Polly Pocket - History

History

Polly Pocket German series was first designed by Chris Wiggs in 1983 for his daughter Kate. Using a powder compact, he fashioned a small house for the tiny doll. Bluebird Toys of Swindon, England licensed the concept and the first Polly Pocket toys appeared in stores in 1989. Mattel held a distribution arrangement with Bluebird Toys for Polly Pocket items in the early-1990s. In 1998, while production lulled, Bluebird Toys endured several hostile take-over attempts until Mattel finally purchased them later that year.

In 1998, Mattel redesigned German series animotions and dolls Polly Pocket and created a new series of collectible items. The new doll is larger and has a more lifelike appearance than the original dolls. That same year, Mattel also introduced Fashion Polly!, which used the same characters from the new Polly Pocket (Polly, Lea, Shani, Lila, etc.), but they came in the form of 3+3⁄₄ inches (9.5 cm) plastic jointed dolls. They gave a new spin on fashion dolls; instead of traditional cloth clothing, Polly Pockets used unique "Polly Stretch" garments, created by Genie Toys, rubbery plastic clothes that could be put on the dolls and removed. Polly also has clip on clothes that are made of thin, hard plastic. They clip together using magnets embedded in the plastic. There are also some boy dolls (Rick, Steven, etc.) Like Barbie and Bratz dolls, they also star in Polly Pocket videos, books, and sites.

In November 2006 4.4 million Polly Pocket play sets were recalled by Mattel after children in the United States swallowed loose magnetic parts. Affected toys had been sold around the world for three years prior.

For the 2010 product line, Mattel made further changes to the Polly dolls, including increasing feet size, head size and leg size, although the height remains approximately the same.