Niche: plush toys

I'm nearly never surprised by the scope and breadth of sewn products in the market place but this link Sandra B sent is humorous and educational.

Presenting: Giant Microbes! These are 5"-7" plush toys shaped and colored like various germs, pathogens and microscopic bugs and lifeforms. They have a large range of products, categorizing them by maladies, calamities, exotics, aquatics and menageries. Maladies include plush toys representing pimples and athlete's foot. Calamities are plush toy germs like black death, flesh eating bacteria and ebola. Ewww. Some like the common cold are quite pretty albeit annoying in real life.

The website doesn't give much information about the company but they seem to be doing well. This is a great example of a niche product. I can't imagine anyone knocking off the product line and running with it, not easily anyway. Their product line is huge for a niche product and some are quite complex to make. Marketing is such a big help but it doesn't hurt to have a great idea. Still, I can only imagine what my reaction would have been had they come to me for patterns for this product line. I probably would have given it a thumbs down, just goes to show you what I know.

I thought this guy (above) was kind of cute. He's yeast found in bread and beer; a most helpful fellow.