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Back Road BearsI'm about to ask a really important question about the future... one that can only be answered now with speculation... one that can paint a pretty picture or a rather discouraging one.
It's a question I'd like all of you to give your true thoughts on. Only time will give us the answer but your predictions might give us a clue.
Now you must be realistic, consider the past and the present. Take off your rose colored glasses. Leave your personal hopes and wishes tucked away. Artists, magazine editors, show promoters and collectors alike are encouraged to answer this question. Everyone's answer matters!
What do you think is going to happen to the teddy bear industry?
Will it continue to decline? For how long? Will it bounce back again? When? Will it ever be as good as it was 5-10 years ago? All questions no one has the answer to but I've talked to many about their predictions. What is yours?
Dolls N DreamsI don't really know that much about the bear business , only have 1 yr invested now. I have done well with my Doogles. I did have a rather large customer base with my Barbies though! I hope it continues. I have been in the doll designing business for over 10 years now and each year for about the last 3 it has been slowly going down. So I do know how scary it can get! I just love to design so I guess that is something I will always be doing. If it can't be dolls or bears someday in the future I'm sure it will be something else. 
I've seen twelve years of ups and downs here in the UK and am still standing. I've seen a ridiculous amount of shows spread like a rash across the country, only to find they can't sustain, simply because they aren't selective in what they offer and they want to spread far and wide without fully recognising what it is they are promoting, so they sell stands to anyone who can just about patch a bear together. I've seen bear shops selling work for huge prices and they have ultimately ceased trading, or turned to mass produced furries, dropping bespoke bears without so much as 'by your leave'.
It seems to me that there's definitely a place for teddy bear art, but there isn't a place for greed. Our collectors understand the value of their chosen artist designed bears and they continue to want something special from us, but they don't want to feel they are being taken for a ride. That means we need to ensure we work hard to offer the very best quality workmanship at fair prices and it also means that those who make their money by promoting/supporting the artist bear, need to look carefully at exactly what they are offering both the bear artist, the collector and the industry as a whole.
Bears by Jodi
LuxembearsGood question Daphne. I am sure there will be many many opinions posted.
Here's my thoughts:
I think there will always be a place for teddy bears in people's hearts. Not only because they are cuddly and lovelable but because they have such nice beginning and history, not to mention an amazing art form. Of all the soft sculpture/stuffed animals, the teddy bear seems to always be in first place.
When I was an RN at a nursing home almost every Resident had a teddy bear in thier room. The Salvation Army even made visits to bring them to those who did not have one. Police officers and ambulances often carry them to comfort a child.
I think the teddy bear is powerful part of many people's lives. I can't imagine my life without them. If I never made another bear I would still have them all over my house.
I see the bear industry staying with us. Things come and go in many people's lives and some will give up bear making and new artists will find it. There will be highs and lows but I don't believe it will ever die out. As people grow there will be a steady crop of new collectors discovering the wonderful world of teddy bears.
Teddy Bears are here to stay. It might not always be easy...but they will persevere.
That's my 2 cents. 
Posts: 1,836"The Ramblings of a Newbie" (brace yourselves.... 
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Realistically every single industry sees ups and downs. If the teddy bear industry was tracked and graphed someone would see a pattern, a trend, a cyclical movement happening. It's in every single industry on the planet. It's what we do within those trends that truly matters. As I see it, the key to longevity is being proactive and not reactive. Businesses that are proactive not only succeed they grow. Businesses that react either become stale or fail. Proactive is doing all you can of yourself and not assuming all will flow as it did during the "best of times". Having a long term plan/goal and not putting all of your bears in one basket. Reactive business practices are a recipe for disaster. (I always called it "chickens with your heads chopped off" business. It's unorganized, unrealistic, unstable, and just plain stress driven as folks run around trying to quickly do what should have already been in place. Consumers feel this and loose interest or respect for the business...and in turn purchase elsewhere)
If the teddy bear industry is seeing a decline unlike those of the past then it is up to those within to create a new plan for success. If the industry requires a "rebirth" to get things rolling than how are each of us contributing to? We can't look back and wish for the days of long lines, high sales, and collectors galore. During the 1980s everything was booming and within a few short years everything crashed. It was an unrealistic economy, consumer and seller. I don't personally want that...it came quickly and it went just as quickly. I personally want realistic longevity. Flash forward 20 years to today. People aren't spending less money. Quite the opposite, people are spending more, but they are savvy consumers using unlimited buying resources.
