Stuffed toy animals have been made and enjoyed throughout the history of humanity.

The first manufactured animal toy in the US is said to have been a 2 dimensional, semi-realistic, cat illustrated image, printed onto a half yard of cotton muslin cloth. ‘Ithaca Kitty’, patented by Arnold Printing in 1892. It was a sew-your-own printed fabric pattern. Women would cut out, sew, and stuff the toy cat themselves at home.

In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt saved the life of a baby bear during a hunting trip, Soon after, the first furry stuffed toy ‘Teddy Bear’, was designed to be 5-way jointed and poseable, and began manufacturing in 1903 by a German toy company, Steiff, using mohair fur fabrics. That original mohair Teddy Bear now sits proudly, for all to admire, in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

But even before that, we know that Native Americans fabricated soft dolls using corn husks and real animal hides.

Antique bears now, most desirably sought after by serious teddy bear collectors, were made of a fur fabric called mohair. Which is a durable fur fiber, with high luster and sheen. Mohair is sheared from a beautiful special breed of long-haired, angora, goat.

Alpaca wool fiber is a wonderfully soft, fluffy, durable, fur fiber which is also made into fur fabrics that are used to fabricate plush toys.

Mohair and alpaca fibers are often blended together to create specialty fur fabrics. Which soft sculpture artists, and teddy bear makers around the world, use to fabricate unique huggable animal characters.

Alpacas are of the camelid family, cousin to the camel and llama. Alpacas looks similar to llamas, but they are smaller, and have much softer wool than llamas.

The Goat’s and Alpaca’s hair is sheared from the animal, causing them no harm. Shearing long-haired animals makes them far more comfortable during the heat of the summer months. The fiber is cleaned and prepped and then woven into a cotton fabric backing, sheared to different pile lengths, and sometimes dyed to be different colors.

The angora goat originated from the mountains of Tibet. The goat’s sheared fiber was first woven into mohair fur fabric in England in the early 18th century.

Genuine mohair and alpaca fur fabrics are still produced today. The finest quality is said to be manufactured in Germany. They is the most expensive type of fur fabrics used by collector quality stuffed animal artists.

Mohair first fabric allows teddy bear artists to create the most stunningly beautiful, exquisite, elegant and durable teddy bear characters.

Synthetic fur fabric, in recent years, are manufactured to be incredibly silky soft and durable. The most prevalent fur fibers, produced currently, are polyester and acrylic polymer blends. The fibers can be made so fine, the fur fabric fibers can mimic the density and soft feel of a real baby rabbit.

Plush toy furry fabrics are now manufactured in amazingly realistic textures, densities, and colors. In both woven, stable backing and in stretch knit backing. Synthetic, or ‘faux fur’ fabrics come in a bast array of colorful styles and in many different pile lengths. From short minky, velvet and velboa, at 1mm, to varied textured length designs, to 100mm very long fur.

Japanese anime, manga, and kawaii (cute) style characters have been very popular in recent years. These plush toy characters are made predominately using very short, velvety soft, knit backed minky and non stretch, woven, velboa fabrics. A few examples of these characters are ‘Hello Kitty’, ‘Kirara’ and ‘Pikachu’. These plush characters are made using smooth, very short, 1mm-3mm pile, length furry textured fabrics. The facial features that are machine embroidered, or vibrantly imprinted, in full color, with any type of design, utilizing a sublimation printing process.

However they are fabricated, Plush toys continue to exude fun, love, and comfort for children-at-heart all around the world. They are a precious gift to give, and to keep, for generations to enjoy.