A cuddly soft toy is often a child’s best friend there is no denying they have a lasting appeal. Here are 10 interesting facts about cuddly soft toys and how they became so popular.

1. The most popular of all cuddly soft toys is the teddy bear which is named after the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. His nickname was “Teddy” after a hunting incident involving a bear back in 1902
2. Morris Michtom a candy store owner from Brooklyn, New York was the allegedly the first to make a teddy bear back in 1903. Mr Michtom already made cuddly soft toys for children before all of the publicity surrounding President Roosevelt occurred
3. Controversially, one of the largest cuddly soft toy makers at that time was a company called Steiff from Germany who claim to have made the first teddy bear and shipped 3,000 of the plush toys to the US in 1903
4. The most expensive cuddly soft toys ever made are by Steiff. To mark their 125th anniversary they made 125 teddy bears. The teddys had gold thread for fur and diamonds and sapphires for eyes. Each one costing a wallet crushing $84,000
5. Traditionally teddy bears and other cuddly soft toys were made from real fur and fine textile materials such as mohair, silk and worsted yarn, nowadays they are more commonly made from manmade materials such as polyester
6. In the early 1900’s teddy bears were so popular it was not uncommon for women to carry them around as fashion accessories
7. The hobby of collecting teddy bears is called arctophily. This word is derived from Greek and combines two to words which mean “bear” and “love”
8. Due to safety laws cuddly soft toys have to now be filled with fire safe polyester
9. Teddy bears were initially made for boys but their popularity soon meant that girls started to want them as well
10. The world’s first teddy bear museum dedicated to these much loved cuddly soft toys was opened by Judy Sparrow in 1984 in Petersfield, Hampshire, England

For the perfect gift for children of all ages take a look at our range of cuddly soft toys