I think Paula's point to creating honest quality without becoming greedy is a very good one. Realistic expectations are a must. A bear may sell for $1600 on an internet auction site, but that should not in turn create an industry marker for sales expectations or a marker for artists to measure themselves by. We should not be "reacting" to a few extreme sales trends, but instead should be focusing on realistic, positive and proactive ways to move the industry forward to see long lasting growth and sales.
Tapping new avenues. Little things we each do to help ourselves will over time assist the industry as a whole. It's all connected. Little things..... Has anyone ever looked into popping into an art class? I've got 2 sisters who are art teachers. One took a few of my bears and some magazines to a graduate class. This class was talking about "what is art". The artists were all really impressed and respected the bears as an art form (one owns a shop and was asking about minis!). That little bit of exposure got a few new potential collectors or creators talking and interested. What about looking into hosting a "show and tell" via a local art college or at your kids schools or the schools in your neighborhood? Take tools, swatches, bears, magazines and an hour of your time. Sure a 12 year old can't afford an artisan teddy bear right now, but if we don't look beyond the "sale today" the industry wouldn't thrive. It's about being proactive, personally working it, and opening new avenues. Sales will follow the awareness.
Maybe we could host a different kind of Challenge here. An awareness challenge of sorts (??) give a set amount of time (say 6 months) and see what each of us can do to bring awareness to our business and in turn the industry. Whether it's hosting a mini "show and tell" at a school, or getting local coverage in a newspaper, or attending a festival in your community that you may not have before. Share pictures, share clippings, share the positive feedback for others to follow. Could be fun
:hug:
~Chrissi
WINDBAG ALERT -- Very long post to follow! :)
I don't feel especially well equipped to answer the thrust of this question from personal experience because I'm really quite new to the industry. I can't reflect on the "boom years" of the industry because I missed them entirely; teddies weren't in my consciousness as something to collect or create, or even admire as art, until 2003.
Let me talk, though, instead, about a few personal discoveries, and about some guesses I have regarding what's happening in the industry. I could be entirely off base; these are hypotheses and nothing more. But I figure they're worth sharing anyway, especially if they inspire people to add comments of their own. If we're being a "think tank" here in this thread, brainstorming, then it's probably a case that the more ideas we have to chew on, the better!
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In my own bearmaking business, there's no other way to describe things than to admit I've done very well in this industry and that, for the most part, I, personally, haven't been able to "see" the "decline" in the bear industry that everyone talks about. That's because I only know the industry since 2003, and I only know my own path within it, and I admit, I really can't find anything in my own bearmaking experience to complain or worry about. I hope it stays that way, believe me! Please know that I share this not at all to boast or brag, but to offer the kind of honesty -- without rose-colored, saccharine-coated sweetness and political correctness -- that Daphne asked for in this thread.
Why don't I see the decline in question? Because I've been very pleased with my prices since the outset of my career in bearmaking and on average they continue to climb. Because I sell every last piece that I make almost as soon as I make it available to collectors, whether on eBay or from my site. Because people join my mailing list on an almost daily basis, so I have a wider and wider audience specifically seeking my work to whom I have been invited to send updates. Because I've exhibited at two shows and have sold out at both.
Please don't think I'm not incredibly appreciative and grateful and humbled and amazed at every last bit of that wonderful good fortune I've had! I absolutely am! I'm thankful deep into my bones. I feel like the luckiest person on the planet, to do what I do and to be appreciated for it and to be able to pay some of my bills with it, too. And especially, to have made so many wonderful friends while doing it, from all over the globe.
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Even though this has been my personal journey in bearmaking, I'm not blind or insensitive; I see how most other bearmakers falter, or how they DESCRIBE feeling like they are faltering (even when I can't remotely see it when I look at their own work and the prices they are fetching.) I often ask myself just exactly why it IS that not everyone in this industry has found the same good fortune that I have. Is it because their bears are somehow deficient? That's an easy one; ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! There's some incredible work out there. Is it the market itself? Hmmm... that's harder to answer.
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Regarding the market for teddy bears... Is it possible that the dawn of the high-tech age -- interesting how the growth of everyday, every-man technologies coincided with the decline of the industry, don't you think? -- created a turn away from "soft and cuddly cute comfort stuff" to "hard and metallic techno luxury stuff" when it comes to "toys" for kids AND adults. ???
Most of us live pleasant, pleasurable, comfortable lives, without the hardships we once knew in days past. I don't know anybody, for example, who is scrabbling for food on a daily basis. Or whose children are dying of cholera. Or who have no shoes because the factories have shut down so they can build army canteens instead. And yet we often market teddy bears as "comfort" items. And we're marketing them in this way to a world that seems less and less interested in "comfort."
