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Production |
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A Steiff animal is born |
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A great deal
happens between having the idea for an unmistakable Steiff animal and
its completion. Did you know that the production process for a Steiff
animal consists of more than 30 operations on average and most of these
are performed by hand in the traditional manner.
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Production |
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A portion of company philosophy in every animal |
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Our customers buy
Steiff products because they have confidence in the "Button in Ear"
trademark. |
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Every
Steiff creation is produced with the clearly defined trademark
considerations, best-quality materials, workmanship and safety
in mind, as well as the company philosophy "Only the best is
good enough for children!" |
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The design |
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The design of a
Steiff animal is a very important criterion. This is why Margarete
Steiff GmbH invests so much care and energy in the development of every
single, unmistakable Steiff animal. |
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The idea |
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Market requirements
and design aspects are taken into consideration in the ideas for new
Steiff animals. |
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The drawing |
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As soon as such
basic specifications as the type of animal and size have been clarified,
it's time for the designer to go to work, allowing his imagination and
creativity full rein to produce two-dimensional drawings of the animal
from all sides. |
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Like a fashion
designer, he or she must already have decided how the animal is to be
manufactured, where the seams are to be and what materials are to be
used (e.g. mohair, long or short-pile, cotton, etc.) right from the very
first drawings. |
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The designer |
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The designer
studies pictures and films, as well as visits the zoo, if necessary, in
the course of his work to ensure that the animal turns out to be as
realistic and natural as possible. According to Paul Steiff, these
studies constitute the basic foundation stone for the work of a "toy
designer" at Margarete Steiff GmbH. |
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The pattern |
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A pattern
is then made on the basis of the drawings. |
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The prototype |
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A three-dimensional
model of the animal is subsequently manufactured in the production
department. The designer supervises every stage in the production
process: from sewing and stuffing, right through to decorative stitching
and painting. The prototypes are then examined very thoroughly by an
in-house committee. Any corrections that may be necessary are made to
the model until the prototype is finally approved by all of the people
concerned.
The complete process - from the initial idea through to readiness for
series production - usually takes about a year. |
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Production |
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Manufacturing |
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Cutting out |
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The pattern
is used to produce screen-printing stencils for articels that
are cut out by hand, or punching tools for the cutting of the
individual pieces. |
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Punching tools can be used to cut out pieces from woven
plush where the pile is no longer than 10 mm and from
smooth fabrics. |
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The
tried-and-tested tracing or screen-printing method is
also used. This involves tensioning the reverse side of
the woven plush and tracing the pattern outline onto the
backing fabric (warp/weft). |
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The
individual parts are then cut out by hand, whereby just
the backing fabric is cut to ensure that the pile is not
damaged. |
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A Steiff
animal comprises 35 plush and felt pieces on average. |
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Dyeing |
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Traditional methods are used at Steiff to dye
certain mohair products by hand using a template
in order to optimise the plush structure and the
markings on the fur. |
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Sewing |
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The cut-out pieces are sewn together on the
wrong side. The pile from both pieces must be
pushed through to the right side before the seam
is sewn with very fine stitches. |
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The sewn body or shell is then turned to the
right way round. Great care is required here to
ensure that every seam is shaped into the right
form. |
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Filling |
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Synthetic filling material:
Compressed air is used to blow this material
into the sewn body. The body is weighed first,
before being filled with a predetermined
constant amount of material. Steiff uses
synthetic wadding or foam cuttings. These
filling materials are machine washable, hygienic
and dimensionally stable. |
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They are used for soft toy animals, Cuddly
Animals, Pets and Farm Animals, Wild Animals,
Baby Products and many other items. |
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Wood shavings (excelsior):
Animals filled with wood shavings are always
stuffed by hand. A stuffing tool is used to push
several strands of wood shavings into the shell,
one after the other, making sure that every
corner is filled properly. The article is then
shaped to produce the required form. Wood
shavings are the ideal choice of stuffing for
contours or faces. This work is very demanding
on the person performing it as it requires a
surprising amount of strength and a feel for the
material to ensure that the seams are not
stretched beyond their limits. |
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Wood shavings are used to stuff replicas and
Studio Animals, in particular. |
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Fitting the joints |
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Joints are fitted to the arms, legs and heads of
jointed Steiff products and these are then
permanently attached to the body. Plastic joints
are fitted into washable products, whereas metal
joints are used for mohair products. The joints
are fitted before the main body of the article
is stuffed and the final seam is sewn by hand. |
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Giving a product a personality |
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a voice |
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If
an animal is given a voice, it is usually fitted in its
tummy or body. The voices used at Steiff are |
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- squeakers |
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- growlers |
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- mechanical musical boxes |
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- pull-the-cord voices |
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The
voice is protected inside the body of the animal,
surrounded by the respective filling material. |
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with
decorative stitching |
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This operation gives a Steiff animal a
personality and breathes life into it. The pile
is trimmed around the eyes and muzzle. |
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The noses, claws and mouths of all replicas and
the majority of classical products are lovingly
stitched by hand. |
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A machine is used to stitch the mouths of soft
toys like "Teddy bear Petsy". |
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The whiskers are also sewn into the mouth by
hand to prevent these hairs from being pulled
out by children. |
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the
way in which the eyes are secured |
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There are two types of eyes: |
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Safety eyes |
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Drawn-in eyes |
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These eyes are secured in the shell like rivets
before it is turned the right side out. This
type of eye is used for all soft-filled toys. |
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A long needle is inserted from the back of the
head and secures the eye with thread. A tiny
bead of adhesive is used as a supplementary
measure to fix the eye to the fabric. You can
feel a slight indentation in the back of the
neck of an animal that has these eyes. |
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The safety requirements stipulate that an eye
must be capable of withstanding 90 Newton
(around 9 kg) tensile load. |
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with
painting |
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80%
of Steiff animals are given a special "make-up"
treatment. This involves a special airbrush technique in
which the markings are applied by hand and gives each
animal its own individual appearance. |
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See
for yourself - the difference between an animal before
and after painting! |
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Production |
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The "Button
in Ear" |
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Having passed the final inspection, each Steiff animal
is given an ear tag and the "Button in Ear". This is
permanently fitted to the animal's left ear.
Another Steiff animal is ready!
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Angelic Dreamz, Inc.
819 N.E. 125th Street
North Miami, Florida 33161
PHONE:
In Florida 305-899-1717
Toll Free 800-860-9934
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The
design
