TeddyRepairsUpdated: 2026-07-19
Why is it called a “Teddy” bear? The story begins with a hunt in 1902
The “Teddy” in teddy bear is Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. On a hunting trip in the autumn of 1902, Roosevelt refused to shoot a cornered bear, calling it unsportsmanlike. The episode became a famous Washington Post cartoon by Clifford Berryman and spread across America.
Inspired by the cartoon, Brooklyn shopkeeper Morris Michtom made a stuffed bear and displayed it as “Teddy's bear.” Around the same time in Germany, Margarete Steiff was producing her own bears; at the 1903 Leipzig fair, an American buyer ordered 3,000 of them. Born on both sides of the Atlantic at once, this bear is the origin of every teddy bear made since.
More than a century later, bears passed down through generations still arrive at repair studios around the world. Antique bear repair requires careful judgment about materials, so only some studios accept it — our comparison table shows which listed services mention antique work.
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