• Introduction
  
  • Motivation for creating the plush
  • Accessibility of manufacturing
• Rules & Regulations of Plush
  • Overview of U.S. Guidelines and Testing Requirements
  • EU Guidelines (GSPR) and CE Markings
  • Key Safety Regulations
  • Notes of children's product classification
  • Age determination guidelines
• Sourcing a Manufacturer
• Initial experiences
• Key questions to ask manufacturers
• Discussion on lower MOQs for small artists
• Trade companies vs. direct manufacturers on Alibaba
• Considerations Prior to Starting
• Storage space requirements
• Financing
• Shipping materials and other logistics
• Prototyping
• Challenges in translating 2D designs
• Material considerations
• Personal experiences
• Designing
• Balancing creativity with manufacturing feasibility
• Material choices and decoration methods
• Adjusting designs based on prototyping feedback
• Quoting Process
• Obtaining quotes
• Factors influencing cost
• Design cost reduction
• Tags and Labelling Requirements
• Conclusion

Introduction

I've always wanted to make plush since it's something I also love to buy. Honestly, the internet has made so much super accessible, especially to someone like myself who doesn't know how to sew. I could learn but I also know my time is valuable and that's where many of us turn to manufacturing. Since I've been getting a lot of questions lately about plush and my manufacturers, it was recommended I just write a guide.

Rules & Regulations of Plush

Before you start diving directly into anything, you need to understand the rules and regulations surrounding plush for where you reside. For me, I am in the United States and we have guidelines on what to test for and that is all I will cover in this blog. As of December 13, 2024 the EU has guidelines (GSPR) that if you plan to sell there, you will need to abide by or be fined. There are also differences in CE markings, so keep that in mind (thank you Appel for the link). You'll want to do some research yourself to be in compliance.

Toy Safety Business Guide
ASTM F963 
Pennsylvania Registration Stuffed Toys
August 27, 2024 PA Updates

There are many more resources, but these are the main things. While there are rules for small batches, you'll need to research that to make sure you understand what qualifies. When I emailed the government, they basically stated it needs to be "intended for children" to be considered a toy. They also noted if a "product is commonly recognized by the consumer as being intended for use by a child 12 years of age or younger" - which is really the issue. The number of plush projects I've backed or products I have ordered from companies online that were for my kid but ended up not being properly tested or tagged was a lot higher than you would think it would be. I am going to copy and paste the next part directly from the email I received (I was asking about pillows in this case).

If you’ve determined the product is a children’s product, it likely is subject to the following CPSC requirements:

• Total lead content (15 U.S.C. § 1278a): Untreated and unadulterated natural and synthetic textiles are not required to be tested for total lead content (see 16 CFR § 1500.91(d)(7)); component parts such as buttons, zippers, and snaps, and certain printing processes such as heat transfer vinyl must be tested.
• Lead in paint and similar surface coatings (16 CFR part 1303): Applicable to component parts such as buttons, zippers, and snaps that are painted, and for printing processes that use a liquid or semi-liquid surface coating and hardens (such as screen printing).
• Phthalates (16 CFR part 1307): Applicable to plasticized components or components that may contain phthalates for child care articles that facilitate sleep for children ages 3 and younger.
• Small parts (16 CFR part 1501): Testing for ages 0 up to 3 years old; labeling if small parts as received for ages 3 to 6
• Tracking labels
• Third-party testing at a CPSC-accepted lab
• Certification in a Children’s Product Certificate (CPC)

Other notes that were in the email that people should consider when making their product:

1. A statement by the manufacturer about the intended use of the product, including a label on the product, if such statement is reasonable.
2. Whether the product is represented in its packaging, display, promotion, or advertising as appropriate for use by children 12 years of age or younger.
3. Whether the product is commonly recognized by consumers as being intended for use by a child 12 years of age or younger.
4. The Age Determination Guidelines (pdf) issued by the Commission staff in January 2020, and any successor to such guidelines. This document will provide information specific to different types of toys and products.
   

