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WHAT IS CUSTOM PLUSH?
Custom Plush refers to stuffed characters, animals or objects produced to match specific designs submitted to a manufacturer for replication in large quantities. Custom plush is typically produced for use in advertising your business if you are a service oriented company, product branding or identification, and longterm advertising to the public. Many of these have also become popular in the ever growing plush collectible market, due to their limited production and appearance.
Custom plush is also used to add to a childrens storybook for character identification and interactive play. Of course plush has always held a prominent and ever popular position on the retail market in general, because know one ever really outgrows a teddybear!
Other groups that have great success with custom beanbags or plush are: Wildlife Organizations, Charities, Schools including Colleges, Restaurants (both chains and Ma & Pop), Food & Beverage Corporations, and many more!
HOW TO ORDER YOUR CUSTOM PLUSH DESIGN: Basically it is a simple procedure, but takes time for all the parts to come together successfully, so plan ahead. Custom plush is not like ordering a product from a catalog, it is like ordering the product made you see in catalogs. Most people do not realize this, so this section will focus on this very crucial and most important part of custom product procedures to help everyone understand what is involved.
A) FIRST THINGS FIRST-identify why you want your custom design produced. Is this plush for simply resale to the general public, a give-a-way item for an upcoming event, or to add to another product line or item you already have established? If for resale to the general public, the important points to keep in mind is making sure you have a copywrite, trademark, or patent on your designs before proceeding. Often a new customer will use their custom prototype (a 1st generation plush sample made to match your artwork) to obtain these.
It is important to state here that MACKIESTAR #1 PRODUCTIONS does not share your designs without your permission, these remain your legal property. The only time we need to transfer your designs is to a plant for production of your prototype. So it is to be understood that we do send via e-mail or overseas shipping your designs for production of your order, when you place an order with us.
We do not offer any distribution abilities, we are a custom plush production service only. You are responsible for obtaining marketing, distribution and buyers for your product.
If you are ordering a custom plush for a give-away to advertise your business, we strongly advise placing your intial order 6 months to 1 year in advance of your actual event. Why? We cannot control how long your prototype or production will take at overseas plants, we can state that the typical production time after your prototype has been produced and approved per customer takes about 90 days. This process used to take only a few weeks, but the steadily growing number of companies using custom plush has greatly increased during the last 2 years, and unfortunately overseas plants have not yet added the necessary staff to handle first generation designs quickly. MACKIESTAR #1 PRODUCTIONS, has answered this growing time table by often times producing in-house a rough custom sample to both reduce final time required for plant to correctly interpret submitted designs and offer our customers a 3D sample to use as a guide in noting changes and adjustments that often come from seeing their artwork in a plush state for the first time.
Custom plush ordered to be included with another product or to be added to a current product line is a special situation that increases the need by the customer to alert us to this fact. If you are placing a custom plush order and you need your plush by a certain deadline, such as the publication of a book, or to be packaged with another product together, you must let us know prior to placing an order even for your prototype. This also includes if you are ordering for a special event such as a tradeshow. We will let you know when you are considering ordering our best estimate based on plants response the chances of delivery to meet your deadlines. BUT, this is not cast in stone, plants work on their own schedules, not ours and we do not want you to go through the heartache of missing a event date because of delayed production or longer than standard production due to late arrival of fabrics or materials needed to produce your product.
We have had an increasing problem due to this happening, and frankly we are not responsible for this issue. PLEASE do not place an order with us, then 3 months later tell us you have spent monies on an event and you have no product for it. This is not MACKIESTAR #1 PRODUCTIONS responsibility, this is yours, so please order well in advance of any events you want to be sure product will be delivered in time for it. Think of this time as a perfect opportunity to set up marketing, explore advertising possiblities, and work on your "buyers" list!
We do not run into this problem with larger companies, we only have this issue occur with people who have never placed a custom order for product. We hope by this website to enform and educate anyone considering ordering a custom product made overseas. Although it has it's own share of obstacles, if you follow our instructions and learn about this process by asking all the questions you can possibly think of, it is truely an exciting and often financially rewarding experience!
SUMMARY AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:
Prior to MACKIESTAR #1 PRODUCTIONS, ordering custom plush products produced overseas was very difficult to do, you either had to know how to do it or you had to forget it altogether. We set up this company to open the custom plush market to anyone...not just a few people "in the know". Please e-mail or call us with any questions you may have regarding the Custom Plush Process or placing an order with us, we welcome your questions and comments!
Web sites
Click on Links Below
Plush Product PHOTO ALBUM
STEPS TO MAKING CUSTOM PLUSH-A MUST READ!
Custom Plush Information on Ordering Yours!
