TeddyRepairs
Updated: 2026-06-29
Steiff — the world's oldest plush maker, founded by a woman in a wheelchair
The Steiff story begins in Giengen, a small town in southern Germany, in the late 19th century. Founder Margarete Steiff, who used a wheelchair after a childhood illness, became a skilled seamstress and opened a felt goods shop. Her first stuffed animal was a small elephant, said to have been sold originally as a pincushion.
The turning point came in the early 1900s, when her nephew Richard Steiff designed a bear with jointed arms and legs. At a trade fair it caught the eye of an American buyer, who placed a huge order — just as the teddy bear craze was taking off in the United States. Steiff bears crossed the ocean and spread worldwide.
The founder's belief that only the best is good enough for children, and the button-in-ear mark that identifies a genuine Steiff, live on today. Old Steiff bears are often repaired and handed down through generations — a fitting symbol of what stuffed animal repair is for.
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