Now that you know you need to understand legalities of things before you even really consider plush production, we can move on to what you're probably actually here for. 

Sourcing a Manufacturer

I spent a lot of time looking at tags of plush and found that plush are typically produced in China, Vietnam and Thailand. While I know names of factories, I also don't know how to contact all of them or even how some of these bigger companies found them to begin with.

I will say when I first started off, I went straight to Squishable. I already purchase their products, so in my mind this was a great place to start. I want to also start off before you ever go to their site and click their link, their MOQ is 1,200. MOQ stands for Minimum Order Quantity. That means for one single design, you will need to order no fewer than 1,200 of that one design. Most people just do a quick search to see what plush manufacturers pull up or they go directly to Alibaba.

Questions you will may want to ask when you're sourcing a manufacturer:

• What is the MOQ?
• What does this manufacturer specialize in?
• How much is a prototype? Does cost depend on size and complexity?
• Is there an additional cost for each revision? If so, how much? How many revisions do you get before they start charging you?
• Who do they use for their safety testing? Is that an approved third party on the list for the US? How much are they charging for safety testing?
• How much does it cost for hang tags and butt tags? This is assuming they aren't included in the price, but you will want to ask.
• How do they handle shipping? Are you using a fulfillment center or are you shipping directly to yourself? Costs vary as well if you use air or sea (I always use sea) and if they do or don't handle who does pickup once they arrive to port. Mine does, not all will. 
  
• Can they prove they do not use child labor in their factory? 

I personally look for manufacturers with lower MOQs, around 200-500. I know there are some that go as low as you want, but you also need to take into consideration that the price per product will go up a lot if you only make a small quantity of them. My preference is 500+ but I can't afford that yet. It's something many small artists struggle with. If I recall, the only manufacturer I know off hand that does one off plush is Gaopeng. Don't take this as a recommendation from me. I know a lot of artists love them, I do not. Your experience will vary.

Recently my husband and I went to Target to flip over tags on pillows and plush. We noticed something called OEKO-TEX® on many of the products. I have not dug into this too much as of this post simply because it's extremely expensive. I know some more popular artists already have these, but if you're a larger artist and ever intend on being in big box stores this may be of interest to you. For now, it's future me problems.

I made samples with 2 different manufacturers once I realized affording Squishable as a middle man was not going to happen (RIP my failed Kickstarter). I realized I never noted this earlier but there are trade companies and direct manufacturers on Alibaba if you go that route. Trade companies tend to just be middle men. You'll want to look at their company information to figure that out. I will say sometimes I prefer working with trade companies over direct to factory, but it depends on the product itself and what the trade company will handle on their end to make sure I am getting what I want. This will be up to experience and preference for you, but you'll figure this out as you go through this process.

Considerations Prior to Starting

Things you may not have considered as well before you start going through the process:

• Do you have space for plush? If not, can you afford to rent a temperature controlled storage unit or use a fulfillment service?
• How are you planning to pay for the plush? Some people take out business loans, some use a business credit card (not recommended), and some use crowdfunding like Kickstarter or Backerkit.
  
• What shipping materials are you planning to use? Boxes? Poly Mailers? 

Plush take up a lot more space than people seem to realize, so this is definitely something to consider. Even with a small plush that is 4-5 inches, that's a substantial amount of space that will be taken up. Larger plush? Even more. 200 plush at 12 inches can take up around 8-9 large boxes for shipping. That has to go somewhere. So make sure storage is a part of your plan before you ever start production.

Some places will only ship to a warehouse or a place where they can use a loading dock for a pallet. That is something to ask about as well. I believe this was something Squishable required since they couldn't deliver to my house. My project never funded so I never ended up experiencing this in the end. This may be something you will have to consider though.

Prototyping

Once you have found a manufacturer you want to try out, you start the prototyping/sampling process. I personally think you should try out 2-3 factories and then go from there. I think I spent around $800 early on in this process just to figure things out, so keep in mind this is a slow and expensive journey. 

