It all started six years ago from our garment decoration business in Jersey. A chance question from a passing tourist requesting a name on a Teddy Bear and Flying Bears was born.Over 60,000 personalised Teddy Bears later, 1,000 plus corporate clients, four websites, the business has proved successful in creating the perfect Teddy Bear gift for every conceivable occasion,

from ‘new born’ to Grannies 100th. Not only have the business enjoyed creating the customer experience built around the brand but have more importantly involved the customer in the creative process of personalising there own Teddy Bear. This creative process provides a more satisfying purchasing experience, involves the customer with the brand in an intimate way and more often than not, leads to a repeat purchase.

Our first Flying Bears retail unit was established many miles from Jersey, in the old town of Benidorm on the Costa Blanca. With a container full of Teddy Bears, knitted jumpers, accessories and new lightweight machines with improved embroidery software we were all set to go. Embroidering the Teddy Bear jumpers was like a dream come true, they had been specially designed for easy framing on a 12cm frame and the new machinery embroidered the tight knit fabric superbly. We could see the delight in our customer’s eyes when they saw the finished Teddy Bear and knew how well the gift would be received. We call it ‘Teddy Bear eyes’. When we first opened the Spanish retail unit we wrongly assumed that we would be selling most of our Teddy Bears as souvenirs to British holiday makers. Not so, Spanish, Dutch, French, Icelandic, Italian, Scandinavians, Americans of all ages have taken to our concept and are all active byers of our Teddy Bear Gifts. We kept hearing the young Spanish locals say “Que Guapo” (how cool), and have made a number of Teddy Bears dressed in capuchas (hoodies) for a top DJ in Madrid. Our Teddy Bears were featured in two of Spains top style magazines. So age, gender of nationality doesn’t come into the equation, the Teddy Bear is cherished the world over and makes a perfect gift for anyone for any ocassion

In this time we have also succeeded in establishing an excellent reputation providing personalised Teddy Bears to hotel groups, corporate hospitality, schools, charities, clubs and associations, developed an internet presence to support both wholesale and retail activities and further developed our customer base of ‘Flying Bears’ retailers (more needed). The company currently trades from three locations, Blackpool, Spain and Jersey. Established in 2004 under the Flying Bears banner, the Blackpool office and warehouse focuses on the fulfilment of all corporate and wholesale Teddy Bear orders throughout the UK and Europe. Our Spanish unit still remains and continues to stimulate referrals and enquires for new business. Jersey on the other hand, our spiritual home, provides the fulfilment of all bespoke personalised Teddy Bear orders received from our three internet sites developed over the last year. Many of our customers had remarked that once they had purchased their unique Teddy Bear gift there was no way they could order another when they returned from their holiday. This inspired us to create and develop a simple website allowing the browser to create their very own special Teddy Bear Gift .The internet has been a significant step with two of the three sites, www.funkybears.com and www.topteddy.co.uk already translated into two languages, for our Portuguese www.funkybears.com.pt and Spanish partners (we are currently in talks with other European partners and are seeking partners worldwide).

Despite the progress made on the business front we have not neglected our main component, the Teddy Bear. The Teddy Bear shape and size remain constant however; carefully selected super soft fabric and colours have been added. The knitted hooded Teddy Bear top complete with pouch is still a firm favourite with customers and is featured on the funky bear site in several colours, making this Teddy Bear Gift super cool and trendy. To compliment our final offering we have created our own exclusive funky Teddy Bear themed card collection, all of which can be seen on the Top Teddy website. Over fifty Teddy Bear Greetings cards have been created to compliment the final offering with the added bonus of personalisation to the front and inside of each card. With the addition of a new branded Teddy Bear gift box the final personalised Teddy Bear and Teddy Bear gift card becomes complete, and if you’re really lucky we will add a free mini Teddy Bear ! One new addition to the range is the larger Teddy Bear ranged in fudge and cream as seen on top teddy, requested by many of our customers who wanted a larger Teddy Bear.

Over this short period of time the company has evolved to become one of the leading personalised Teddy Bear gift retailers in the market, providing quality embroidered personalisation on superior knitted garments. The addition of the unique personalised card and Teddy Bear passport are further testament to the detail and experience we bring to the final offering. Don’t forget all orders placed on our www.funkybears.com website are VAT FREE and are delivered to the UK for only £19.99 with same day despatch if the order is received before 1 o’clock. Relying on the efficiency of the Royal Mail your Teddy Bear should arrive at its destination within three to four days. If you require a same day delivery an additional charge of £8.00 will ensure delivery anywhere in the UK before 1 o’clock the next day. If you do experience any problems on either website we can be contacted by phone or e-mail to help you. We hope you have enjoyed reading this article and look forward to processing that special Teddy Bear order that YOU create.

Best Wishes, Paul Lakeman.