I think the focus nowadays is more and more on "luxury items" -- even moreso than in the 80's and 90's which, by most accounts, were the "boom years" of the teddy bear world. We didn't have iPods and PSP's and portable DVD players then; in fact, we didn't have DVD's at all!
I think that when people think "luxury" they think spa vacations and massages; sports cars; and HDTV plasma screen wall mounts in the 54" size. They aren't thinking "teddy bears."
In short, I think the teddy bear as a "comfort item" is maybe no longer a sellable concept, because, as a world society, on average, I think we either need less comfort... or are more interested in feeling "pampered by luxury " than we are in feeling "safely held."
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The kid audience is being marketed to in an entirely different way, too. It's no longer enough to offer a great looking, well made bear to children; it seems like they'd rather have the electronic Teddy Ruxpin, something they can build (like Lego), or a battery-operated 20 Questions game, than a bear that "doesn't DO anything" and just sits on the bed. Stuffed animals in general get a smaller and smaller proportion of shelf space with each passing year; the rest goes to K'Nex and Bratz dolls (the ones that look like tiny hookers with collagen-enhanced lips!) and movie-or-TV-related franchised items. The world is getting shinier, harder, and faster -- even for kids. Teddy bears -- so matted and soft and slow-it-down -- no longer fit the paradigm for child's toys.
The ingenious idea that a kid can BUILD his or her own bear, and then dress it and customize it -- in short, the idea that kids can be manufacturers, in control of their own product; that they can be stylists; that they get to be EMPOWERED -- has driven one of the successful bear businesses currently operating today into the black. Maybe kids buy those bears because they're super cute and cuddly and I'm barking up the wrong tree with all this hypothesizing. But maybe I'm right, and the idea of empowering kids and of giving them responsibility and control is a large part of the success of this franchise... maybe the biggest part.
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So what does this all mean? Yeesh, I knew we'd get to that. The short answer is that I'm too dumb and inexperienced to know. I don't have answers; I just have theories!
I can say that I think maybe we, as an industry, need to market at least some teddy bears differently. If people want luxury in their lives rather than comfort, we need to market bears as a luxury ITEM, and not as something awwwwwwwwwwwwww-cute the neurotic can cling to when life gets too dark and scary.
And don't bite my head off for saying this, please; I don't personally think that teddy bears serve that purpose (although I'm sure they can.) I don't actually have the belief system that teddy bears are only for the neurotic and afraid.
I DO think, though, that we sometimes MARKET them in that way. I think that maybe, just maybe, when we use words like "hug" and "cute" and "huggable" and "sweet" to market our work -- which I use all the time, by the way! -- we are quite possibly defining teddy bears as "comfort items for the weak" OURSELVES. We're defining them not as luxury items for the discerning, but as little, fluffy, dismissable pleasantries for the bonbon-craving, safety-seeking masses. We describe our bears in ways that make them sound like something every cute-lovin', good-hearted person should want and have... a category that pretty much includes EVERYONE... but then we expect that "everyone" will somehow be able to pay the inaccessible price (for most) of $350 for our work! We describe our bears in ways that allow them to dismissed as "just a cute little toy," but we expect people to pay prices for our bears that only a work of art could demand.
As an industry, I don't see us discussing artist bears as the art pieces they really and truly are, made from incredibly high quality, hard to obtain, expensive materials, with masterful skill; items that should actually not be dismissed as bonbons, but should be taken seriously. And not just something that, when you're feeling sad, you can hug and coo over, and then ignore. We should market bears in ways that suggest they deserve admiration and respect AS WELL AS tender hugs... not as an either/or kind of thing.
That means TRULY elevating the teddy bear to the level of art in the industry as a whole; doing so in thought, word, and deed.
And that, my friends, is the daunting part of the task. How do we get an entire industry to reframe the way they describe and reference the product they've been marketing in a certain way for decades? And how do we get the message out there that teddy bears CAN BE art?
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For myself, I think that cross-marketing my product, getting "out there" on forums, ADVERTISING, submitting work for publication and into competition, have all been ways to "spread the word" about not just my bears, but about ALL bears. About what they CAN be, despite stereotype about what they are (cheap, throwaway toys for the tiniest of kids.)
I think that it helps enormously to maintain some sort of "branding" so that individual artists, events and venues, suppliers, are easy for consumers to identify and remember.
I think that it's important not to become complacent in our techniques and in our work; that it's important to push the envelope and better our work with each piece, and not to "rest on laurels." Just how many of ONE KIND of doll, or sofa, or wall art, would you want, anyway? Why would someone want to buy twenty of what is pretty much the same bear? If we want REPEAT collectors, I think it's important to keep offering something new and different, to the best of our ability.