I also want to note that plush have limitations within 3D that will need to be considered as well. Drawing something does not mean that they can easily translate it into reality. I was told that plush should be drawn with 3D shapes in mind.

I will say that my experience working with Squishable was nothing short of amazing. They specialize with more round and simple plush than I wanted to make, so my first project pivoted from corgis to panic puffs (my emotional puffer fish product line). At the time, the sample was $250. They communicated quickly through email during my normal working hours. Sourcing overseas means they were probably the ones communicating while I was asleep unless their factory contacts are awake during our hours instead.

They were very clear at the time that they didn't do anything outside of the US. Since I worked with them back in 2021, a lot could have changed since then. My experience will also not be your experience, so please keep that in mind if you use them.

My first prototype was intended to be a corgi. Squishable didn't translate my design how I wanted to I changed to making puffer fish (which came from my Mythical Monster campaign). Since it was a simple ball, it was a much easier design for them to work with. They used spikes similar to what their puffer fish design had on it.


Material understanding is extremely valuable here. Even now, I don't understand materials nearly as much as I should. There are so many types of fabrics with different compositions. Not everything can be done in a way you're thinking it can be either. Some things need to be printed while others can be embroidered on. There are different types of stitching. What kinds are best? If you have any background in sewing things yourself, you're ahead of the game in this regard.

I personally don't like printing on designs unless I have to. My favorite material is minky and is what I used on my corgi plush for the lower pile fur.

Designing

As of this post, I am still fairly new to designing plush. At the end of the day, it's expensive so I can only make so many designs a year. Maybe if I grow more, this will also become more frequent, but costs are the biggest limiting factor of any growing brand.

So one thing you will need to figure out is what your design will look like from all angles. Do you need a top and bottom view? This matters more for plush that have different shapes from the top and bottom, like a dog or cat. 

Plush should also be built with shapes in mind. It's something I still struggle with, which is why my first plush was this Panic Puff and not the corgis I intended.

You'll want to give as much information as possible when making your design to submit to the manufacturer. Examples of things you like are always helpful. Since I already had a prototype from Squishable, I had a decent idea of what I did and didn't like to work from. I also had color limitations with the manufacturer I used that I did not have with Squishable.


Once you have your design drawn and size decided, you'll want to submit. I will say one thing I wasn't clear on is that I wanted the body to be 5 inches not including the spikes. Since I already committed to this, all my Panic Puffs will be the same size but you'll want to be more specific than I was for sure. 

The first iteration of this was pretty good, but I wanted to adjust the mouth. Once that shape was fixed I was able to tell them to go ahead with the embroidery. This process varies a lot since you may have a ton of corrections while other designs may be right really quickly.

There will also be design flaws that prototyping won't help you figure out. For example, my first iteration of the Panic Puffs I realized several things. I didn't like hard eyes. People were slamming them into each other faces or throwing them at people. I also don't like how they roll around, so future versions will be revised with soft eyes and beanie butts. This may increase their cost but these were also things that come from experience I think. At least that's the value of small runs. You can make corrections.

With later Panic Puffs I had to make them reinforce the seams. While they didn't usually have a problem, there was a weak spot near the tail fin that at least two people brought up to me. I took the feedback seriously and addressed it with Queasy and Aghast designs.

 

Quotes & Costs

This may vary by manufacturer, but generally you can't get a quote until you have created a prototype/sample of your design. The reason is that the complexity of the design determines the cost. So a small design may cost as much or more than a large plush if it's more labor intensive.

Squishmallows are probably a good example of a well known simply designed product line. I have no idea what they actually cost to produce, but many of their plush are just an egg shape design with embroidery on it. Adding things like wings, legs, ears, etc to a design will increase the cost per unit. This is where quantity begins to matter a lot more. If you order more of a design, it will bring down over all cost per unit. 

I will share the cost of my Panic Puffs so you have an idea of what went into it.

