SINDY & HER FAMILY TREE Sindy must be one of the most famous of all the toys that were made in the Lines Bros factory here in Merton. Over one hundred million Sindy dolls have been made over the years since 1963, but most of these were made in Hong Kong. Sindy began life back in the early 1960s when Pedigree Dolls chief designer Valerie Sanders was given the task of developing a new fashion doll to replace Little Miss Vogue in their 11 1⁄2-inch range. Little Miss Vogue had been launched in 1961 and like most Pedigree dolls would have been replaced or revamped after around three years, a process sometimes referred to as ‘growing up’. Before Sindy went into production a great deal of research work took place. Young ladies, parents and retailers were all consulted and the data very carefully analysed. The young ladies picked Cindy as their favourite name from a list of possibles. The spelling of Cindy was changed to Sindy by Richard Lines at one of the development meetings.
> Images: Pedigree Doll production line (Sidney Birch), from the V&A Museum of Childhood, Lines Bros archive (uncatalogued) c. 1971 Lines Bros. Group
< A later photograph from a Lines Bros promo brochure, showing the design room, and dolls going through production.
