Squishmallows are the latest toy to take over the market, with parents flocking to stores to buy them not only for their children, but for themselves as well. Nick is a 27-year-old from Bel Air, Maryland, and he often finds his heart racing when running through a local Walgreens until he finds the only thing that can soothe his mind—Squishmallows.
“It’s like the feeling of winning at a slot machine. I try to ride that high because if the high goes away too quick… I’m at the store again two hours later looking for another one,” says Nick. A Squishmallow is a soft and squeezy plushie that is designed to have a smiling face and look like an animal or another inanimate object. Nick has over 400 of them and has spent around $2,000 on them over the past two years.
According to Jazwares, the owner of the Squishmallows parent company KellyToy, there is a wide audience of fans 18 and up who adore the plushies. They range from two to 24 inches and $5.99 to $39.99. Remarkably, Squishmallows have never been advertised and their success has been completely organic. The company who manufactures Squishmallows has devised a combination of timing and strategic planning to propel the product to success.
Despite Jazwares being a private company unable to release sales figures, Squishmallows were reported to be the top-selling toy in the U.S. and Canada as of 2022. With so much enthusiasm from the customers, Squishmallows are on their way to cement an enduring legacy.
Sunny Cho, an employee of KellyToy, was the main person behind the inspiration for Squishmallows. When her boss asked her to come up with designs for a fabric that she recently sourced, she wanted something that resembled more of a Japanese-style plush. She created 12 Squishmallow designs, and they were first sold at amusement parks or specialty mom and pop shops. However, customers immediately connected with them, and they exploded in popularity.
“It took off in a way no one really expected,” says James Zahn, an editor for the Toy Book and a senior editor at the Toy Insider. “Part of the initial appeal of Squishmallows was the fact that they were a little harder to get.”
With so many more stores selling squishmallows in 2019, they became much more accessible, and now Cho could see them at a local store. The pandemic especially helped with the growth of Squishmallows, as children found them soothing. According to Zahn, “It’s not uncommon for toy sales to do well during economic and social turmoil. Plush has been one of those categories since the beginning of the modern toy industry.”
Plus, each Squishmallow has their own backstory, or “squish date” behind them, so more people can relate to specific ones. A few of them include Winston, a determined chef owl, Leonard, a lazy vegetarian lion, and Tatiana, a dragon who has dances with friends and goes to the library.
“It’s like the feeling of winning at a slot machine. I try to ride that high because if the high goes away too quick… I’m at the store again two hours later looking for another one,” says Nick. A Squishmallow is a soft and squeezy plushie that is designed to have a smiling face and look like an animal or another inanimate object. Nick has over 400 of them and has spent around $2,000 on them over the past two years.
According to Jazwares, the owner of the Squishmallows parent company KellyToy, there is a wide audience of fans 18 and up who adore the plushies. They range from two to 24 inches and $5.99 to $39.99. Remarkably, Squishmallows have never been advertised and their success has been completely organic. The company who manufactures Squishmallows has devised a combination of timing and strategic planning to propel the product to success.
Despite Jazwares being a private company unable to release sales figures, Squishmallows were reported to be the top-selling toy in the U.S. and Canada as of 2022. With so much enthusiasm from the customers, Squishmallows are on their way to cement an enduring legacy.
Sunny Cho, an employee of KellyToy, was the main person behind the inspiration for Squishmallows. When her boss asked her to come up with designs for a fabric that she recently sourced, she wanted something that resembled more of a Japanese-style plush. She created 12 Squishmallow designs, and they were first sold at amusement parks or specialty mom and pop shops. However, customers immediately connected with them, and they exploded in popularity.
“It took off in a way no one really expected,” says James Zahn, an editor for the Toy Book and a senior editor at the Toy Insider. “Part of the initial appeal of Squishmallows was the fact that they were a little harder to get.”
With so many more stores selling squishmallows in 2019, they became much more accessible, and now Cho could see them at a local store. The pandemic especially helped with the growth of Squishmallows, as children found them soothing. According to Zahn, “It’s not uncommon for toy sales to do well during economic and social turmoil. Plush has been one of those categories since the beginning of the modern toy industry.”
Plus, each Squishmallow has their own backstory, or “squish date” behind them, so more people can relate to specific ones. A few of them include Winston, a determined chef owl, Leonard, a lazy vegetarian lion, and Tatiana, a dragon who has dances with friends and goes to the library.
