Gund Bears Are Of Superior Quality And Make Wonderful Gifts

By Author: Amanda Isbitt
Total Articles: 156
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In 1898 Adolph Gund, a German immigrant founded a toy and novelty company in Norwalk, Connecticut. The company named for its founder, Gund, would later become one of the notable pioneers in the global soft and plush toy industry. In 1925 when Gund retired he sold the company to one of his employees, Jacob Swedlin who had apprenticed under him for close to thirty years. Mr. Gund had one stipulation as a part of the sale, that the company retain his name. Since then the company and all the products have been under the well recognized name, Gund.

Sweldin continued the tradition of establishing Gund as an innovative leader in the soft toy industry. He led the way in the marketing technique of licensing cartoon characters for soft toy production. He was able to obtain licenses to produce plush toys of the well known characters of Popeye, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Felix the Cat. As a leader in safety, gund worked on ways to secure plush toy's parts to prevent the potential hazard of loose parts.

After his reign at the helm ended, Swedlin transferred ownership to his daughter and son in law, Rita and Herbert Raiffe. ...
... While Rita and her husband were at the head of the company they developed Gunds under stuffing technique. This technique helped establish Gund as the most huggable and soft teddy bear available. Over the years the family owned business grew and in 1993 Bruce Raiffe took over as the head of the company and continued in his family's tradition and maintained GUND's commitment to quality and safety standards. The company had stayed under the ownership of the Swedlin family for over eighty years, but in July 2008, Enesco the manufactures of the Cherished Teddy line purchased Gund. Enesco's commitment to the reputation and brand name that Gund had to offer was enough to convince the family to sell. Enesco, one of oldest and largest general merchandizing catalog companies had developed into a worldwide leader of giftware, and home and garden décor products, offering a wide variety of the world's most recognizable brands.

Over the years Gund has amassed an inventory of over 1500 different products. The products include Gund teddy bears, baby Gund, snuffles teddy bears and a collection of holiday toys. Continuing with the company's commitment to the community, in November of 2008, the company teamed up to support the March of Dimes, a non-profit company dedicated to ensuring that infants are born healthy. Gund introduced a new collection of snow-white plush teddies named Sweetness in support of the March of Dimes' Pink and Blue for Babies initiative. A portion from the sale of these teddies bears will help the March of Dimes in their quest to provide ground breaking research, programs geared to preventing birth defects, premature birth and low birth weight.

The newest collection is the Gund baby line. This new line made with Gund's commitment to innovation is dedicated to providing a centerpiece to baby nurseries. The collection includes blankets, quilts, and playmats with learning activities, clothing and furniture accessories. The collection is made with the same Gund safety and quality standards and incorporates the unique baby-soft materials that is kwell known for into the collection's design. When purchasing the new bears, customers are buying into over 100 years of the rich and trusted heritage of Gund. They are moving well down the baby and nursery line and have some lovely bottle warmers and nursery products due to be released in 2009.
Amanda Is A Work From Home Mum Of 3, Researching Unique New Products. For all of the latest products, please visit Gotta Get A Gund Bear