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Most people have heard of the teddy bear, but did you know its origins stem from Germany?
Margarete Steiff, the creator of the teddy bear, was born in Giengen, near Ulm in Baden-Württemberg, in 1847. She wrote the first chapter of an unprecedented success story with a pincushion in the shape of an elephant which further led to Teddy traveling to America.
She was born as a cheerful and healthy baby but was infected with polio at an early age and challenged with spending her life in a wheelchair. Creative and positive-minded, her life motto was “Freedom is believing in yourself.”
After a series of promising therapies, at the age of 17 she had to face the fact that she would spend her life handicapped. She decided to become a seamstress and her father established a sewing room within the house. There she began sewing ladies’ fashion, when one day a traveling salesman came to town with a new and innovative invention from the United States, a mechanical sewing machine.
Against all advice, she ordered the expensive machine which was soon to be delivered. Confronted with the fact that she couldn’t operate the foot pedal with her impaired legs, she quickly discovered the magic trick of turning the machine around, operating the wheel with her left hand and sewing backwards.
She ordered further sewing machines and the salesman became a friend and frequent guest, which led Margarete to dream of tying the knot with him. Unfortunately, one day he confessed that he highly respected her, but was planning to marry elsewhere.
Margarete was torn between drowning in self-pity and sorrow or funneling her pain into active energy by sewing day and night. Fortunately, she chose the latter and soon discovered the pattern of a small elephant in a fashion journal and decided to sew it in felt to be used as a pincushion.
The cushions sold like hot cakes and to her own surprise, small children were fascinated and used them as toys. This again inspired her to manufacture other toy animals and consequently open her own business in 1893, while hiring a number of seamstresses for help.
Her successful toys were presented at the Leipzig Toy Fair and the first international business relationship with Harrods, London, was established in 1895. Her favorite nephew Richard, who had studied arts, joined the company with creative designs and new ideas.
In 1902, Richard designed the “Bear 55 PB,” the world’s first plush bear with movable arms and legs and used cuddly mohair plush to make it soft and adorable. The bear was presented at the Leipzig Toy Fair where an American dealer discovered it, immediately fell in love with the adorable animal and ordered 3,000 on the spot. The good news first overwhelmed the small company, as the bears needed to be produced within a limited time, and ready for sales during the holiday season.
Again, Margarete and Richard were quick to react, enlarged the factory and staff and began 24-hour mass production to secure the deadline.
The bear became a sensation in America, and it is said that none other than President Theodore Roosevelt was the name patron, who was nicknamed Teddy.
In an effort to prevent others from copying the concept, the trademark “Steiff – Button in Ear” was created, which is still used today. By 1907 Steiff produced 1.7 million toys and 973,999 teddy bears with 400 employees and 1,800 home workers. Margarete died of pneumonia in 1909 as the head of a successful family-run business.
Richard remained in the company and introduced assembly line production in the 1920’s and commenced cooperation with Disney in 1931. In the year 2000 an original Steiff bear produced 1912 was sold for the record amount of 150,212 Euros at Christie’s in London. The Steiff Museum in Giengen opened 2005 and Margarete Steiff was honored in the “Hall of Fame” of the toy industry 2020.
Should you by chance discover a Steiff toy at your parent’s or grand parent’s house, cherish it as a treasure of Margarete’s legacy. Some large department stores in Germany present animated life-size displays of Steiff animals in their decorated windows during the holiday season.
