I want to design my own line of dolls. Where does one start?

Question

I have an idea on my own line of dolls. Is there a website that can assist with taking that idea to manufacturing, marketing and to market? Any assistance would be appreciated. Thank you.

Answer 1

I have wondered the same thing in the past, so will be watching for good answers here. Making an idea into a reality is a long process. If not creating the design yourself, you would need an artist to make the prototype...preferably one with knowledge of the process. I do know that when producing a vinyl doll, you need a prototype to mold from (can be made from sculpy or similar clay) and that you have to know about shrinkage and shape change factors that occur in the vinyl manufacturing process to get the look you want. If you send a prototype of exactly what you want to the manufacturer, it will end up looking different from these changes that occur. There is so much involved (that's just one issue), it is a big hill to climb! If you can attend an IDEX show you would probably be able to directly meet people that could give you great info on the process. AND getting what you want from a foreign company can be harder than you think...often the quality won't be what you anticipate the first time around and will have to be adjusted and agreed on (once you even get that far!). And you may have to pay for a patent search before setting the project in stone, too. And after getting the doll(s) designed, there is the clothing line to worry about...the fashions need to be designed as well as the doll itself. Oh, my, the list just goes on and on and I feel I am just rambling, so I will stop now (LOL).  Best of luck to you, though!

Answer 2

I think you need to provide more details to get a good answer.  Dolls can be made from all types of material and each has different parameters.  Cloth dolls are probably the easiest to produce.  Vinyl dolls such as Barbie require expensive molds and also a large market or sales to recover the cost of the tooling.  Many Asian companies are producing dolls made of resin.  Resin pouring allows for cheaper tooling, making the sales required to recover your cost much lower and within the reach of a small company or even an individual.  And there is a growing market for these dolls as well.  

So the real questions are what is your target market (children, adults, etc?), what sort of sales do you anticipate (1, 100, Millions?), and what sort of doll is this to be (fashion, fantasy, baby . . . also plaything, collectable, one of a kind artist's).  All these things will drive what sort of doll medium you would be looking at.

Answer 3

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