne, unlike last year, was not in attendance. There were quite a lot of new plush on display.
The Mother's Day range follows the theme of flowers - this years distinctive theme was of lilies. Most of the plush bears held lilies and a lot were also decorated in beads. There was a large range of bears holding words - "Mum", "Mam", "Nan" and "Gran", which certainly suits everyone! The words were made of felt and decorated with stitching and small beards. There was also a cute photoclip, where the clip at the top was hidden by a flower. There was a Mother's Day snowglobe, which also included Tatty Teddy holding lilies, and Special Mum was written along the base. A cute couple was the Mum and baby duo, which is so cute! Plus a tiny 3" bear wearing a large satin-like hat.
My favourite range was the relaxing bears. This included a gorgeous purple/blue soft armchair with a little bear sitting in it. The tatty on a Beanbag is absolutely adorable - I think the beanbag was dark blue. The rocking chair was also cute - a little tatty teddy in a fluffy white jumper sits on a wooden rocking chair. All of these were about 7 or 8 inches in height roughly. There was also a smaller tatty lying on his stomach, similar to a large bear that has already been introduced like this. He is cute - about 6 inches long! Adorable.
There was also a big Global challenge display which included a beautiful photo in a glass display, surrounded by bears for each destination. Each bear wears a Global Challenge 2004 shirt for each destination, plus there is a special tag and flag label attached to each plush.
As well as plush, there were also some new silver-based figurines. Including a Good Luck bear, standing on one foot with the other out in front of him, holding a clover. Plus, with love from Me to You, which is holding an envelope. And a cute birthday figure, holding balloons, wrapped in streamers. Also, there was another snowglobe on display - it had Tatty teddy holding a single rose.
There was a new school range, including two styles of pen, CD case, pencil case, stickers, friendship book, address book and much more - it was certainly a big range.
Similar to the giant Teddy Big Foot released in January, there's an adorable giant Bobble, who is so soft! Also new from Carte Blanche is a range called Puppy Pals which are beanbag dogs. Each are about the size of a Ty beanie and there are about 6 different breed designs.
It was unusual for CWS to have some new products on display at the fair - but we were surprised to see lots. The first thing we spotted was a range of plush Whimsiclay, including plush cats, plush handbags and slippers.
New to the Me to You range was a limited edition. This was limited to 6500 and will cost £37.50 in stores. It's called "Bridge to Your Heart" and features two bears sitting on a wooden bridge with their legs over hanging.
There's also a gorgeous new figure called "My Special Friend" which I can guarantee will be loved by everyone. It features Tatty hugging his cuddly rabbit toy. It's the cutest figurine I've seen in a long time from Collectible World - absolutely adorable! The bunny is floppy in Tatty's arms and is soft and felty like Tatty's nose.
There's another exclusive, but unusual - this is exclusive to SMALL retailers - which means no getting it from Clintons or H Samuels. This is going to be one rare bear! It's called "For someone special" and Tatty is holding some roses.
As well as the above, there's a few Wedding themed figures - "Little Helper" the ring bearer (RRP £12), "A Special Moment" bridesmaid (RRP £12) and "Over the threshold", Tatty Groom carrying Tatty Bride. This will be £19.50 in shops.
Also, there's "Fingers Crossed" an exam bear, who is sitting with his pencil and a clover, taking a test. He will cost £12.
All the above figures should be available in March.
A little shocked to see that the Little Bundies have been on a diet! lol! Little Bundies have developed from the short, chubby plush dolls, to taller, thinner standing dolls. They are still plush, yet stand up on their own (or with a little help from something to lean on! lol). They now come packaged with a message on the box. They all hold flat icons - like a heart, cat or dog. There's also a range of collectible charms. If you've seen a similar product by NICI, you'll know what I mean. They are like keyrings, with three pieces of coloured string attached, each with a little coloured charm hanging to the end. Plus, there's a cute line of photo frames. Each frame is ceramic, painted, with decoration, and a little delicate Little Bundy looking over the top, or sitting at the side, complete with soft thread hair. Little Bundies have certainly had a makeover!
NICI always have an impressive stand. The German gift company had some great new lines today! One of my favourites included the Spring/Summer 05 range, which revolved around a pink ladybird (or ladybug) and a yellow bee. The colours looked great together! Also, there were some new bears - two bears made up this new line - one golden brown and one honey. Another of my favourite lines was the seal line. It included a gorgeous brown/grey seal, with a pink fluffy collar and blue spots on his back. This was a big range including plush, snowglobes, photo frames, furry bags and pencil cases and hot water bottles. That distinctive polar bear was back again, but was developed slightly for a new range - today he had plain plush white fabric and many of the products were decorated with a blue snowflake background. The range was very white and blue and included similar products to the seal range. There was also a Ferrari range, which was very red, black and yellow. Many plush horses were saying "I (heart) Ferrari" or "Horsepower". There was also news of the Germany 2006 World Cup Mascot. Goleo VI, the official mascot is being turned into a NICI plush bear for the competition!
As always, I leave the best until last! lol! Well, the Depesche stand is certainly MY favourite. Although we missed Owen who is now launching Diddl in America, Tom, Jo and the rest of the team were great! The new ranges were adorable! The first thing we spotted was the bathtime range "Morning Dreams". This included towels, pajamas, toiletries, and even elastoplasts! hehe The Funky Flower range was also cute - especially Diddlina in her flowery raincoat! My favourite though was the Summer Fruits range. I had seen a quick glimpse of this range in the background of a photo on the Depesche website and loved it even then! This range includes my favourite - strawberries!! As well as the plush and design series, there's some gorgeous new cards to appeal to the UK market. Made especially for us in the UK, the new cards are pastel, glittery, with serrated edges, designed by an artist in the UK. I really enjoyed talking to her about her cards too. The cards certainly aren't as vivid as the German style cards, but they are so pretty and I think they're going to do great over here!
Ok, so I think the new Diddl ranges are gorgeous! You'll have to see for yourselves! hehe! The wonderful people at Depesche UK, allowed us to photograph their wonderful stand, so all you Diddl fans can see all the diddltastic goodies!
Thanks to Tom, Jo, the rest of the Depesche team, and the artist who designed the new cards!
