Ty Girlz line of soft-sculpt cloth dolls made by makers of Beanie Babies
The cute Ty Girlz line of soft-sculpt cloth dolls were introduced to the doll and toy market at the American International Toy Fair in New York, on February 11, 2007. The cloth fashion dolls were released Ty Inc, maker of Beanie Babies. Like the Beanie Babies, the Ty Girls were soft plush, fabric dolls with embroidered faces, similar to a rag doll but with trendy, sometimes provocative clothes. The first six Ty cloth dolls released in April 2007, were14-inches tall with mildly odd but very striking faces. Dolls after that were a bit shorter, were issued with wires so the Girlz could hold poses, and came with sweeter, softer, rounder faces that looked younger.
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| Lot of Ty Girlz who have had some of their clothes scavenged |
Ty Girlz Threadz
The dolls targeted tweens and teens and sported short skirts and cropped "belly-button" tops. Their outfits could be mixed and matched. Soon additional Ty Girlz outfits called Threadz were made available. I must admit, I first bought the dolls to scavenge their clothes for my Moxie Teenz dolls who have an extremely limited wardrobe. I tried to throw the Ty Girlz away after I stole their clothes, but I packed them away instead.
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| The same lot of Ty Girlz with their hair fixed and replacement clothes, plus Mariah, Sydney and Bo |
Limited Release of Ty Girlz & TyGirlz.com
Similar to their ever-popular Beanie counterparts, the Ty Girlz were issued on a limited-release pattern--new Ty plush dolls were introduced and older ones retired at various times throughout their run.
The cloth dolls connected to an online virtual world at TyGirlz.com. A bit ahead of its time, it was one of only a few virtual worlds geared towards girls at the time.
Ty Girlz Controversy: Marvelous Malia & Sweet Sasha
The black Ty Girlz dolls Ty released in January 2009, were named Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia. The dolls' names were the same as Sasha and Malia Obama, daughters of Barack Obama. On January 21, a Ty spokesperson statedthat the Obama daughters were the inspiration for the dolls. However, Michelle Obama's press secretary said that Ty did not ask permission to use the Obama daughters' first names. The next day, when asked whether the African American Ty Girlz were inspired by Sasha and Malia Obama, Ty's Senior Vice President of Sales said that the dolls were not made to physically resemble the Obama daughters. In February 2009, Ty decided to retire the original dolls. They were then reissued with new names, Marvelous Mariah and Sweet Sydney, pictured here in their original outfits with Bo and their friend Trendy Taylor (minus her green hoodie jacket and white tank top). Trendy Taylor was issued in July 2008.
The stuffed dog Bo appeared with some releases of Mariah and Sydney. His birthday is about the same as the Obama's dog, Bo (October 2008), and his name tag has the following poem:
I just want to jump and play
But I will NEVER run away
I love my house, it's big and white
And I can roam all day and night.
Ty Guyz--Totally Troy
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| Screenshot of Ty Store with Totally Troy |
Also in February 2009, Ty released its first and only Ty Guyz doll, Totally Troy. He was the same size as the shorter Ty Girlz fashion dolls.
By 2010, Ty appeared to be winding down the Ty Girlz line. The last doll released appears to be Joyful Justice for the Justice line of stores in 2010. The Ty Girlz line was officially discontinued in 2013 and the virtual world shut down on June 7 of that year. However, some of the dolls continued to be listed on the Ty Official site until several years later.
I am not sure I would have ever pulled the Ty Girlz out of the box again had I not recently become interested in rag dolls, but I am glad I did. Although Ty is clearly pushing a liberal agenda with the Obama daughters and a Hillary doll they slipped in, the Ty Girlz have their own unique place in doll-collecting history. Along with other similar fabric dolls (like Groovy Girls, Fashion Angels, Gund Girls and Friends 2B dolls), they are a unique contribution to the fashion doll community.
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