I think it's ENORMOUSLY important to remember that in all markets, people have short memories. What they love today will be forgotton tomorrow if it's not placed, again and again, right under their noses, as a reminder to LOOK and BUY. I can't tell you enough how important this mantra is to my own business strategy (thank you, Ruth Johnson!) GET YOUR WORK OUT THERE NOT JUST ONCE BUT CONSISTENTLY AND CONSTANTLY! REMIND PEOPLE OF WHAT YOU OFFER!
This is no easy task. It's expensive. It's time consuming. It's incredibly brain-draining to learn programs and processes that can enhance your EXPOSURE and thus widen your market. I find that, many weeks, I spend more time on marketing strategies than on bear making. But then, after I've done that, I find I've got the audience I went after actually looking, and I can turn my focus to creating in my studio. And those people are waiting on my pieces at that point, and they buy. And isn't this what we all want???
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I think event coordinators should take what appears to be Daphne's lead and make shows something truly extraordinary for both artist and collector. If artists are treated AS artists they will more easily believe in their product as ART. If collectors are invited into a "gallery" of juried bear art rather than into a "hall filled with tables" they will start their browsing from a different perspective, and from the outset, will be envisioning a different price point for the items they are about to see and hopefully, buy. If advertising for shows is done professionally with beautifully printed ads, widely place, that suggest the teddy bear IS art, we can draw new collectors looking for hand-crafted "luxury" items... rather than turning off those who might want to dismiss cutesy-poopsy teddy bears shows as "just a bunch of dumb stuff for kids." Again, don't bite my head off for saying this; I'm not criticizing bear shows at all as they currently exist. I'm just theorizing about how those outside our "circle" might perceive teddy bear shows in general.
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I dunno... all of this is just conjecture on my part. But it's some of what's been churning around in my head for some time. It's pretty much based on nothing other than my intuition and I admit that freely, and again, reiterate that I wasn't in the industry, or even a witness to it "in the day," so I might be talking outta my butt here. I hope not; I hope I've shared some ideas that have merit or at least spurn more discussion that can be productive somewhere further down the line.
This is a great question, Daphne; I hope for all our sakes that we arrive at some solutions soon.
Thanks for letting me share my thoughts.
Back Road BearsMaybe we could host a different kind of Challenge here. An awareness challenge of sorts (??) give a set amount of time (say 6 months) and see what each of us can do to bring awareness to our business and in turn the industry. Whether it's hosting a mini "show and tell" at a school, or getting local coverage in a newspaper, or attending a festival in your community that you may not have before. Share pictures, share clippings, share the positive feedback for others to follow. Could be fun
Great idea, Chrissi! I'd thought long similar lines the other day when reading a post of Sandra's!
Judi is right, teddy bears will always be an important part of life. Will ARTIST teddy bears be just as important?
Back Road BearsShel, you need to start your posts by saying... "Grab a cuppa and sit a spell!" I know it's the high speed fingers, that it really doesn't take you any longer than it does those of us who post 2 pragraphs. I'm not picking on you at all! I love your posts and THANK YOU for all that you just said above. :hug:
WOW! Must go chew on all that a while. You made a lot of great points and shed an interesting light on the whole marketing concept.
I still think of teddy bears as "something the neurotic cling to when life gets too dark and scary" cause that's exactly why I have so many bears! 
To market our bears as ones that pamper and fall in the luxury category...... we could make girly bears wearing a spa robe and slippers with a mud mask on her face and sell her in a basket of spa products. :crackup:
Must go ponder.....
Interestingly, Boyds HAS a girly bear wearing a spa robe and slippers. No mud mask, though! But she does have "friends" in that same line!
Back Road BearsSee..... it's impossible to come up with something someone else hasn't already thought of! :doh:
So much for that bright idea!
But that does make me think that, as artists, we've sometimes set a new trend for the manufacturers to pick up on (some artists from days gone by will say THEY gave manufacturers the idea to make artist style bears) but I think it's important for artists to be keeping a watch on the manufacturers and what THEY are coming out with.
Flying Fur StudiosShelli, windbag alert! LOL at least no-one can say you didn't warn them.
Good points by all. Shelli, I appreciated your honest opinion.
My thoughts are simple. Bear making was different before ebay. Before then, there was a select market for artist bears. The collectors would buy the magazines and search out bear shows because that was the only way to see more artist bears and to buy them.
