The royalty of the toy world

Top-quality toy range: "Eichhorn – The Collection" is a mini work of art, through and through.

The firm’s new strategy – to focus on the top end of the market – is now getting into its stride. For the first time, the Simba Dickie Group is launching a whole exclusive product range: "Eichhorn – The Collection" is the royalty of the toy world.

It feels good – so good that you keep wanting to stroke it. The warm, soft feeling of the rubber-tree wood used to make the newest wooden toy by Eichhorn. Its soft grain shows sweetly through the water-based paint. "Eichhorn – the Collection" is so beautiful that grown-ups can see themselves buying pieces purely as  ornaments. But the toys are meant for children, naturally. It’s just that their moms and dads can be sure they are getting a product of the very highest quality – and with impeccable green credentials. Because the latest collection brought out by this hallowed brand, which has been part of the Simba Dickie Group since 1996, meets all the criteria of even the most discerning parent: the beautiful rubbertree wood from Thailand and New Zealand is a renewable material and 100% FCS certified – as being from sustainably managed forests – and the manufacturing process is eco-friendly and CO2 neutral. All products – sixty of them to start with – have been safety checked by TÜV and manufactured in Europe, in the small Czech town of Netvo ice. The packaging is plain recycled cardboard free from artificial labeling.

Delighted parents and children - ducklings from the Preschool area.

A work of art – even down to the box
Because this new wooden collection is exclusively designed for the quality market, the packaging concept is also rather special. The color and design speak volumes. To begin with, the cartons look classy but natural. Second, the colors are chosen to match the product inside. Brown boxes contain pre-school toys (pull-along toys, toolboxes, toyboxes, building blocks, and simple puzzles). Railroads, trains, automobiles and accessories come in green boxes and can readily be combined with one another: the basic toy can be added to again and again. There are only three box shapes and they don’t have awkward corners, enabling storekeepers to stock their shelves flexibly and efficiently.

On the wooden front: This is how the collection will look on the shelves of a high-end toyshop.

Senior Product Manager Stefan Häusinger and his team worked for a full year on this fully integrated concept. In February, it was introduced for the first time at the
Nuremberg Toy Fair. "The feedback was overwhelmingly positive," says a gleeful
Häusinger, who has been looking after the Eichhorn brand from the beginning.  "I really hope that the high product quality, enhanced play potential, excellent value, and harmonized packaging will make a good impression," says Häusinger. He is responsible for every detail, from raw material purchases to the finished product.

Senior Product Manager Stefan Häusinger shows off a wooden pull-along duck.

Back to the roots
Eichhorn has always been a high-value brand. And the Simba Dickie Group has always taken an environmentally responsible attitude to sourcing. It was one of the first toy manufacturers to seek FSC certification for its products. Simba Dickie is advancing into the future by going back to its roots – literally. It started out as a family firm making things out of wood. Deciding that dealers at the top end of the market shouldn’t be asked to accept the cheaper beech-wood range that is also available on the mass market, they developed the exclusive "Eichhorn – The Collection," which is only available from exclusive top shops. These toys can, and are expected to, go down through generation after generation of the same family.

Ready for action on the wooden front
However, the new line isn’t meant to compete with the existing Eichhorn range.
"There are no overlaps and no design duplicates," Häusinger assures us. He’s
also confi dent that his wooden front can be extended into other countries.
Toys from traditional materials are still favorites in Austria, Switzerland, and
northern Italy. But in France and Britain, for example, only a few select shops now
stock wooden toys. And Simba Dickie thinks these products will also go well
on the eastern European market. Simba Dickie’s premium wooden brand is
about to burst on to the top end of the international scene.

For generations - the toy range can be extended further and further.