Ty Inc.
Ty Inc. is an American plush animal company based in Westmont, Illinois. By far their most famous line of products are the Beanie Babies, but Ty also manufactures other lines of stuffed toys. The Ty logo is a red heart with the lower-case letters "ty." A tag in this shape is found affixed to all Ty stuffed toys, and inside each tag is the name of the toy and a 4 line poem about it.
Ty Inc. has no relationship to Tyco Toys or Tyco International.
Ty products
Ty Inc. has produced many stuffed animals, some of which are variations of Beanie Babies.
- Baby Ty (1999-2005) Collection of soft plush animals that is intended for toddlers. The original Baby Ty collection focused on designs that were similar to those of a previous line, Pillow Pals. However, when the line was re-launched in 2005, more different plush characters (baby animal, humans) and even blankets were made available.
- Beanie Babies (January 1993-present): Handheld plush animals filled with cotton and plastic pellets. Currently, there are hundreds of different styles and variations of Beanie Babies.
- Beanie Buddies (1998-present): Larger replicas of actual and nonexistent Beanie Babies, filled with stuffing and pellets. Since early 2000, Beanie Buddies can be made up to sizes of large, extra large or jumbo.
- Pillow Pals (1995-2000): Also larger replicas of actual and nonexistent Beanie Babies, but softer, and made for small children. Though many Pillow Pals resembled various Beanie Babies, they were named differently. In 1999, the Pillow Pal line was modified, and their colors were changed. Pillow Pals were completely discontinued in early 2000.
- Ty Classic (1986-present): Conventional plush animals that have been manufactured by Ty since its establishment. Numerous kinds of fabric are used for these pieces as well as traditional stuffing and plastic pellets. The name "Ty Classic" was adopted in January 2000.
- Pinkys (2005-present) Stuffed animals that are made with mostly pink and white fabrics. Certain designs of Beanie Babies and Ty Classic plush have been categorized as Pinkys.
- Pluffies (2002-present) Small plush toys made with a soft fabric called Tylux. They are machine washable and intended for small children.
- Punkies (2002-2009) Stuffed animals made with TyTips, a fabric in which the toy is covered in long hairs. Although the line was discontinued in late 2005, a Valentine's Day themed set of Punkies was released one year later. It is hard to say whether or not this line has been discontinued permanently.
- Teenie Beanie Babies (1996-2000; 2004; 2009) Smaller versions of Beanie Babies that were included in McDonald's Happy Meals. The first set of Teenie Beanie Babies was available in the United States in 1996, with three more annual promotions to follow. Another Teenie Beanie giveaway promotion occurred in the summer of 2004 when McDonald's celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Happy Meal in America. In recent years, promotions for Teenie Beanies occurred in the UK as well as Southeast Asia. Currently, Teenie Beanies are available in McDonald's Happy Meals.
- Ornaments Smaller versions of holiday-themed Beanie Babies, existent or fictional. Includes Jingle Beanies for Christmas, Halloweenie Beanies for Halloween and Basket Beanies for Easter.
- Valenteenies (2006) A set of keyclips featuring bears holding large conversation hearts. Released only for Valentine's Day of 2006.
- Bow Wow Beanies (2006-present) Dog toys modeled after Beanie Babies, licensed characters and bones in various sizes and colors. When squeezed, the toys give off a squeaking noise.
- Alphabet Beanies (2005-present) A sub-collection of the Beanie Babies line which features small bears holding large colorful letters.
- Angeline (2005-present) An angelic doll created with various seasonal outfits including Christmas, Easter, and Valentine's Day.
- Beanie Kids (2000-2002) Medium-sized dolls that had both males and females. They had different kinds of clothes, such as shorts and dresses. Lots of the male dolls didn't wear shirts. They had a brief poem on their tag. There were a few African-American Beanie Kids and they were Rascal, Cutie and Calypso. Two Beanie Kids represented two different holidays. Luvie was representing Valentine's Day wearing heart-shaped glasses, had pink hair and a pink shirt with red hearts on it; and there was Shenanigan representing St. Patrick's Day wearing green overalls with white clovers on it and had green hair. They also sold Beanie Kids "Ty Gear", which were special clothing for the Beanie Kids.
- Beanie Boppers (2001-2005) Larger dolls with more elaborate clothing and design, made to appeal towards pre-adolescent girls. In its four years of production, numerous designs have been released, including exclusive designs for American, European and Japanese baseball and soccer teams.
- Teenie Beanie Boppers (2002-2005) Smaller versions of Beanie Boppers with a wire skeleton inside the doll which allows people to pose and position the dolls as they see fit. Like Beanie Boppers, exclusives for many American and international sports teams have been released.
- Attic Treasures (1992-2002) Victorian-esque stuffed animals that often sport clothing and/or jointed limbs.
- Ty Gear (2000-2003) Various costumes and clothing made for Beanie Kids. During the line's final year, life-sized totes were made and sold towards young girls.
- Ty Girlz (2007-present) Collection of plush dolls similar to Beanie Boppers but with designs influenced by Bratz. Each of these dolls have a scratch-off code inside the hang tag that allows access to a special interactive website at TyGirlz.com. Users can create their own room, explore the site's world, purchase clothing and interact with the Ty Girlz characters. (This brand is currently clouded in controversy, thanks to the release of "Marvelous Malia" and "Sweet Sasha" in January 2009. African-American dolls, Ty's Malia and Sasha share the names of United States President Barack Obama's two young daughters, prompting indignation from First Lady Michelle Obama. Ty denies any intent to make money off the First Daughters.)
- Beanie Babies 2.0 (2008-present) Ty's newest line featuring Beanie Babies that allow you to visit a kid-safe virtual world after you adopt them with a secret code where they play games, chat with friends, explore lands, create a scrapbook, decorate rooms and interact with their Beanie Babies 2.0.
- Beanie Boos (2008-present) Stuffed animals modeled after animals. There are 8 Beanie Boos models total. In December 2009, Aurora World, Inc. sued Ty Inc. in a California federal court claiming that Ty's Beanie Boos were "unlawful imitations" of Aurora's YooHoo & Friends.[1] As a result of the initial hearing, Ty agreed to pull images of "Bubblegum" and "Cleo" Beanie Boos from all displays and point of purchase materials in the United States. The fate of the remaining Beanie Boos will be determined when the copyright case goes to trial.[2]
Ty digital products
In 2007 Ty launched the first online virtual world for girls called Ty Girlz and then in 2008 launched the virtual world for the Beanie Babies. In 2011 the company launched its first mobile iPhone game called Beanie Ballz Drop.[3]
Fundraising
Ty, Inc. has been involved in a large amount of fundraising. Some has been through the sale of certain Beanie Babies in which the proceeds have been donated to various causes. Other times, it has been through other means, such as voting for a fee.[4]
One such fundraising Beanie Baby made by the company was called Ariel, made to raise funds for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Its sales raised a total of $3.4 million for the foundation.[5] Others include Aware and Awareness, sold to raise funds for breast cancer research and awareness, and Barbaro, created in memory of Barbaro the Horse to raise funds for the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine which tried to save the horse.
Ty has also raised money for the 2004 PGA Tour with a beanie called ChariTee; an example signed by Jack Nicklaus was auctioned for $455.[6]
Ty was the shirt sponsor of Portsmouth FC from 2002 to 2005, in which the club was promoted to the Premier League.
References
External links
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