Granted there were 'big' names at that time, but I think more people had a fair share of selling.
Then artist bears found ebay. Not only did they start fetching some crazy prices, but it also started a whole new onset of NEW bear artists. (Myself included).
So now, you have WAY more people making bears with many patterns to buy, and bears to look at and copy, or just gain inspiration from. This was good in a way bec. The artistry has really evolved. Look at all the new techniques used on bears now, compared to 10 yrs ago.
Plus, because more people are making bears, some really talented people come on the scene. Some talented in their bear making, and some really talented in their marketing.
So now you have more and more people wanting to make the bears they see on ebay because they can't afford to buy them. And like Chrissi said, people expect to get the thousands of dollars for their bears without perfecting their skills or doing the marketing work, or just being plain lucky.
Not every restaurant makes it, or every small business becomes successful. It's too bad, but it's true.
Also, what's making it even mean? Sure I could sell a bear for $2000 say. But at the end of the day, I would have to sell 2 of those a month, every month, to make up my salary from my 'real' job. So to me, 'making it' means quitting my job, and making the same $, plus having benefits, paid 3 weeks vacation etc. I don't think I'll ever 'make' it. But it would be nice to have my mailing list grow everyday. It's almost like wanting to be accepted, or popular.
“why doesn't my bear get as many comments?" or " why doesn't my bear sell for as much as xxxxx?"
I think these are the questions I ask myself as opposed to “why aren't I making a living from this".
And about bear shows, scary I think. Why go to a bear show and see 200 bears when I could look on-line, price shop, watch auctions, and search for a bear with thousands to choose from? Sure bear shows have their good points, but at the end of the day, way more people are going to shop on-line. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, just a new thing.
Ok, so that was also a windbag post………sorry. LOL
And about bear shows, scary I think. Why go to a bear show and see 200 bears when I could look on-line, price shop, watch auctions, and search for a bear with thousands to choose from? Sure bear shows have their good points, but at the end of the day, way more people are going to shop on-line. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, just a new thing.
Ok, so that was also a windbag post………sorry. LOL
Heather, you've really hit on something, I think. The internet has ushered in a new age for bear shows. The audience that used to find them via magazines and seek them out can now stay home and shop a wider product line without gas or time costs, and possibly get a better "deal" in the process. I agree; it's not necessarily a bad thing; just, compared to the "good old days," a new thing.
That's why I think it's more and more important for promoters to rethink how and why they're doing shows. I think the show has to be a pleasant, luxurious meandering through beautiful objects that people want to move AWAY from their computers to attend and enjoy. It's not enough to just show up with some bears and expect the people to follow. Again, this is not a criticism of bear shows; I've hardly been to any myself! But I do think, based on what I've heard and read, that a new approach must be taken that focuses on bear as ART and show as EXPERIENCE, both of them lovely and wonderful and just a feast for the senses in and of themselves.
Heather, your post wasn't nearly long enough to qualify for windbag status. Maybe just "WIN." ??? 
ahh Daphne, now if only we could see into that crystal ball and predict the future , but then perhaps how boring it all would be if we could.
Today I think you get bear artists who make teddy bears for fun, and bear artists who make teddy bears as a business, to try and get the two to work together is impossible, and the one is going to pull the other one down. One is going to market her/his products at realistic prices taking into account the "busniess "aspect, the other is going to sell at a silly price- the person buying - is going to purchase what they like and only a true collector will spend money on a bear because Mr or Ms so and so was the artist behind it.
True collectors are few and far in between and this market is not growing as fast as bear artists are growing so you going to get a shortfall in artist bears sold.
Having said this, I am finding that in the East, we are getting a younger collector market developing and we are promoting this. So much is mass produced there, that people are wanting something "real" You see so many young girls knitting, quilting, wanting to learn, instead of just going to buy things.
I have learnt that today is the best day and make the most of it,( I do try). When I purchased my one business, my overheads were high, I had staff working for me,and I said to my husband, oh I wish we had the good days, when we could sell 5 sewing machines a day instead of one or two , his answer was, maybe these are the good days, which made me think. I then got on with it , accepted that this was as good as it was going to get and then got working on how I could improve my sales.
Its far too easy to give up, if you are selling you have to continually work at it, and promote promote.
Paula made a good point in one of her chats, she mentioned for the one show she attended, that she had sent out notices to her customers, place and advert( I think) - here she was working on "selling " herself- she did not just pitch up at the show and display bears and sit back and wait for people to come and buy.
So is the teddy bear market declining- yes- but only if you are going to let it.
