About Squishmallows

Squishmallows are soft, rounded, huggable pillow-style plush with minimal features and clean lines. Since their debut in 2017, they have captured the hearts of millions of fans and collectors. Stuffed with super soft material, Squishmallows plush products come in a diverse array of characters and in various sizes. Their collectible nature has helped create a vibrant community of loyal customers, who often share their Squishmallows experiences on social media. More than just adorable toys, Squishmallows serve as comfort items for people of all ages. The products were distributed through major retail chains and online marketplaces.

Background

Our client is a major North American brand Jazwares, who experienced massive growth during the COVID pandemic and was looking to significantly scale production. Their priority was to keep the signature “squish-and-return” feel impeccably consistent across production batches at huge volumes.

Before finding us, our client had assessed several other plush makers. There were noticeable differences between samples: some felt too firm, others too floppy, and some recovered too slowly after being squished. They reached out to us hoping we were able to deliver the hand-feel on samples and later mass production batches.

The Task: Understanding and delivering simplicity, which is not simple

We were presented with a well-defined task: To make plush products are identically soft yet springy, perfectly oval, clean seams, no creases after vacuum compression.

Key challenges included:

• Deceptively “simple” design amplifies tiny imperfections in hand-feel, since there are not many visual features to look at, the hand-feel becomes the selling point).

• Hand-feel is subjective and extremely difficult to quantify and control at volume.

• Squishmallows are distributed globally. For cost-effective transportation, most products typically undergo high-compression packaging and long transits and have to recover to their original size and form quickly after unpacking.

• Zero tolerance for batch variation. Consumers can easily tell 5–10% differences in color, sewing, or firmness when they put the products side-by-side for comparison.

  
  

The Actions: Making the uncontrollable controllable

1. Coming up with a "Feel Formula" by reverse-engineering design profiles
   After receiving the plush designs and product specifications from the customer, we did not start sampling right away; we broke down the "soft and springy feel" into quantifiable variables:

   • Fabric: We needed to be meticulous about pile length (the length of the yarn strands projecting from the base fabric, often measured in millimeters), pile density, stability and anti-tearing resistance of the base fabric, dye fastness, and the extent of pilling (flossing). A general fabric type called soft velboa can usually do the job. The challenge is not in finding a fabric that has specific characteristics, but in mapping different fabrics onto product requirements holistically.

   • Fiber properties of the filling: We use 3D cotton for small plushies, and down cotton for large plushies. When assessing the fiber, we consider length, rebound rate, fluffiness, and risk of clumping.

• Structure: The structure of a plush product – even a “simple” one – is determined by the number of panels, lines and curves of the patterns, seam positions, and lining/reinforcement methods (adding reinforcement may make the product stiff, while not adding it may lead to collapsing).
  If these variables are not locked in first, the final products may “look like one thing, but feel like another".

2. Fabric Selection: It was never "the softer, the better. We were looking for fabrics that could fulfill our requirements for not only softness, but stability and availability for mass production. As industry veterans, we understand that a common problem with “huggable” type of plushies is that even when the sample cloth is fine, large batches of cloth could have drastic differences in density, feel, and color, leading to inconsistencies in touch and appearance. Our approach at that time was:

   • Test 2-3 candidate fabrics simultaneously, not only to feel their texture but also test them with repeated rubbing/stretching/ironing.

   • Focus on the stability of the base fabric: if it is too loose, it can cause distortion in the arc and wavy edges after sewing.

   • Assess differences in sheen among different batches on short pile fabrics. If we had handled it carelessly, one batch could have appeared brighter while another could have looked dull.

3. Pattern and Arc: Roundness is determined by three factors, namely pattern, seaming, and filling method. Many people believe that roundness comes from adding more filling, but it is not the case. Over-stuffing can make it stiff and cause bulges. During the patterning phase, we took two steps:

   • Use an appropriate number of arc-shaped panels to control the "form/curvedness," distributing stress rather than concentrating it on a single seam.

• Keep seam openings in areas that less visible areas and easier for rebound. Poorly positioned seam openings may lead to obvious creases or indentations after compression.

4. Embroidery: A simple appearance is more susceptible to quality inspection. Embroidery must be controlled carefully too:

   • Too high embroidery density can make it stiff, ruining the "soft and springy" feel; too low density may the product look cheap.

   • Embroidery tension is crucial: if it’s too tight, it can strain the fabric and form permanent wrinkles. We determined a reusable standard of embroidery on each fabric and production batch.

5. Filling is Core: We handled the issue of "consistency of hand-feel" with a systematic approach of production. The biggest challenge lies here: for the same product, a 5% increase in filling makes it hard, while a 5% decrease leads to collapsing. We implemented several measures:

   • Set ranges of weight: each size of product corresponds to a narrow weight range. "Weighing" is unavoidable step in the production process.

   • Sequence and distribution of the filling: fill the core first, then the edges, to avoid early inflation of the edges and subsequent collapsing of the center; use "layered filling" for areas prone to collapsing.

   • Double check on key parts: symmetry on both sides, a flat top surface, and a level bottom without skewing.

   • Avoid clumping and static electricity: clumping easily occurs in dry seasons, leading to a "grainy feel." We adjust the workshop environment and processing methods when correspondingly.

6. Sewing and Closing: Our goal was to make the product "look like it's created as one piece." The most undesirable aspect of plush designs like the Squishmallows is the closing seam that can look like a scar. To achieve our goal, we set seam positions in visually unfocused areas, adjust stitching density and sewing methods regarding the fabric. We reinforced the areas most prone to deformation, but the reinforcement needed to be calibrated to avoid making stiffness around the reinforced areas.

7. Packaging and Transportation: Treat "recovery after compression" as a quality control standard.
   Many factories only inspect final products in their pre-compression state. We do inspection on the products after they are compressed, because we acknowledge the reality that our customers actually receive compressed goods.

   • Our samples were subjected to vacuum compression followed by extended storage periods, during which we closely evaluated: visibility and severity of any creases or fold marks, speed and completeness of rebound to the original shape, any whitening, pilling, sheen loss, or texture degradation.

   • After passing these rigorous recovery tests, we lock in the full packaging specification: exact compression ratio per piece, inner bag material and sealing method, carton loading quantity and stacking configuration.

Result 

After multiple rounds of samples and compression/recovery testing, our customer recognized not only our production quality but more importantly the high degree of hand-feel uniformity and fast post-compression recovery. Sample-to-sample variation was largely reduced compared with previous suppliers. Products bounced back to display-ready condition quickly even after aggressive compression.  This makes a significant advantage for retail replenishment.

Based on such performance, our customer proceeded with full production and adopted our documented parameters (fabric specs, filling method, packaging methods) as the permanent standard for the line. This eliminated the need for re-sampling or hand-feel recalibration on repeated orders.

From the customer’s perspective, they could now forecast sales and roll out inventory with far greater confidence. From our side, we evolved from depending on subjective feel to establishing standardized and repeatable SOP of production for the product type of Squishmallows. We believe such SOPs are exactly what high-volume, retail-driven plush requires.