History of Teddy Bears

In 1880, German Margarete Steiff, confined to her wheelchair, made a small elephant of fabric. It was to be the first of many stuffed toys she would make, building her little business into the world's most famous stuffed toys company. In 1902, her nephew Richard Steiff introduced a stuffed bear for the Steiff toy company.

Today, an early Steiff teddy bear will cost well over $100,000 - if you can find one. (Read the history of Steiff)

Stuffed teddies came to be known as Teddy Bears after US President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, on a hunting trip i Mississippi in 1902, refused to shoot a bear cub. A cartoonist for the Washington Post, Clifford Berryman, posted the story, which inspired a Brooklyn store owner, Morris Michtom, to create a little stuffed bear and advertise it in his shop window as "Teddy's bear" in 1903, unbeknownst to Margarete Steiff. Michtom's company was called Ideal Novelty and Toy Company

The fascination with stuffed teddies caught up quickly and another German teddy maker, Bernhard Hermann, would soon add his creativity to the teddy market. He launched the now-famous Hermann Teddy Original brand.

Merrythought bears originated from the pen of a remarkable deaf lady, Florence Atwood. By 1931, she had designed the whole catalogue for the Merrythought teddy bear company.

Herrington bears also have a remarkable history. Chris Herrington was as a waiter in the 1980s when a co-worker asked him to design a T-shirt for her teddy bear. The rest... well, see the history of the Herring Teddy Bear company

Today, there are many famous teddy bears, including Charlie bears, Gund, Russ, Deans bears, Clemens bears, Steiner, and others, not forgetting teddy bears made famous by cartoons, such a Paddinton and Winnie-the-Pooh.