The sweet Teddy Bear toy first became available in the first part of the 20th century. Just like many other good ideas, the Teddy Bear appeared almost simultaneously in different parts of the world. The objective was to create a toy animal that could be played with in the same way as dolls are. In this, the Teddy Bear had a strong competitor – the toy monkey.

In Germany, Margaret and Richard Steiff designed their first Teddy Bears, somewhat clumsy long-limbed creatures that were introduced at a toy fair in 1903. In 1907, Steiff’s factory produced 975,000 Teddy Bears – a world record to the present day. Stuffed toys by Steiff can be recognized by the ‘button in ear’-tag.

At about the same time, Morris Michtom designed the first Teddy Bear in the United States.

Roosevelt and the Teddy

The Teddy Bear was originally named after Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, who served as the President of the United States of America from 1901 to 1909.

President Roosevelt (1858-1919) was an avid hunter. In November 1902, the President with his company had been invited to a four-day hunting trip in Mississippi. A back-up plan for poor hunting luck was a bear stunned and tied to a tree for the President to shoot. Roosevelt refused firing at such a helpless target. Clifford K Berryman drew a political cartoon of the President’s hunting trip entitled “Drawing the line at Mississippi”, which also referred to other political debates of the time. The cartoon was published in the Washington Post on 16 November 1902. Since then, toy bears are called Teddies.

Old Teddy Bears

The oldest Teddy Bears had pointed muzzle, long limbs and joints. In the joints, cardboard or hardboard was used, and the paws were covered with felt or leather paw pieces. Nails were sewn with the thread that was also used in the muzzle. Inside the Teddy Bear's tummy there could be a cardboard or metal sound device wrapped in oilcloth.

The Teddy Bears were produced from expensive mohair cloth. The cloth is made from woven cotton base and the fur of angora goats. There are many ways for processing mohair. It can be flattened, tousled and squashed, curled and dyed. Thus, every Teddy had its own, personalised look.

Wood chips or kapok were used for filling. When mass production of Teddy Bears expanded after the war and stricter hygiene requirements established for toys, use of wood chips became increasingly rarer.

In the case of older Teddy Bears, wooden or metal black shoe buttons were used for eyes. After 1920’s, glass eyes became more common. After World War II, Teddy Bear heads gradually became rounder and the limbs shorter.

Teddy Bear Philosophy

The Teddy Bear is the only genuinely international, non-fictional character universally recognised as a symbol of love and affection. It offers relief whenever your life becomes difficult.

High-quality Teddy Bears manufactured using old working methods are on sale up to the present day, for example, in the product ranges of Steiff and Hermann from Germany.