I’m both excited and a bit nervous to give you a full update. I prefer to have every single duck in a row before sharing, but there’s never a perfect time for anything—so let’s dive in. In this update, I'll be covering the wrapping paper, prints, and of course, Kidd Krampus! Buckle up, this is the longest most vital update yet!

Your holiday wrapping paper has been DELIVERED — look at all these boxes!

This means most of your add-on goodies are here! 🎉
✅  Stickers 
✅  Yule Paper
✅  Pins
⬜  Prints 
⬜  Krampus Plush

I’ve been ordering sample packets from a few different custom print companies and expect to place an order by the end of this week or the beginning of next. This will be the final add-on order, so it’s bittersweet! 🥹 Here's a reminder of the fun prints you’ll receive if you ordered any—minus the watermark, of course:

As shown on the right, Krampus loves tea! With that in mind, I’m about to spill the tea on what’s been going on with our Kidd Krampus plush—who, despite his disdain for naughty behavior, has been quite naughty himself this year.

(TLDR ["Too Long, Didn't Read"], or a summary, at the end of this section)
As you all know, after the success of the BackerKit in November 2023, I started working with Joyus Toyus to create the Kidd Krampus plush. Initially, everything went smoothly; I sent edit packets, and they applied the corrections. We even worked together to get the legs into an adorable "chicken leg" shape, and things were going well.

However in March 2024, after waiting the usual 14 business days for edits, I received images of a plush that looked nearly identical to the one I had seen 14 days earlier. Little to none of the edits were applied. I was extremely disappointed. I immediately brought it to their attention and, to keep things moving, offered to send a new edit packet rather than make the designers search for the previous one. This was graciously accepted, and we moved forward. I decided to let it go, understanding that sometimes things slip through the cracks in a production pipeline. After all, I had padded the project timeline by six months, just in case.

With the new edits sent in, I assumed that would be the only hiccup. Boy, was I wrong.

Edits were continuously skipped or reimagined entirely. When we finally got Krampus sitting and nearly perfect, I once received an update showing Krampus standing. Then, after they "fixed" him to sit again, he came back with long fuzzy hooves instead of the short hoof fabric that had previously been approved.

At this point in time, we were finally down to just four notes. Yet, every 14 days, Krampus would either come back the same or completely different from what I had asked for. Finally, we narrowed it down to one last edit: the bell size. I provided the specific measurements they requested, and it took 35 days to make that one change. All this back-and-forth added more than five months to the timeline.

These prototypes were made with synthetic fabrics, as Joyus Toyus didn’t want to waste expensive organic fabrics on prototyping. I understood this, so I wasn’t concerned - this is merely being included so that the next phase of the project makes sense.

With that said, let’s rewind a bit to Spring 2024: after the first batch of skipped edits, Joyus Toyus suggested sending one of the "imperfect prototypes" to a second, mostly organic, factory to begin working on the organic fabric swatch. I was thrilled, thinking this would save time. Once the prototype was perfect, we’d already have the fabric ready to go. So, I agreed, and the prototype was shipped to the new factory.

And then... I waited.
And waited...

I had to take it upon myself to check in and see how the organic swatch was coming along, and while I got updates on the edits, I received no response about the swatch. I asked repeatedly if Krampus even made it safely to the new factory—nothing. Meanwhile, communication about the edits continued, but absolutely no word on the swatch.

Given the repeated skipped edits, poor timing, and evasive responses, I decided to look elsewhere to produce Kidd Krampus. This process wasn’t fair to me, and it certainly wasn’t fair to you, Wild Ones. You supported me in my first-ever crowdfunding adventure, and I refuse to let bad business tarnish that. While Joyus Toyus told me to relay that "Good things take time," I made it clear that what was happening was not a good thing, and I would not be passing on such a neutral statement to my Backers. In July 2024, I requested a refund from Joyus Toyus and began looking for a new factory.

After declining some discounted offers to keep the project going, my refund request was accepted. The refund would be the amount spent, minus prototyping and shipping costs of said prototype, of which were priced at $675, originally. This was what I went into the refund assuming, so this was acceptable.  I requested that the prototype be shipped with tracking information, but despite asking from the outset, no tracking was provided. I was told on July 17th that the prototype would arrive the following week. It's now September, and I still haven't received it. No updates or proof of shipping have been provided.

Additionally, I was informed that I would also be charged for the shipping and creation of the prototype sent to the organic factory, you remember, the prototype that I never received any updates about nor discussed any situation at which the cost would be increase. These costs, along with other unexplained "administrative costs," somehow totaled $1,900. When I asked for clarification, I received no information.

With no prototype in hand, I nearly had to start from square one. Thankfully, I have images of the prototype to send to the new factory I'm working with. Before diving into that, I want to wrap up the refund part of the story in that: It wasn't until August 15th that Joyus Toyus offered to pay me $250 per week to repay my refund, but by that time, I had already sought legal counsel. I rejected the offer, as it was insufficient for a repayment plan, especially considering production had not even begun, and they should have had the full amount available. The refund is now being handled through legal channels, so I’m content that it will be settled, and Joyus Toyus will be held accountable for providing my full refund in a timely manner. I've come to terms with potentially never receiving my prototype, despite paying for it... two, actually. I consider this a lesson learned. 

