Vermont teddy bear company series#

He recycled plastic from the wholesale ice cream tubs used by Ben & Jerry's, a Waterbury, Vermont. 'Everyone thought I completely lost my mind,' Sortino was later quoted in a 1992 Montreal Gazette article, but while standing behind his pushcart, he dreamed of 'getting big.' With a small network of home workers, he began buying equipment and finding U.S. In 1983, Sortino gave up his two part-time jobs to start peddling his bears on Burlington's Church Street Mall. That number increased to about 200 in 1982.

Vermont teddy bear company series#

Sortino had moved to Vermont from New York state, where he held a series of jobs after graduation from Plattsburgh College with a degree in mathematics: He was a scrimshaw artist, a United Parcel Service driver, and worked for the Boy Scouts of America. Sortino, whose son's many stuffed animals were manufactured in countries other than the United States, was determined that 'there should be a teddy bear made in America.' He saw himself and his company as 'stewards of a uniquely American tradition based on the best American virtues: compassion, generosity, friendship and a zesty sense of whimsy and fun,' according to a 1996 article in the Daily Telegraph. of Germany displayed its stuffed toy at a fair in Leipzig in 1903, but credit generally goes to Thomas Michtom of Brooklyn, New York, for naming his creation after President Theodore Roosevelt, who had refused to shoot a bear cub on a hunting expedition in Mississippi. Teddy bear lore is fuzzy on the question of who made the first stuffed bear. They had, according to Sortino, personality. Later bears were machine washable and dryable with movable arms and legs and were cuddly and safe for children. His first creation was named Bearcho because its thick black eyebrows and mustache resembled those of Groucho Marx. The Vermont Teddy Bear Company was created in 1981 when 30-year-old John Sortino began sewing cloth bears on his wife's sewing machine for his newborn son. Bears are shipped in boxes with airholes and accompanying hand-written notes from 'Bear Counselors.' The company has positioned its products as a gift alternative to flowers and candy and advertises its Bear-Grams through live reads with radio personalities in all 50 states. Its Vermont-made 'Bear-Gram' gift service, pioneered in 1990, delivers personalized teddy bears dressed in one of more than 100 different costumes. It is the leading manufacturer of hand-crafted teddy bears in the United States. (doing business as The Vermont Teddy Bear Company) provides a new twist on the classic plush toy that originated in 1903 and was named after President Theodore Roosevelt.