Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Researching Gymboree Lines


Sew Chic Doll Boutique

I began looking into Gymboree and American Girl dolls to see if there was a market for such items and I found that there was! In fact there were a very few who had tapped in to this seemingly unknown market. It appeared that even the potential buyers of such items themselves were unaware of the possibilities.

I made some clothes as an experiment before Christmas, and sold them on ebay. They sold quite well, in fact they may have sold too well, because now it seems that every doll clothing maker on ebay has figured out that this market exists. Fortunately the communities, of Gymboree lovers and of American Girl doll lovers, are large enough, and there is enough overlap, that it seems there is enough customer base to go around. Also I think the competition is going to be good for all parties involved. Competition will help keep the sellers on their toes, and help ensure that buyers are getting a quality product. There actually have been some quite nice customs showing up on ebay and etsy, which makes me excited to see where my line takes me!

As I began looking into the older Gymboree lines, to possibly make made to match customs, and I realized that there are endless possibilities with this line. Sometimes Gymboree introduces a new line as often as twice a month! The most recent girl line that I really looked in to is called Garden Friends, all Gymboree lines are named, and in this 1 line there are 100 items! This could get overwhelming.

I decided to take it slow, 1 custom at a time. While I would love to recreate each and every piece Gymboree makes in a smaller perfectly recreated doll version there is simply no way that would be possible.

My first custom re-create is a bathing suit called "Pretty By the Pool" and should be available in my etsy store next week. It will only be available in limited quantites. The prototype is pictured in this post.

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