Toy Vendor Profile

expansive seasonal and everyday plush offerings, and products featuring classic characters like Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake and Betty Boop.

“Our high-quality toys offer value-add and low price points, making them extremely competitive,” said Kelly. “This has contributed to our loyal customer base, which includes many of the country’s bestknown retailers and chains.”

The company’s success caught the attention of Jazwares, LLC, which in April 2020 acquired a majority stake in Kellytoy. Jazwares, based in Sunrise, Fla., has in recent years acquired a portfolio of brands and works to leverage the combined entities’ strengths.

So far, the collaboration is working: As of 2020, Jazwares is the nation’s number one plush manufacturer, according to the New York-based NPD Group, which researches consumer trends. Kellytoy is a powerful contributor to that figure: The brand is the top supplier of both generic plush and grocery, drug and value store plush, and Squishmallows are themselves the nation’s number-five plush property, NPD reported last July.

Kellytoy in general, and Squishmallows in particular, undoubtedly benefited from an across-theboard increase in sales of consumer goods during the pandemic, Kelly told SGN. “We saw this trend with

Squishmallows in our online shop and at retailers as well,” he noted. “Overall screen time has dramatically increased during the pandemic as well — and in turn, we saw a huge increase in organic videos featuring Squishmallows on TikTok.”

As of mid-May, 2021, there were an astounding 2.2 billion views of videos using Squishmallows-related hashtags. Dozens are social media accounts — on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest — are dedicated to displaying #squishmallowsquad collections, talking about the characters, and trading tips on where to collect. On Facebook alone, Squishmallows counts over 80 fan groups whose combined members number in the tens of thousands.

With no signs of slowing, the Squishmallow phenomenon continues to blaze across the Internet, spurring ever more sales of the huggable critters. Hugs, of course, were in short supply during a year of social distancing — but even as people return to gatherings, it’s a good bet many will be cuddling up or crowding around a smartphone, enjoying the kitschy antics of their “squishies.”

(For more information, visit www.squishmallows. com or circle 28 on the reader service card.) ❖