Lynette
Posts: 1,836Having said this, I am finding that in the East, we are getting a younger collector market developing and we are promoting this. So much is mass produced there, that people are wanting something "real" You see so many young girls knitting, quilting, wanting to learn, instead of just going to buy things.
Lynette
This is an excellent point about the "younger" collector. With all of the gizmos and gadgets and whosamabops (dr seuss-y word usage ) kids and young adults today ARE gravitating to more hands on and artistic outlets. I see that they are craving something more real. My local craft store is always full of kids picking out beads for jewelry making and yarns for knitting. Celebrities were knitting on sets and it trickled down to "oh, this is cool and FUN". From that kids are gaining a respect for handcrafted items...the time, energy and skill set it all takes. Quick someone go get paparazzi shot of Julia Roberts making a bear and we're all set!! :crackup:
:hug:
~Chrissi
Little Bear GuyAnd about bear shows, scary I think. Why go to a bear show and see 200 bears when I could look on-line, price shop, watch auctions, and search for a bear with thousands to choose from? Sure bear shows have their good points, but at the end of the day, way more people are going to shop on-line. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, just a new thing.
That's the problem the industry is having right now is getting people to shows. That's what we need to work on, consider how many people have never gotton off their butts to go to a show, they sit on their bums behind a computer and they have no idea how much fun a bear show is. I think these collectors would be amazed walking through the door and seeing all the bears and the different artist. Some have tunnel vision and believe that the only bear artist around are the ones who sell on ebay. I prefer the show as I have said before, I have in my life bought 5 bears off of ebay, three of them were complete garbage and two were fantastic, once again it's amazing what you can hide with touch up's through photoshop ( and I paid artist prices for all the bears). So at least at a show I can see what I am getting , I can check the quality of the work and most important I get to feel and hold the bear.
I know some venue's for bear shows are not the greatest and atmosphere is very important, but that has to mentioned to the show promotor. If you don't like the venue then tell the promotor, remember the promotor does not have a crystal ball either . I know with ABC shows , Connie and Amber want the feed back they want to hear what you don't like or what you do like. When collectors make comments to me about the show whether it's positive or negative I tell them to speak with the show promotor and tell them.
I think the internet and shows could compliment one another, I'm not sure how at this point but we have been involved in discussions with other people in the industry to figure something out.
I do remember hearing collectors saying that they were starting to feel ripped off and taken advantage of. These collectors felt that the prices for artist bears were getting out of control and found some artist were pricing themselves out of the market. This is something that has to be looked at as well, I see artist on ebay who are ripping themselves off as they are selling their bears for such low prices and then go to a show and can't understand why they don't sell a bear. If you can buy it on ebay for half the price why would someone pay full price for it at a show. Pricing is not easy but you have to be realistic with it, it's great that some people on ebay can get thousands for their bears , but can they charge the same price at a show and get it?
Ok I"ve fallen off the soap box now
big hugs
Shane
BrisbaneAll industries have there ups and downs and I think that the Teddy Bear industry is no different..I can't speculate on the ups of things because I wasn't aware artist bears even existed then but I do think what we need to aim for as an industry is some sort of consistancy rather than a cycle of highs and lows. There seem to me to be a lot of artists and artist bears available at the moment, which is not necessarily a bad thing as it will give collectors more choice and also motivate us as artists to constantly improve or 'lift our game' as such. Also because of the internet then our market is different also...not only do we have to be bear artists but photographers and writers as well!!
I agree with all of what has been said before....especially with Shelli that we have to market our bears differently now. We also as an industry should be working together to bring new collectors or make other collectors aware that Teddy Bears do exist as an art form....Perhaps displays in art gallerys or advertisements in collector magazines or art magazines??
I think people are gravitating to all sorts of collectible items from the past at the moment...hence the interest in the older, vintage style bears. And if we want to rejuvinate the Teddy Bear industry as a whole then they do have to be marketed more as a collectible or a luxury item rather than an object of comfort (after all how many comfort objects does one want??)
As for the industry as a whole I think it will survive of course but I don't think that everyone will necessarily be able to make a living from it...after all not all painters or sculptors are able to make a living from what they do....Only the most talented and motivated will probably be able to do that......but that said I do think there is room for the 'hobbyist' in the industry as a discerning collector will be looking for quality no matter who that comes from. Every 'art' industry has its hobbyist and its serious artist and also those people who are one and striving to become the other. :)
Shows are a whole different ball game...personally I love Bear shows and go (as a visitor) to any that I can.....I wonder if there is room out there somewhere for a bear show that is promoted more like an art exhibition with only the highest quality available and advertised widely as an exhibition of Teddy Bear art?? or something like this......I may be waaaay off base here
I am sure there must be a way to include the internet and shows and make them work together instead of in competition with one another...