Squishable: Sample cost was $250
Manufacturer 1: $150
Manufacturer 2: $535

I went with Manufacturer 2 for reference, so the costs being mentioned here are also both very old and all prices are subject to change. I know as of 2025, we now have tariffs that are higher than before to consider so nothing you see here will be even close to reflecting the costs you'll experience, but since it's an old discontinued design set, it's fine for me to break down:

Safety Testing	$1,400
PA Registration	$88 + annual fee ($90 per year, this went up and may go up again)
Trademark	~$800 (OG cost + extensions)
Vectoring & Tag Art	$540
Tag	$740
Total Panic Puff Plush Costs (Shipping, Production, Butt & Hang Tags, Safety Testing, 4-Designs, and Taxes)	$8,130

I did crowdfunding for mine, so I lost about 10% of anything I raised as well. Either way, just know you will be spending a lot up front even in just prototyping before you're satisfied. Some people get very lucky first time around, but do not expect this to be the case.

Costs go down per item as you order more, but shipping is pretty killer and that goes up. Some people order plush that are unfilled and have it mailed that way. You can have plush filled and sewn up (or do it yourself) that way too. Don't ask me how this works. I haven't done it outside of plush pillows which aren't considered children's items regardless of me asking for them to be treated as such.

There can also be random things that have to be adjusted during safety testing so be prepared for delays if your plush doesn't pass initially. Things you add on can cause problems (bells or magnets for example). Make sure you're asking the right questions to save yourself time and heartache.

Tag & Labeling Requirements

I was struggling to figure out where I found the labeling requirements I had used to make my plush, so I will link this page, but this is not a government website. If I can find it later I will add it.

I paid a friend, Lizbie Cafe, to draw my tags since I was short on time when I was working on these. I had a hang tag that was double sided, which I mostly referenced plush I had from larger companies to make sure I had the information required on them.

The butt/tush tags I made the production date the batch number (in this case it was Feb 2023), had information about the plush materials and my business, the plush character name for the product line and the SKU. The back side had the product line (Panic Puffs) and Brand (Robot Dragon Studios).

I do actually have a trademark I just never remember to label it as if I do. TM generally means unregistered while the ® means it is registered. I don't know how much it matters either way, trademarks just apply to category. I would also make sure you check trademarks before filing for one or naming your products. Trademarks cover categories and if you get sued it can be expensive. You can usually consult a lawyer for under $100 for advice as well. Either way, do your research in advance.



So for my hang tags I included the following information (which doesn't seem to be super consistent across the board btw). I will just use Anxiety as the example since the information changes with each design as needed:

1. Product Line (Panic Puffs)
2. Plush Name (Anxiety)
3. SKU (PL202301 - I have lazy skus PL = Plush, Year = 2023, Number = 01 meaning first plush design of 2023)
4. Caution information & washing instruction
5. Website
6. Copyright Information
7. Manufacturing information
8. Company Logo

I think I want to reword some of this in the future, but these were my first plush. 

My tush tags I am not sure I included enough information. Some businesses had their full addresses and their manufacturers, mine is just my business name and city.

1. Batch Number (Feb 2023, most places use numbers but I wanted a date because I don't make a lot of products anyways)
2. Company Name & Location
3. This has to say All New Materials from what I understand. You want to include what it's made of so you do need to ask.
4. Location of factory
5. I added the safety information here for age of kids
6. My PA registration number to sell in PA but this has changed so I may need to update this with new orders and reorders
7. Plush Name (Anxiety)
8. SKU (PL202301)

The back (or front however you define it) I have the logo for my product line and my company logo. I suggest looking at a ton of plush and take notes. 



I want to note batch numbers are needed in case your product needs to be recalled. I bet they probably need to be better defined than mine.

Conclusion

Make sure you're prepared to spend upwards of $1,000 for prototyping/testing manufacturers, understand the laws for your country (and others if you're trying to sell overseas too) and have plans for storage once you receive them. Good luck!