With regard to vinyl dolls >> Archived Message
Posted by Jackie_NJ on January 3, 2019, 2:16 pm, in reply to "Just an opinion here, but if the business model had become unsustainable..."
In the early 2000s, when most production moved to the Far East, everything began to change. The concept of ownership has a different meaning in China. The US manufacturers bought and paid for molds for vinyl dolls, and many experienced a problem when the factories took ownership of the molds, and refused to surrender them. It turns out the laws are nebulous and unless manufacturers had specifically claimed ownership of the molds, and even that legality was overlooked or nullified in some cases, the Chinese factories held possession of the molds. That's why Madame Alexander is not producing Lissy, the 14" size of girl dolls, the Alex size 16" fashion dolls, and certainly not 21" Cissy. The factory demanded minimum orders above what the company felt it could sell. So ended those sizes of doll production. Now, the uncomfortable reality is that these factories will produce knock offs, using the original manufacturers' molds, but their own design teams. I think that's where things are headed, and the question is whether the consumer will go along with it. In the resin BJD world, there was a backlash when the Chinese knocked off the high end, mostly Korean dolls, making them look quite similar, being only fractionally smaller from the reverse molding process they used. Some consumers bought the dolls because they were substantially lower in price, arguing that it was their money to spend, and the rest of the community rebelled against the so-called Recasts. There is no winner, but judging by online and Ebay, BJD sales have softened quite a bit. I think a lot of it is sheer economics, but that's observational and anecdotal, I have no access to sales figures. So my feeling is that someone, somewhere will offer knock off vinyl dolls, and there is nothing to stop them. Whether they will sell remains to be seen, but they will be offered. It's just a matter of time.
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Message Thread:
- Not Gene but R.I.P. Tonner Doll. Phyn and Aero will continue >> - Jackie_NJ January 2, 2019, 3:21 pm
- Just an opinion here, but if the business model had become unsustainable... - Lynne D January 3, 2019, 1:33 pm
- With regard to vinyl dolls >> - Jackie_NJ January 3, 2019, 2:16 pm
- Well we knew this was coming. I will miss the archive if it's every taken down. - TG in PA January 3, 2019, 9:05 am
- Ah memories. We used to have a conference online chat on the day the new releases came out>> - VeraS January 2, 2019, 10:46 pm
- Many great memories - Carole in NY January 2, 2019, 5:28 pm
- Darn. I hate to see that, even though I understand. >> - Flamingomoon January 2, 2019, 5:12 pm
- It's an end of an era, indeed! I remember when Tonner was dominant and everyone >> - Rosanne in London January 2, 2019, 4:41 pm
- The Tonner Archive is still accessible. I hope that remains. It is a fantastic reference. - Mo in PA January 2, 2019, 3:31 pm
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