Plush toys also known as stuffed toys is a toy which is made from soft fabric and stuff with certain materials to make it puff and add the fluffiness. The soft fabric that is usually used like Minky, cotton, fleece, wool and other soft fabric. Besides that, to add the fluffiness, plush toy makers usually used fluffy materials to fill the toy. There are many fillings that can be used, one of them is polyester plush filling. In this article, we will talk about polyester as toy filling material and more about polyester.
Contents
What is Polyester?
Polyester basically is a polymer containing one or two ester linkages in every repeat unit of their main chain. The most common polyester that is used in various industries is PET or Polyethylene terephthalate, including in clothing industries. Most polyesters are synthetic, but few of them are natural and are made from certain plants or insects which contain the same chemical compounds as polyester.
Natural polyester and a few synthetics are biodegradable, but most synthetic polyester are not biodegradable. Polyester fabric is a polyester fiber that is spun into thread then changed into fabric. Sometimes it is made from natural and synthetic polyester, but mostly it is synthetic.
Polyester Fiber and Fabric
Polyester fiber is a raw material for polyester fabric, but polyester fiber could be used as it is, for example for polyester plush filling. This fiber, synthetic or natural, does not spun into thread or fabric, but it is used as fiber, a pile of fiber for example. This pile of polyester fiber is made into plush filling material. Polyester fiber also has various grades and quality, based on their raw materials.
Good quality polyester fiber could give a great fluffy feeling to the plush toys and have longer durability, not easy to shrink or tear up. In contrast, low quality polyester fiber can give enough fluffy feeling, but it is easy to shrink and sometimes it is easy to shred.
Polyester fabric is made from polyester fiber that is spun into thread then changed into fabric. There is many clothing that uses polyester fabric as their main component, for example T-shirts that are made from 100% polyester.
Besides that, there is clothing that is made from polyester combined with other materials like cotton. The material combination adds to the durability and comfort of the cloth, for example, T-shirts with 50% cotton and 50% polyester could absorb the sweat well but also have long periods of usage. The clothing manufacturer also uses this material combination to reduce production costs without reducing the product quality.
Polyester Plush Filling
Polyester fiber could be used as plush or stuffed toy filling. Many toy makers and toy manufacturers use this material for their plush products. The usage of polyester as plush filling raises pros and cons among toy makers. Here are a few of them:
Pro’s:
- Cheaper material: Polyester usage costs less than other filling materials like bamboo or cotton, especially synthetic polyester. Toy makers or manufacturers can reduce production costs by using this material but still get good quality plush toys products.
- Easy to get: Synthetic materials like polyester are made from certain chemical reactions in the factory. We can make this material in large batches and market them into toy makers, then wait for natural materials like cotton or bamboo plants to grow in a period of time. So, toy makers easily get polyester in the market and use it in large batches of toy production.
Con’s:
- Non biodegradable: Most polyester is synthetic with non-biodegradable materials which means it cannot dissolve into land in a hundred years. It will cause a lot of pollution on our earth and cause many health problems also.
- Allergenic material: Because polyester is made from certain chemical reactions, some of them could provoke allergic reactions especially to children. It is becoming a concern for parents, because they want their children to be safe when they play with plush toys.
Polyester fiber usage as plush toy filling might cause pros and cons, but there are many toy makers and manufacturers still using these materials until nowadays. As toy makers who care about earth pollution, we could choose more environmentally friendly materials like cotton or bamboo filling for our plush toys.
Final Note
If you’re a businessman toy maker, you could use polyester plush filling as your filling choice to reduce production cost but still be considerate about the effect of polyester usage. BuyChinaToys is a plush toy manufacturer based in China which always makes good quality plush toys. They use good quality material, including good quality polyester as their choice of plush toys filling. They care about the safety of their consumers, especially children, so they make sure that the materials they use are safe for children.