Factory Visit: The Stages of Producing Plush Toys

Here at the ODM Group, we often schedule visits with the factories we partnered with. This not only ensures that quality standards are respected but also allows us to check if production is on schedule.

It is certainly essential for us to be involved as much as possible. From the first spark of a promotional product idea all the way down to the manufacturing process and shipping of finished goods to your chosen destination. Our promotional product services ensure the process is as smooth as possible.

Our team members recently visited a factory that makes plush toys in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China. During the trip, we had a chance to look at all the production steps to learn more about the process of manufacturing these items.

Plush toys are excellent personalized promotional products that can be offered as gifts with purchase, promotional giveaways, and licensed or co-branded merchandise.

They are popular and customizable and also allow you to extend your brand remembrance beyond the shop floor! Fortunately, factories in China have plenty of experience making them.

Behind the Scenes: Producing Plush Toys

Stage 1: Designing the Product

First of all, the initial stage of each project involves the design team drawing out the plush toy. From here, they select from a wide range of fabrics and draw the template design onto the fabric. They cut this design out and used a sewing machine to stitch the material of the plush toy together.

An intricate, complex design that has different colours and felts involved takes, on average, 25 minutes to make each sample.

For making plush toys, you may select any fabric available, like cotton, polyester, velvet, wool etc. But in modern toy production, most fabrics are made of polyester in a great variety of fibre lengths, thicknesses and colours.

While these toys are produced in mass, it was surprising to see the constant hand attention that is required during the design and production process.

Stage 2: Producing the Cotton

Producing plush toys certainly demand a lot of cotton. Factories source yarn-like cotton and then put the material through a machine to be turned into fluffy cotton.

Below is an image of the cotton: how it is bought vs. what it is turned into.

Check out this video!

This machine turns cotton yarn into soft, fluffy cotton wool that is then suitable to stuff in plush toys.

Stage 3: Filling the Plush Toy

Each plush toy has a small hole left during sewing to form the entrance for stuffing. They are stuffed until they get to the desired level of softness or denseness.

Often, this is used with cotton, polyester filling and plastic pellets – to give the toys a ‘beany’ feel. Therefore the pushiness of the toy can be made to a desired feel.

Stage 4: Metal Detector

Interestingly, every plush toy goes through this metal detector at the end of its production to ensure no needles are lost within the plush toy.

Above all, this is to ensure the safety of the toy once it has left the factory.

All of the products are sewn; therefore, it is vital to ensure there are no loose needles.

Stage 5: Quality Check

Every item is checked by hand to ensure it meets the high standards expected of a plush toy. This involves looking out for any loose threads and ensuring consistency with the product size, feel and design.

Even more quality checks are done once the items reach our Zhuhai office to ensure products are up to impeccable standards.

Stage 6: Shipping!

This machine is used to load the boxed goods into a lorry or truck. This special device works as a crane to hoist the goods. Our products are, from here, shipped all over the world.

How Are Plush Toys Being Used for Promotions?

Going for a custom made plush toy is a unique and innovative approach to promoting skincare products that have set Simple apart from its competitors. Learn more about the charming offer in this blog:

Discover a creative way to enhance your redemption program with branded plush toys. Take a cue from Slata, a Russian supermarket chain, who added a fun and appealing twist to their in-store promotion by incorporating the endearing characters from the popular Despicable Me franchise.

The Kinder Joy egg-shaped container has become a beloved icon in the world of confectionery. Its unique shape and design definitely made the brand’s marketing more memorable.

Discover how Cadbury Dairy Milk captivated shoppers with its Spring Edition Peter Rabbit promotional plush toy and what factors contributed to its success in generating heightened excitement on retail shelves.

Chupa Chups added a fantastic twist to traditional packaging by using custom plush purses. Take a closer look at what made these offers more irresistible by providing practical GWP merchandise to customers.

Valentine’s Day presents a lucrative opportunity for brands to boost sales and enhance their brand recognition. Plush toys are a popular gift option on this occasion, so why not include them in your marketing strategy? Take inspiration from Starbucks!

Thinking of Producing Plush Toys for Your Own Company?

We hope this blog gives you an insight into the manufacturing process of producing plush toys. If you are interested in this or any of our other products, get in touch.

Our superb design team at Mindsparkz will be happy to assist you with the design of any product, while our team at ODM will be delighted to manage the production process.

Feel free to get in touch and let us assist you in coming up with some new and innovative ways to promote your brand!

Browse Our Latest Blogs: