Business Idea: Ugly Dolls

Story from: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20060201/life-essentials.html

David Horvath’s toy company, PrettyUgly, started with a love letter. Horvath, an illustrator who studied at Parsons School of Design, had signed a missive to his long-distance girlfriend, Sun-Min Kim, with a cross-eyed, apron-wearing lump named Wage. A designer herself, she sent back a stuffed version of the homely creature. A friend saw the doll, asked to carry it in his boutique, and in 2002 the first 20 Uglydolls sold out in a night. Eighteen months and 1,500 of Kim’s handmade dolls later, PrettyUgly contracted the assembly to a factory in Asia, and now it has eight employees in Kenilworth, N.J., to handle sales and distribution. Horvath and Kim, who married in November, work in Los Angeles, creating characters and writing stories about the dolls’ personalities. Uglydolls have been in high demand since a magic week in 2004 when they appeared on the Today show, on CNN, and, in miniature, packaged with every bottle of Coke sold in Japan. In 2005, the company sold some 400,000 dolls, retailing for about $20 each.