Beanie<br > Be~nnings<br > I./ ou n reading this， chances are you ve become hooked on fuzzy<br > creatures<br > ab，~ut the size of your hand. You may even consider your addiction a guilty<br > plua~uru bee ause you don t usually get caught up ill the latest fads. The craze over<br > Beanie Babies， however， is about as far-reaching as any you ll ever see in the toy-<br > collecting world or elsewhere. But how did this fascination with little bean-stuffed<br > animals begin?<br > H. Ty Warner is considered the "father" of these collectible plushes. In<br > 1962. Dakin， Inc.， hired the recent college graduate to help produce their stuffe， d<br >ammals. Al~er ] 8 years with the toy-manufacturing giant， Warner opened his own<br >toy company in a Chicago suburb. With his line of plush toys costing $10-$20，<br >Warner came up with a design and marketing strategy fbr a child-sized toy that<br >would be similar to the larger plush line but within a child-sized budget. In<br >January 1994， the original nine Beanie Babies--Chocolate the moose， Cubbie the<br >bear， Flash the dolphin， Legs the fi og， Patti the platypus， Pinchers the lobster，<br >Splash the whale， Spot the dog， and Squealer the pig were introduced to the<br >world. Six months later， 25 new Beanies made their appearance， and the collecting<br >frenzy was in full swing.<br > So how did Beanie Babies become collectible so quickly? Supply and<br >demand， of course. ~1)~ limit availability and keep the product flow somewhat regu-<br >lated， Ty， Inc.， chose to distribute Beanie Babies through a network of specialty<br >stores rather than larger chains. To create demand， the company worked out a<br >schedule uf"planned ohsolescence" whereby certain Beanies would be retired and<br >new ones issued throughout the year. In fact， of the original nine Beanie Babies，<br >only Chocolate the moose is still ~urrent; of tile 25 that ]ollowed， only Daisy the<br > BE AI，III 1:31 (，111/qlbl~ ， ，" ./<br >