Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




SINO DAILY
Chinese picnic over, Germany teddy maker says: report
by Staff Writers
Berlin (AFP) July 2, 2008


Two-hundred-year-old German soft toy maker Steiff will no longer produce its trademark teddy bears in China because of quality concerns, a German press report said on Wednesday.

"We are withdrawing from China step by step. For toys of high quality, China is simply not a reliable source," the Stuttgarter Nachricten newspaper quoted company chief Martin Frechen as saying.

Frechen said Chinese factories were not able to produce complicated models to the company's standards or ship toys for which there was a strong demand to Germany in time.

He said delivery times became a pressing problem when Steiff ordered 80,000 copies of its white "Knut" bear, based on the Berlin zoo's popular polar bear cub by the same name, and the toys took three months to reach Germany.

Steiff, which was founded by a wheelchair-bound woman in 1800, began outsourcing production to Chinese factories in 2004, saying German producers could not compete in terms of cost.

The company sent 300 workers to China to oversee production, but Frechen said even so the Chinese producers fell short of standards.

Steiff is battling to win back marketshare for its most famous product, a teddy with a button sewn into its ear, and Frechen said bringing production back to Germany was part of these efforts.

The company said if one of the bear's eyes were placed a fraction too high or low, its melancholy gaze loses its appeal, the newspaper said.

Steiff's announcement comes less than a month after Beijing revoked the export licences of about 700 toys factories over safety failings.

.


Related Links
China News from SinoDaily.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SINO DAILY
Revenge blast in China injures 12: state media
Beijing (AFP) July 2, 2008
A man angry over the demolition of an illegal structure he owned in central China blew up two bottles of compressed gas in an attack on Wednesday that hurt 12 people, state media said. The man, identified as Tian Kaiyou, lit the gas cylinders on fire and then drove them to a local government office in Zhangjiajie in Hunan province, the China News Service said. The resulting explosion ... read more


SINO DAILY
Looking For Early Earth...On The Moon

Moon-Bound NASA Spacecraft Passes Major Preflight Tests

Northrop Grumman Completes LCROSS Thermal Vacuum Testing

NASA Study Provides Next Step To Establishing Lunar Outpost

SINO DAILY
Phoenix To Bake Ice-Rich Sample Next Week

Rain Showers On Mars

Mars Sample Return: The Next Step In Exploring The Red Planet

New Soil Analysis Suggests It Rained On Mars Long Ago

SINO DAILY
Analex Awarded Three-Year Option On NASA Expendable Launch Vehicles Integrated Support

Russia seals agreement with private investor for space tourism

Fly me to the Moon: Japan firm offers weddings in space

NASA Goddard Has More Than A Dozen Exciting Missions In Next Year

SINO DAILY
China's Shot Heard Around The Galaxy

Shenzhou VII Research Crew Ready To Set Out For Launch Center

A Better Focus On Shenzhou

Gallup Poll Shows Americans Unconcerned About China Space Program

SINO DAILY
NASA plans two ISS spacewalks next week

Discovery undocks from ISS

Shuttle astronauts bid farewell to space station crew

Shuttle Astronauts Bid Farewell To Space Station Crew

SINO DAILY
Russia Launches Rocket With Military Satellite

Inmarsat And ILS Set August 14 For Proton Flight With Inmarsat Satellite

Payload Integration Complete For Arianespace's Fourth Mission Of 2008

Successful Ariane 5 Solid Rocket Booster Test Firing

SINO DAILY
Chemical Clues Point To Dusty Origin For Earth-Like Planets

Astronomers discover clutch of 'super-Earths'

Vanderbilt Astronomers Getting Into Planet-Finding Game

NASA Selects MIT-Led Team To Develop Planet-Searching Satellite

SINO DAILY
NASA Considers Development Of Student-Led Satellite Initiative

SATLYNX Completes 300 Site SCADA Network Rollout For EDF Energy

Herschel Undergoes Acoustic And Vibration Tests

Russian-US Launch Firm To Put Satellite In Orbit In August




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement