Valentine's Day is the time to share your love with those that you adore the most. This time of the year always helps us remember whom we love the most and it is YOU! We love you for all your support over the last 16 years. Thank you for liking our posts, joining our communities, sharing our content and embracing our small business missions.
How Did Chelsy's Toys Start?
Chelsy's Toys was developed in 2006 from a need for owner's American Pit Bull Terrier, Chelsy. She was nine months old and tearing through expensive toys. Lisa, the creator and owner, decided to make her own toys for her extremely active dog. After a few trips to the craft store and several prototypes, she created a toy which later became the Traditional Tug Toy. Be cause of an overwhelming response from friends and family, Lisa tested this product at art shows and dog events when she was discovered by her first retail store, Wet Nose in Geneva Illinois.
How Did Chelsy's Toys Develop?
In the early years, Lisa patented her tug toy's design, did research and development and designed a second product, the Spiral Tug Toy. For several years, Chelsy's Toys was a hobby business while Lisa raised her young family. During this time, a local distributor continued the small successes of adding retail store locations that sold our tug toys. Finally, in 2018 Chelsy's Toys was activated on a full time basis. "It was incredibly difficult maintaining production while being the best mom I could be", says owner, Lisa Freeman. "I held onto this business for 9 years in hopes to return full time when the time was right", she adds.
Now, We are a Brand!
After 4 years of consistency, Chelsy's Toys has over 12 new products, more than 1,000 customers, 213 store front locations, 10,000 fans on Instagram, and a wonderful community on Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest. In most recent weeks, we have added an affiliate program in hopes to help others raise money for their causes. We now offer a commission based social media sharing program that automatically distributes 10% commission to those that successfully recommend our products. Affiliate programs are becoming more popular and providing a new and incredibly easy method for fundraising, especially since THE big smile company will be eliminating their donations program this year. Affiliate programs are a fantastic method to help small businesses share their brand to other great supporters. If you are interested in joining our community and becoming an affiliate, you can apply HERE.
What does the future look like?
As they say, the future looks bright. In 2018, Chelsy's Toys became a no-waste company. After purchasing our fleece materials, we do not throw anything away, all pieces are used for something. To accomplish this eco-friendly goal, we designed a plush toy that is stuffed with all remaining fleece materials, named ReLuvAbles because they are loved several times over. We will continue our eco-friendly work with packaging from Eco-Enclose and develop ways to become more sustainable in our daily business practices. As well as design more great products that we know your animals will love. Our most recent sustainable changes include re-using cardboard boxes and eliminating package slips. We believe every small change can make a difference! What small change can you make today?
Please enjoy this small message celebrating our wholesale customers, maybe there is a store near you! 🌍