Rufnut Teddy'sGreat Post, I too am new to the industry so I cannot recall the boom times, I do know as a small time collector I do like shows for the simple fact I get to talk to the artists, generally learn something new, and see the product visually, which is important to me. I think it is really important for us to pull together and WALK THE TALK promote ourselves and talk to anyone that maybe interested the bear industry will not fail. Think outside the box and give things a burl you never know it may work and it may not, you never know unless you try.
I think main problem is...that now every Tom, Dick & Denise is making bears, more sellers than buyers!!
Strange BearsWell I was around in the boom times and had a shop then and I've organised a show through all these years....so.
Point 1/ When I started bears a lot of doll artists were moning about bears taking away their sales and that the doll industry was on a down turn. At the last few shows I have been too it was interesting to see the doll people so busy and motivted again and to here them say at the end that is was the best sales they had had in years. So I feell that tfi dollsa are picking up............
Point 2/ Knitting has suddenly hit a resurgence after a 20 year lull.....but knitting is fibre and so are bears......cross selling is a great opportunity here...sell a bear pattern sell a jumper pattern....hhmmm hhmm
Point 3/ Many of the collectors have dissappered due to retirement and lack of money or similar we are just waiiting for a new generation to come along......they are on the way
Point 4/ yes they may buy diffrently as on the web...and we do need to give them reasons to come to shows....
BUt we still have collectors and they will bring more friends along we just need to encourage them.
Posts: 8,574The true artists are always looking to improve, innovate, stay ahead, studying blah blah and so on
The Wanna-bees are trying to emulate but they cannot quite make the complete grade that the Truebes make.
The Hacks see a mini bear going for $500 and decide they want a piece of the pie-Or they see a needlefelted airbrushed lion going for whatever he went for and wonder why they don't get the same respect.
2. When any market is flooded, by artists, Wannnabees and hacks the buying public who have, for the most part, only a desire for perhaps 10 bears. (everyone around here who collects has 10+) so it seemed like a good number)
3. Then you add to the mix a country who has millions of peoples who are enslaved to a workbench copying some of the True Artist's works and turning out knock off's at 1% the costs...and they turn around and flood the our market with the knock-offs.
When a market is flooded with anything costs go down and fewer individual artists and wannabee's are bought, and even fewer hacks are bought.
And you should know that the reason for the trade imbalance with this country is because of their knock off ability, purses, shoes, cd's tools made of inferior steel, bears.............................
4 Now you add to that the economy of that nation-say the US., We are several trillion in debt. One of the largest debtors that we owe is China. Remember #3 above? Because they own so much of the US the government is reluctant to have real trade barriers-therefore there are no teeth in the knock off laws, in what can come in etc.
Besides being in trillion dollar debt as a nation, we have horrendous personal debt- the average family is $10-15 thousand in debt on their credit cards.
There was a huge housing boom in the last 3-5 years, but most people were having to use these flexable mortgages and balloon payment plans and so on. They were buying homes too big and too expensive for their incomes, and then they were furnishing these homes.
I have heard it predicted by more than one, that these homeowners are in big trouble as the date looms for their balloon payments. They aren't prepared and haven't been able to save the money for the payments. They assumed they would be able to re-negotiate their loans at fixed rates....
We saw this in the 80's in California and thousands of families literally walked away from their homes, loosing any equity they might have had and also their credit ratings.
It has been suggested that the coming episode will make the one in the 80s in California look silly, it will be so small in comparisson to what will be seen.
Will it happen? I don't know, but I do see how money is spent and how it is not saved and worry that we are going to have a lot of hurting people in this country.
Now add into this the war. Billions a month, that we no longer have. Billions.
I am only looking at the war from an economic point of view, as that is the discussion
There are two schools of thought on how to recoup the loss from the war.
Dems say raise taxes
Repubs say don't raise taxes but build business
This is why they didn't blink an eye when gas suddenly shot up to $3/gal. Did you forget what you were paying on every gal of gas in taxes....windfall profits for the oil companies AND windfall profits for the government in tax revenues.
Everytime a state declares a state of emergency or disaster it costs the federal government billions
Us'n baby boomers who have paid FICA for years and it was supposed to go into a "lock box" or trust fund, are reetiring now- and that contract that the Federal government had with us will have to be honored. It is an entitlement, one that we paid into and had congress kept their greedy little paws off would have grown into the fund expected and there would not be a problem.
