Company History

Princess Soft Toys began in 1965 as Spectacular Products, Inc. in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. The founder, Terry Mitchell, was a toy designer and entrepreneur, who created a product called "Slurp", a small, brightly colored creature with long fluorescent hair and large, protruding eyes. There were originally six employees who hand sewed all of the products, which were targeted to the novelty gift and plush business.

In 1971, the company began producing higher quality plush products, with unique designs geared to upscale gift and department stores. In keeping with this new focus, the name of the company was changed to Princess Soft Toys. By the late1970's, Princess employed over 80 people and was operating three shifts to keep up with the demand.

In 1984, Kim Calkins, who spent 10 years at Animal Fair as Vice President of Manufacturing Services, Product Development and Premium Sales was hired as Vice President and General Manager. He had traveled extensively throughout the Orient, working directly with manufacturers there for many years, and helped convert Princess from a domestic producer to an importer from the Orient. The company immediately became much more competitive in both quality and price.

In 1987, Kim and his wife, Sandy, purchased Princess Soft Toys and moved the company to Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Kim selected just a few items from the previous line, and utilizing his contacts in Korea, introduced many unique designs incorporating new fabrics and more upscale details. The new line was introduced in the spring of 1988, and was immediately successful. A bear named after their daughter, Amy, became the company’s bestseller for the next three years.

In the fall of 1994, Princess acquired Animal Fair (also located in Edina) and merged the two, using the Animal Fair name for the Promotional Products Division. This group has produced items for Kellogg's, Keebler, State Farm, Pillsbury, Marigold Foods/Kemps, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper/7 Up, Wells Fargo and many others. Today, the company designs and manufactures customized items for hospitals, banks, manufacturing companies, resorts, theme parks, schools and florists. Animal Fair is a member of ASI and PPAI, offering a large variety of stock plush animals with or without imprinted accessories.

In January of 2008, Princess Soft Toys expanded again and entered the sports and entertainment industries with the introduction of Princess Sports & Entertainment.  This division offers a broad range of exciting products to help with ‘fan building’ and ‘brand building’ promotions.  The product line includes several new and innovative products like Wacky Wavers™, Soft Pops™, and custom team mascots and likenesses of sports figures.