Haico
Q&A Onestowatch
Fabula Toys
Fabulous Fabula Toy World spoke to Nazneen Yasin, founder of the start-up traditional toy company Fabula Toys, about why creating screen-free play is at the heart of everything she does, and what sets her toys apart in the marketplace. Tell us a little about your company. What are its core ranges, and what is the ethos behind your brand? Fabula Toys, named after the Latin word for fables or stories, produces toys that facilitate play using a universal language every child is fluent in even before they can comprehend actual vocabulary – nursery rhymes. The company is built on the ethos that if young children are to stop spending time in front of a screen, it’s imperative they’re offered an alternative. Any alternative must explore the same thing they adore on-screen, but in a traditional way. The most viewed digital content among young children continues to be nursery rhymes. That’s why each Fabula toy focuses on a single popular nursery rhyme, exploring the characters, the story and sometimes even the actions involved to help young children visualise and engage with the rhyme in the physical environment. True to it’s meaning, each Fabula toy has storytelling at its core. Fabula products are also designed around the Early Years Learning Goals set by the UK Department of Education, ensuring that children engage both their hearts and minds every time they interact with Fabula. Learning is a key purpose for the brand, so the educational benefits of each toy are explicitly highlighted across the website as well as the product packaging.
Fabula Toys is quite a young company. How has it been performing so far?
of my generation actively looking for ways to minimise (or at least balance) the screen-time our children are regularly exposed to. I honestly feel there isn’t enough innovation in this space. While some other toys in the market might offer active play options, absolutely no one actively asks why very young children love screen time. Fabula Toys doesn’t just ask that very important question, but also replicates the magic formula of nursery rhymes/story/music/unending play within each of its toys, making it an instant hit among children by substituting screen-time with active play. Secondly, Fabula Toys as a brand focuses solely on bringing nursery rhymes to life. This approach carves out a clear niche for our products. Nursery rhymes transcend cultures, languages and generations, which makes our toys ideal for grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and, of course, children. Fabula toys need no explanation; no complicated manual needs to be read before play can begin. Everyone relates to and loves our toys immediately, making them incredibly easy to sell. As I mentioned earlier, all our toys are designed around the Early Years Learning Goals. These goals are clearly shown on the packaging, helping retailers display exactly why and how our toys support the development of children. We don’t just claim to be educational - we prove exactly how we’re educational. And given the educational nature of Fabula’s toys, they can be sold to parents and gift-givers as well as institutions such as nurseries and primary schools. The target market is vast.
Indeed, we’re only a year into trading and already have over 500 customers across the UK including many retailers currently in their second and third rounds of ordering from us. Although we might be new, we offer proven sell-throughs.
All our toys are storage-friendly too: they can be compressed and stored in the accompanying bags and boxes, which makes them ideal for use both indoors and outdoors, as well as on trips and overnight stays with grandparents etc. They’re also extremely wellsuited to our post-Covid world, as they can easily be washed or wiped clean after each play.
What do your products offer from a retail perspective?
As a supplier, what makes Fabula Toys a good partner?
There are quite a few things I can proudly say are unique to Fabula. Firstly, I am one of the many parents
I am a hardworking and ambitious founder with big plans for the business, and my enthusiasm and
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drive are on offer to anyone looking to work with a new brand. I’m not just an email address to send orders to - I give 110% to driving sell-through. Perks of partnering with Fabula Toys include: no minimum orders, campaign support, marketing materials, visual merchandising tools, in-person availability for in-store demos and plenty of great PR for the brand and it retail partners.
What do you hope to achieve at Toy Fair? Our primary purpose will be to meet retailers and secure new accounts, spreading the word of Fabula Toys as far and wide as we possibly can. I’m thrilled simply to be part of this amazing industry and I am so looking forward to the exhibiting alongside all the inspiring brands registered for London Toy Fair. Given that I was inspired to start Fabula Toys after reading a research paper on screen-time concerns published at Toy Fair 2018, attending the show in 2021 is like coming full circle. I couldn’t miss it; signing up just had to be done. I owe the inspiration for my startup to the BTHA and Toy Fair.
Finally, what one thing should our readers know about your company? I can’t pick just one thing, that’s too hard. I’d want them to know that we are young, award-winning, innovative, agile, ambitious and very hard working. Ultimately, people look for personalities that are compatible with theirs, and it’s the same in business - only when we find brands and people as committed and sincere as we are can we build a successful partnership. If you walk past the Fabula Toys stand at Toy Fair 2022, I promise you won’t miss either the toys or me. We’re bringing all our energy and enthusiasm to rope you in. Fabula Toys will be on stand GH9 at Toy Fair. For more information, call 020 3633 9684, visit www.fabulatoys.com, or email play@fabulatoys.com.
