WBuild-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is an American retailer headquartered in Overland, Missouri that sells teddy bears and other stuffed animals and characters. Customers go through an interactive process in which the stuffed animal of their choice is assembled and tailored to their own preferences during their visit to the store. These preferences include being able to choose from numerous different stuffed animals, along with varying scents, sounds, and outfits. Build-A-Bear Workshop is the largest chain that operates in this style. The company's slogan was "Where Best Friends Are Made" from 1997–2013 when it was changed to "The Most Fun You'll Ever Make." As of April 2019, the company's president/CEO is Sharon Price John.
WBukowski Design AB is a Swedish company specialising in the design, manufacture, marketing and sale of teddybears and other stuffed animals as well as decorations and similar items. The company is represented in approximately 20 European countries and exhibits its products at a number of international trade fairs including Formex in Stockholm, the Tendence and Ambiente shows in the Messe Frankfurt exhibition centre in Frankfurt, and Maison et Objet in Paris. The company's business model has been analysed academically. The company for a period of 11 years made a mascot teddybear for the PR Association for Nordic Libraries.
WChad Valley is a long-established brand of toys in the United Kingdom owned by Sainsbury's.
WJohn Kirby Farnell or J. K. Farnell was a London company which manufactured the first British teddy bear in 1906.
WGund is a Canadian-owned manufacturer of plush stuffed animals. The company is based in Edison, New Jersey, and distributes throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Europe, Japan, Australia, and South America. Gund is currently run by third generation family owner Bruce Raiffe whose grandfather Jacob Swedlin purchased the company from the original founder in 1925.
WIdeal Toy Company was an American toy company founded by Morris and Rose Michtom. During the post–World War II baby boom era, Ideal became the largest doll-making company in the United States. Their most popular dolls included Betsy Wetsy, Toni, Saucy Walker, Shirley Temple, Miss Revlon, Patti Playpal, Tammy, Thumbelina, Tiny Thumbelina, and Crissy. Their last big hit was the Rubik's Cube.
WMerrythought is a toy manufacturing company established in 1930 in the United Kingdom. The company specialises in soft toys, especially teddy bears. It is the last remaining British teddy bear factory to still make its products in Britain and is located at Ironbridge in Shropshire.
WSteiff is a German-based plush toy company. It was founded in 1880 by Margarete Steiff, a seamstress. The toys began as elephants, and were originally a design Steiff found in a magazine and sold as pincushions to her customers. However, children began playing with them, and in the years following she went on to design many other animal-themed toys for children, such as dogs, cats and pigs. She designed and made most of the prototypes herself.
WThe Vermont Teddy Bear Company (VTB) is one of the largest producers of teddy bears and the largest seller of teddy bears by mail order and Internet. The company handcrafts each of its teddy bears and produces almost 500,000 teddy bears each year. The company was formerly traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol BEAR, but was taken private by The Mustang Group, a Boston-based private equity firm, on September 30, 2005, partially to avoid the reporting requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.