How to Make And Sell a Plushie: A Step-by-Step Guide

Plushies (or plush products) have become an increasingly popular form of merchandise for content creators. From YouTubers to Twitch streamers, gamers to social media influencers, more and more creators are discovering the benefits of selling their own custom plushies. They’re unique collectibles and are amongst some of the most popular products sold across thousands of creator sites on Fourthwall. 

But where do you start? How do you design and create a plushie that stands out from the rest? And once you have your design, how do you turn it into a real, physical product that you can sell to your fans?

With the rise of platforms like Fourthwall, YouTooz, and Makeship, it’s now easy! The process normally takes 60-120 days between design, production, a pre-order campaign (aka a drop), and shipping. Since plushies are such a unique item for your fans, they can triple a creator’s sales relative to a normal drop. In this article, we’re walking you through:

• Coming up with a plushie design
• Choosing a manufacturing partner
• How your plushie will be made
• Promoting your plushie to your community

Throughout this blog, we’ll be showing you how DrGluon, a popular YouTuber and Twitch streamer, designed and sold a custom stuffed animal with his GluBee Plush on his shop. Let’s get started!

How to Make and Sell a Plushie: 5 Steps

1. Design Your Plush

If you’re struggling with choosing The first step of plush design is figuring out what kind of plush you should choose. If you’re not sure, consider a few popular choices:

• Custom Stuffed Plush Animals
• Custom Stuffed Plush Toys
• Custom Stuffed Plush Characters

Coming up with a solid, fully thought out design for your plush is a crucial first step when starting this project. Here’s our recommended process:

1. Look at inspiration from other creators’ plushies, or toys you’ve seen. This is a good time to analyze your content and figure out what characters or symbols you’d like to bring to life.
2. Look through your options for physical plushies. DrGluon did this by selecting a plush style that he liked from Fourthwall’s product catalog.
3. Start creating rough sketches of your ideas, and narrow it down to ones that make the most sense. For this step, DrGluon decided to draft a design for a popular character on his channel, GluBee.
4. Move the design to a digital, AI format. It is highly recommended to include front, back, and side views of the plushie. This will give the manufacturer a better understanding of what you want the final product to look like. By clearly identifying the dimensions and PMS colors for the artwork, DrGluon made it easy for the manufacturer to turn the design into a real product. Here’s the Adobe Illustrator file that was submitted:

Having a clear and precise design will make the production process smoother and result in a final product that meets your expectations. So take the time to carefully consider your design and make sure to have all the necessary information included in the file.

2. Choose a Manufacturing Partner

Having the right manufacturing partner is key to giving your community the best quality plushies. You can use platforms like Fourthwall to find many of the best manufacturers. Here are some tips for choosing who should be your manufacturer:

• Expertise and Experience: Look for a manufacturing partner with a proven track record in producing good plush toys. For example, you can ask if they’ve done similar work for other creators. 
• Quality Standards and Capabilities: Ask about the manufacturer’s production capabilities, such as the types of stitching techniques, stuffing methods, fabric options, and quality control measures they employ.
• Customization and Flexibility: Choose a partner that is willing to work closely with you to bring your plushie design to life. Discuss your design requirements, from materials and colors to specific features like embroidery, accessories, and sizes.
• Communication and Transparency: Effective communication is crucial in a manufacturing partnership. Opt for a partner that maintains clear and open communication channels, providing regular updates on the progress of your plushie production.

3. Turn Your Plush Design Into Sample Prototypes

Now that you have a great design, and a manufacturing partner that checks all the boxes, it's time to turn your idea into a real, physical plushie. Here are the next steps:

1. Order samples: When working with a plushie manufacturer, you'll need to provide them with your design specifications, and they'll create a sample for you. The sampling process usually costs $100 per plush. The image above is an example of the sample photos that the factory was able to submit to DrGluon for approval.

Most of the time, plush dolls will be crafted with a crystal velvet fabric like the GluBee example above. If you'd like a more custom or unique option, you can also choose other fabric options for your prototype like soft spandex, PV Velvet (like a Faux Fur fabric), and others. 

2. Sample shipping: Since most plushies are created in China, each sample usually takes 10-15 days to craft and ship. During this time, the factory is stuffing your plush, sewing it together, adding embroidery details, and more. This prototype creation process is important to ensure that you get the level of detail that you're comfortable to approve.
   