TLDR:
After launching the plush project in November 2023, everything went smoothly at first, but repeated delays, skipped edits, and communication issues began in March 2024. After months of frustration, I requested a refund in July 2024. Although the refund process has been slow and I haven't received the prototype, I am working with a new factory to keep the plush on track for the original delivery date.

Your pledge is unaffected, and I’m committed to delivering your plush despite the challenges. 🎉

With the tea spilled, let's talk about the new factory adventure! I’m thrilled to finally share some fantastic positives with you. Working directly with a factory—rather than through a middleman—means I know exactly who I’m dealing with. I can ask for and access their safety standards, and a lot of great factories have up-to-date safety certificates. This is something I hadn’t considered before, but it's incredibly important when going into business, specifically, toys.

The factory I’m working with on Kidd Krampus is Business Supply Chain Initiative (BSCI) compliant, meaning they adhere to:
🌎 The rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining
🌍 No discrimination
🌏 Fair remuneration
🌎 Decent working hours
🌍 Occupational health and safety
🌏 No child labor
🌎 Protection of young workers
🌍 No precarious employment
🌏 No bonded labor
🌎 Protection of the environment
🌍 Ethical business behavior

If you would like to read more about the BSCI, click here, or copy/paste:
https://www.factoredquality.com/resource/understanding-bsci-compliance

This has given me great confidence moving forward with Plushpanions™️! Working with this factory has been smooth sailing so far, with prompt responses to my questions and requests for images. Krampus is on his third iteration, and they’re working on matching the previous prototype exactly—though we’re relying on image references since I don’t have the original.

Before sharing current images of Kidd Krampus, I want to discuss an extremely important matter when it comes to your pledge. When looking for a new and reliable factory to craft Kidd Krampus with, I initiated conversations with a few factories and always asked up front if we could use organic fabrics and 100% PLA Corn Fiber as the filler. This material is a newer request, so this already wasn't of interest to a lot of factories. Then, when successfully narrowing down to two factories, I was informed by both separately that the design is most likely too complex to work with organic fabrics. After all this time, I was crushed. The lack of elasticity in organic fabrics apparently make this design type nearly impossible to make.

There is however, another eco-friendly option that had enticing qualities. There is a large amount of mailable fabrics that are made completely from recycled post-consumer plastic, such as used water bottles, scooped and fished up from Earth. If you're like me, you might think, "Well anything can say it's recycled, even if it's only 5% of the final product", which is why the factory and I are only using 100% recycled plastic, that is Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certified. "The GRS is an international, voluntary, full product standard that sets requirements for third-party certification of recycled content, chain of custody, social and environmental practices and chemical restrictions."

While it’s still a synthetic fabric, I’m excited that each Plushpanion will contribute to cleaning up the planet and will be consciously made. These fabrics are hypoallergenic and also dry quickly, keeping the quality of your Plushpanion™️ consistent and strong.

If you would like to read more about the GRS, click here, or copy paste:
https://textileexchange.org/recycled-claim-global-recycled-standard/

When choosing to move forward with GRS fabrics, we couldn’t find the exact purple fabric from before. However, we agreed on a fantastic brown, which feels more true to the original illustrations and design! Note that the plush sample is still a work in progress; we’re finalizing some fabric colors, embroidery, and shapes—especially the horns and adorable "chicken legs". 

I am over the moon with their success thus far! My favorite part is the lush, white cloak fabric—it's the exact density I imagined. Though it's difficult to see in the photo, the horns still go through the cloak, just like before. There are only a few more corrections left, as mentioned previously, and we are in constant contact to get Krampus rolling out as soon as possible without cutting any corners. 

The first 200 plushies of every character will feature a specially shaped highlight in their eyes, tied to their character's theme. For Kidd Krampus, this highlight will be a pine tree, symbolizing the tree-based traditions of the holidays, both old and new. This adds inherent value to your plush, as only 200 of them will ever be made! I’m excited to explore this feature further with Monty Mothman and all future Plushpanions™️.

I want to be absolutely clear: I understand that Kidd Krampus is not being crafted exactly as originally advertised. I had high hopes for an organic toy, and I share in the disappointment that it can't be the flawless, perfect version I imagined. Unfortunately, the fact is that fabric science hasn't quite caught up yet, but I will continue to stay informed on new fabric technologies.

That said, due to the changes in fabric color and materials, I will absolutely honor any refund requests for pledges. I hope you're as excited and on board with these changes as I am, but if you’re not, please email me at [email protected]. Let me know the email you used to sign up on BackerKit, and I’ll honor your request.

To wrap up this update, I want to express how deeply thankful I am for all of your support—whether from friends, family, or the BackerKit crowd. All of you, Wild Ones, have been incredibly patient as I navigate this process while balancing work, life, and family. Thanks to your encouragement, we're nearly at Kidd Krampus' arrival date! Once the plush sample is finalized, I’ll start by verifying all Backer addresses, then share the shipping cost before charging cards.

This journey has been a whirlwind, and I've certainly learned a lot along the way. While it’s been unbelievably stressful at times, I’m grateful for everything I’ve learned, and I’ll be diving into the Monty Mothman project with full confidence! If I could share the top three takeaways for anyone looking to make plushies, they would be:

🧸 Never pay in full until your prototype has been approved in person, by you.
🧸 Research the reviews of the business you’re working with—including past businesses run by the same person.
🧸 Create the prototype before launching a crowdfunding campaign!


Have an Absolutely Wild Weekend!
L 💚