Steiff is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

-based plush toy company. It was founded in 1880 by

Margarete Steiff Margarete Steiff (24 July 1847 – 9 May 1909) was a seamstress who in 1880 founded Margarete Steiff GmbH, making toy stuffed animals. Born in Giengen, Germany, Steiff contracted polio as a child, leaving her with both legs paralyzed and pain ...

, a seamstress. The toys began as elephants, and were originally a design Steiff found in a magazine and sold as

pincushion A pincushion (or pin cushion) is a small, stuffed cushion, typically across, which is used in sewing to store pins or needles with their heads protruding to take hold of them easily, collect them, and keep them organized. Pincushions are typ ...

s to her customers. However, children began playing with them, and in the years following she went on to design many other animal-themed toys for children, such as

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

s and

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

s. She designed and made most of the

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

s herself. Steiff's nephew

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

joined in 1897 and gave the company an enormous boost by creating stuffed animals from drawings made at the zoo. A 3000 piece order was placed in 1903 by a buyer in America after the "Teddy" bear craze began showing a cartoon with President Roosevelt and a young cub. By 1907, Steiff manufactured 974,000 bears, and has been increasing its output ever since.

Description

The Steiff company motto, as styled by Margarete Steiff, is "Only the best is good enough for children". Steiff products are subject to meticulous testing and inspection. They are required to be highly flame resistant and, among other things, smaller pieces such as eyes must be able to resist considerable tension, wear and tear, etc. The most common materials used in Steiff toys are

alpaca The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can successfu ...

, felt,

mohair Mohair (pronounced ) is a fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat. (This should not be confused with Angora wool, which is made from the fur of the Angora rabbit.) Both durable and resilient, mohair is notable for its high luster ...

, and woven plush. Eyes are generally made of wood or glass, and the stuffing is commonly wood shavings or

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include natural ...

fibers. A large amount of the work is done by hand, from design sketches to airbrushed paint. The final touch on any Steiff toy is the trademark "button in ear" (assuming the animal has one; in any case they will find a spot for it). The iconic "button in ear" tag was devised by Margarete's nephew Franz in 1904, to keep counterfeits from being passed off as authentic Steiff toys. It is made of metal. The tag originally had the symbol of an elephant, which was later replaced by the name "Steiff". The button is still used to distinguish Steiff toys from fakes.The Steiff Collection
/ref> Some special toys have both the elephant and the name.

References

External links

Steiff Website in English

Steiff Website

Steiff Company, US-branch

BBC News: "Teddy bear celebrates 100th birthday"

In: Goethe-Institut online, Architecture, September 2014 * Companies based in Baden-Württemberg Toy companies of Germany Teddy bear manufacturers Toy companies established in the 19th century Manufacturing companies established in 1880 German companies established in 1880 {{Toy-company-stub