3. Send feedback: Additionally, keep in mind that samples may take a couple of iterations before they are perfect, so be patient and make sure to provide detailed feedback (any changes to sewing, embroidery, detail, how soft it is, the fabric, etc). Most factories will allow up to two rounds of sample edits for you to get the perfect stuffed toy prototype. Be sure to send all modifications when you receive sample photos.

Once the digital sample version of your plush is approved, the factory will send the physical sample for final approval. Once you’ve given the green light, it’s time to promote this drop to your fans!

4. Sell Your Plush In A Pre-Order “Drop”

With samples in hand, you’re ready to start promoting and selling. When it comes to production, the minimum order quantity (MOQ) for a plush is usually between 300-500 units sold. Despite the higher minimums, these unique items are frequently bestsellers as they’re more unique than traditional merch. While some creators will pre-produce plushie inventory, we recommend promoting these in a pre-order campaign or “drop” to hit your MOQ. That way all orders happen before production begins, so there’s no risk to you (no deposits, no inventory). Once your drop ends, production and fulfillment happen, so each buyer gets your approved plush.

In terms of your profit, creators set their own margins on Fourthwall. The average cost for a plush is $12-18, but it can vary based on your final design. Most creators sell plushies for around $30 for each unit, resulting in a 40-50% profit margin. Sales most often happen over a 1-2 week period to maximize the total number of units sold to hit your MOQ.

Marketing your plush toy is crucial, especially if you’re trying to reach your MOQ. One of the best ways to market your plush toy is to use your social media presence. Here are some of our recommendations for promoting your fun new product on your socials:

1. Create a YouTube video about your new plush 
2. Promote it on your Twitch streams 
3. Use Instagram or Facebook stories to showcase your plushies and involve your community in the process 
4. You can further boost sales by using features like Twitch Gifting or following many other e-commerce best practices

The promotion doesn’t all have to come from you. Another effective way to market your plushies is to collaborate with other content creators or influencers. Reach out to YouTubers, Twitch streamers, or social media influencers who have a similar target audience as you and see if they would be interested in working together. They can showcase your plushies on their platforms and help you reach a wider audience, helping ensure that you can hit the 300 unit minimum for your drop.

5. Manufacturing

Once your plushie drop is complete and sales have finished, the production process begins. This usually takes 20-50 days. If you sell 500 plushies in your first drop, Fourthwall will automatically send these to your manufacturing partner. Here’s the exact process your plush will go through before it gets to your customers: 

1. Pattern Creation and Cutting: The process begins with creating a detailed pattern or template of the plushie design. Then, an appropriate fabric for your plush, like fleece or felt fabric, are chosen and cut according to the planned sewing pattern.
2. Sewing and Assembly: The cut fabric pieces are sewn together by skilled sewers following the pattern instructions. They'll begin to sew each of the pieces along their edges, typically using a ladder stitch. Details, embroidery, and accessories are then added. Then, stuffing is distributed evenly to achieve the desired plushness and shape.
3. Quality Control: Any final adjustments or touch-ups are made, and each plushie is inspected closely to look for any imperfections and to ensure that they match your approved sample. The inspectors must make sure that the ladder stitching is secure, and that all sewn details or embroidered aspects are accurate. 
4. Shipping: The plushies will be sent from the factory to a fulfillment center, and then they’ll be distributed to your supporters. 

Generally, your supporters will have to wait up to 45-70 days to receive their plush from purchase to delivery. Given that these are specialty goods, fans tend to be happy to wait to get something unique. 

How to Make and Sell a Plushie with Fourthwall

You’re in good hands if you choose Fourthwall to make and sell your plush toy. We make it easy, and take care of the complicated parts for you:

1. Sign up for Fourthwall
2. Navigate to the Products tab and select “Create a new product”
3. Choose from our plush toy options
4. Select “Request product” and fill out the questions
5. Submit your request and our team will reach out to get the process started 

Let's Get Started!

Creating and selling your own plushies like custom stuffed animals or plush toys can be a fun and rewarding experience. Plus it’s a great way to make extra money! By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can design a unique and marketable plushie, work with a factory to bring your design to life, and set up a business to sell your plushies to your fans. Remember to be patient, persistent, and to always keep in mind the needs of your target audience to hit your MOQ. With a little bit of hard work and dedication, you can turn your plushie-making hobby into a successful business. And with the help of Fourthwall, you can easily find the best manufacturing partner from the Fourthwall product catalog to help you make it happen.

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