But because whenever conrgress sees a dollar lying around not being spent they start have papitations until they spend it there is no money for the baby boomer retirement.
Are you getting the picture of my theme?
Shelli said that she doesn't see Teddies as a luxery. I say she is right up to a point. But those who want to buy teddies for comfort for their kids will go to Wallmart and buy the Knock offs from the country that owns a good quarter of us already.
As far as the rich go? Thank God we will always have a few rich- perhaps 1% with us-they will continue to buy artist bears. But how many of those folks will be able to help the personal economies of all the Artists, Wannnabees and Hacks? They will become more discerning and spending less....The artists will be lowering their prices and the Wannabees will too. And the Hacks will probably move onto something else.
I like to think in 5 year plans-The USSR, back when there was a USSR always had a new 5 year plan going-My 5 year plan doesn't hold out much hope for my gollies ever bringing in thousands. I would be tickled pink to break $200.....and I am begining to make some that can go for $50-60 just as a back-up to help shore up my own personal Golly economy. I am lucky. There aren't very many gollymakers and no one is doing gollies like I do. Hats off to Deb Canahan who gets hundreds for her kritters-my personal thoughts about them are personal, but I do admire her marketing.
I know that many artists have tried in the last few years, and if all you artists put your energy together you might be able to squeeze another 10 good years out of it.
Would you please pull your post back up to the top and keep it on page one? If you want this to work we have to all remember about it and be working towards it.
Respectfully submitted
dilu
Tami Eveslage Original Teddy BearsBear shows(events) are my favorite way of selling my work, because I love the people. It is not the most economical way for sure, but I look at it as a promotion tool/mini vacation. The later part of that is why I like shows that are events, with nice dinners, contests, speakers, even costume or display contests. A very old bear magazine I have shows an event where bear makers were doing country line dancing or square dancing or something like that. (I'm not particularly into that but I'm just saying making it more of an event it what we need) I know that a couple of shows included local site seeing things like The Toy and Miniature Museum in Kansas City, or the zoo in NY. Internet sales have their advantages, too. The world wide audience is one. I have ebay buyes from countries I've never traveled to!
Another thought about enticing new collectors has to do with pricing. I know that a lot of my work is pretty high-end price-wise. For the detail, materials, skills, and heart I put into them I feel they are priced appropriately. BUT I know that there may be new collectors or even long time collectors who love my work, but $375 is just out of their budget. Therefore, when I go to a show, I try to take at least some smaller bears which I put just as much heart into, but a little less fabric and a little less time (without those incredibly time consuming paw pads and open mouths for example) so I have some things on my table to entice new collectors.
Back Road BearsDilu.... I was prepared with my cuppa that time!
The person in me who wants to see artist teddy bears be art, high quality, worthy of artist prices and doesn't want to the industry to be pulled down by the hackers says "BAN THE HACKERS!"... if you wanna make teddy bears make 'em but don't market them as 'artist bears' and make a bad reputation for those that truly are artist work and don't drag our prices down!
But the encouraging person in me wants to tell those hackers 'you can do better, try a little harder, put a little more effort into it, learn what being an artist means... you can do it!' as noe one with a sincere interest should be discoruaged from trying. But my hunch is, those hackers are exactly that have no interest in being any more so I'm back to ousting them!
The wannabees.... they need to try harder too, set high standards for themselve, do some soul searching to find their own style, keep working at it, study and learn... THEN market your work as it's worthy of. Again, often times your work is sold at lower prices, appropriate for the stage your work is at but often setting a lower standard for all artist work.
Artists.... you are setting the example.... you are the motivators to the hackers and wannabees. Remember that! Your work may be extraordinary... sell for a lot of money. But that doesn't mean your work sets the standard either... those of you fetching thousands... you are the exception. Kudos for your talent and finding collectors who value your work that much! There are artists like yourselves in all mediums that everyone else strives to be like. But the artists who collect a moderate or standard (what seems to be the industry standard, although that fluctuates!) amount for their bears need not be discouraged by you either. And I do see that happen. Artists of all levels, you are wonderful and collectively your hardwork and dedication do indeed set the standard for the teddy bear industry.
I am NOT asking this question because of my involvement in teddy bear shows alone (though I do value the comments for the sake of gaining direction for show planning). I have half a million other reasons for asking!
Answers to my question will benefit many in all areas of the teddy bear industry. Everyone's answers are only speculation. There isn't necessarily a right or wrong forecast at the moment. But it helps to have an idea, a direction to go with our various involvements in the teddy bear world.
Time to warm up my cuppa!!!
