My soft toy collapsed.
My soft toy lost weight.
My soft toy went on diet.
My soft toy is less fluffy and bouncy than before!
What happened? Let's talk about this today :3
First up! The weight loss - What happened?
Most soft toys, plushies, busuk busuks, chou chous, stuffies and stuffed toys manufactured today are filled with a bouncy light weight material.
Usually either: Polyester Fill, Cotton or a blend between the two
These stuffing works to provide an airy bouncy texture through trapping of air between the fibers, similar to our brand new dish washing sponges, who arrive spongy and bouncy off the shelves when newly purchased.
But over time, these fibers inside your soft toy gets tangled into each other and ends up as a dense matted ball, hard and are no longer as capable in trapping air.
Figure: Matted Stuffing on the left and loosened stuffing on the right
This results in a plush who experiences no change in net weight, but is a lot thinner, skinnier and less bouncy as before.
This phenomenon is particularly obvious in jointed places such as the neck and the limbs, where the soft toy experiences the most movement and the existing stuffing gets compacted left and right of the limb, resulting in a "broken limb".
Frequent washing in the washing machine and wringing may also exacerbate the development of this problem as the twisting and turning makes the originally loose fibers knot into themselves even more.
But this isn't a difficult problem to solve. So lets talk about
What we can do to fix this and make our soft toy soft and fluffy again?
Good news, there's 3 ways to solve this :3
First, re-stuffing
This is the most straightforward and the fastest way to revitalize your sagging plush. Through changing out the existing stuffing for a brand new batch, optionally via a 100% exchange (same weight in and out).
Brand new stuffing (easily purchasable online or via craft shops) are newly produced and have little to no tangles, and are perfect for a quick solution to the collapsed plush problem.
This is also relatively easy to do at home with little experience.
Second, top up
Sometimes it may not be feasible to change everything out from the plush due to the following concerns
(i) Plush is too heavy and changing out everything would be too expensive
(ii) Only certain parts of the plush has collapsed. A full re-stuffing may not be necessary
(iii) Sentimental value over original stuffing
In this case, a top up (which can also be done very quickly like re-stuffing) may work as a top up instantly introduces new fluffy stuffing into a collapsing plush.
Note however, as even though this is a cheaper option than 100% re-stuffing, the plush may experience the following side effects
(a) Imbalanced softness within the body
Hard of the old and soft of the new
(b) Heavier weight
Top up doesn't remove existing weight, and thus your plush runs the risk of being overstuffed. Over stuffing can result in your plush becoming "muscular", experiencing a "stroke" with hard limbs that are not movable and also significantly decreases the bounciness of your soft toy.
Third, loosening with or without blend
Our most popular procedure, included in our ultra deep clean package.
Stuffing loosening with blend
Stuffing loosening without blend
All our blends are blended with our high grade polyester stuffing
This option combines the best characteristics of both the old and the new stuffing. Loads of sentimental value, familiar scent and smells, yet still achieving the bounciness of youth without the excessive extra weight.
And here is Rascal proudly showing off his beautiful cuddly self after a loosening + boost procedure!
Still unsure about what would be best for your plush?
Come talk to us! :3