Circus Kids got their own horses in 1986 when the Circus Ponies came out. Did you know their saddles hide a clothing code surprise?
Another surprise addition to the clothing code matrix has been discovered.
There are several CPK horses, and they have been sold by various companies over the years. In 1985, Coleco produced and sold plush horses both with their Western Wear Kids and separately. These horses are called Show Ponies. Then, in 1986, they put out Circus Ponies as part of the Circus Kids line. They are the same plush horses and came in the same Show Pony boxes, except they had a Circus Pony sticker on the window pane. These horses came with different accessories and different birth certificates. Sometimes they came in a white windowless carton instead of the barn-shaped box.
Courtesy of Zopyors.Courtesyof Ref. #3Courtesy of Ref. #3
A Circus Pony came with a bridle with head plume, reversible fringed saddle, and leg warmers. There were only two versions of the saddle produced by the CC factory.
420A: A light pink saddle with dark pink fringe and yellow stars. The reverse side is white with multicoloured polka dots (I think?) The leg warmers are light pink. [I still need pictures if you have one.]
420B: A dark pink saddle with yellow fringe and green polka dots with yellow dots. The reverse side is white with multicoloured square dots. The leg warmers are dark pink.
Photos courtesy of Lisa Rogers.
What’s so interesting is that the saddles are on the clothing matrix! They have the code #420. Now, it’s hard to keep track of, but there are very few items in the 400s. A few transitional Hasbro BBB outfits (400-403), 1988 regular outfits (402-405), and Furskins outfits (430s). That’s it. So, finding these in the 400s is very random.
I wonder what other 400s items we haven’t found yet. After all, we haven’t got anything with the number 440 or higher! Do you?
Fun Facts
It is interesting that the horses were produced by the Korean WJ factory, but the saddles were made at the Chinese CC factory. No code match here! I wonder if all the pieces were made at the same factory.
This is the catalogue picture used by Coleco to advertise the Circus Ponies.
This collection started selling in 1985, along with many of the other speciality outfits. However, these outfits were originally only sold packaged. Late in 1985 and early 1986, it appears that Coleco did put them on individually packaged kids, and a small number of the Football outfits made it on twin sets . It is interesting to note that almost all of the boxed kids with these outfits on are in 1985 boxes, I have recorded only one 1986 box, so it appears they didn’t do this for long. Eventually, like all other CPK clothes produced prior to 1987, sports outfits became part of the mass ‘sell-off’ where they put all sorts of weird combinations together and sold outfits on plain boards.
Courtesy of Andrea Crick Huckaba.
The Collection
There are six outfits in this collection, each of them depicting a different sport. Each outfit came with at least one accessory and striped sneakers. They were made by the Taiwanese CY and FD factories, and in some cases, there are visible differences between outfits produced by them.
The Outfits
NOTE: Each outfit is tagged in only one piece. I have put (tag) beside the piece with the tag.
Baseball
Outfit Pieces: top (tag) and stirrup pants
Accessory: baseball helmet
Sneakers: some coloured stripes, some not)
Cheerleader
Outfit Pieces: green sweater (tag), sateen bloomers, white and green sateen skirt
Accessory: yellow/green or Orange/green pompom
The pompom came in two different colours. I’m assuming this was either a factory difference or because of a supply problem.
Sneakers: green stripes
Basketball
Outfit Pieces: sleeveless jersey, shorts (tag), headband, armbands, knee pads The 55 may represent 1955, the year Xavier Roberts was born.
Accessory: basketball
Sneakers: white stripes
Hockey
Outfit Pieces: jersey with padded shoulders, padded shorts (tag)
There are two possible accent colours on this outfit, blue and purple. Both factories made both colours. There are visible factory differences in the stitching of the jersey’s bottom hem and in the colour of the thread used to sew on the silk label. The FD factory used orange thread, and the CY factory used white thread. These differences are important as they allow you to determine which factory made the top, even though it is not tagged.
CY vs. FD
Accessory: hockey stick (no manufacturer marks) Sneakers: white stripes
Football
CY FactoryFD Factory
Outfit Pieces: jersey with padded shoulders, shorts (tag)
So far, this is the only sports outfit found on sets of twins. We don’t know exactly what the 27 stands for. Here are two theories: 1) Xavier Robert’s parents were born on the 11th and the 16th, which when added together, equals 27. 2) Xavier Roberts was aged 27 when the mass market Cabbage Patch Kids were copyrighted in 1982. What is your theory?
Accessory: football helmet Note: The helmet can be fragile. Once put together, it can split apart easily, and the chin guard connections can break easily as well.
The accent trim is sewn on differently by each factory. FD is much cleaner than CY. This difference is important as it allows you to determine which factory made the dress, even though it is not tagged.
Accessory: tennis racket (has factory markings), sun visor
Sneakers: white stripes
Similar Outfits
All Stars Baseball Series – This collection came out in 1986 and is an entirely different series. (Future Post)
Hasbro Sports outfits – Two poseable Hasbro CPK outfits (1990/91) are sport related: Tennis and cheerleader.
Other Information
It appears that at least the Football outfit was put onto Twins in a twin box. As far as I know, none of the others have been seen on twins.
A JCPenney Catalog picture shows the football outfit in blue; however, it was never produced. The back of the original packaging also shows the outfits, but three of the shoes depicted were never sold with the outfits.
Make way for “The Greatest Kids on Earth” and join us at the circus! These outfits have lots of bright colours and wacky hats. Which one is your favourite?
Circus kids came out in 1985 and like a lot of the specialty kids, did not sell well. Some may have been sold in 1987, but they were only manufactured in 1986. The series consists of six clown outfits (#100 – #105) and a ringmaster outfit. (see below) There are two versions of each outfit. The outfit names were created by Coleco.
Fantastic picture courtesy of Holly Spencer. Note: The circus ponies came out in 1987. (Ref #3, p. 134)
Circus kids come with a distinctive box, hand tag, and birth certificate. They also came with a clown-themed poster in the box and a trading card in the birth certificate envelope. (Ref#2, p. 72) The original boxes were sort of tent-shaped but later boxes were more rectangular (see ringmaster box below). (Ref #3, p. 133)
They were made by the KT and P factories. I don’t think that each factory produced all six outfits, as I’ve only recorded one factory per outfit so far. However, different factories could produce A and B. These outfits are on the coding matrix but create a duplicate set of #100 – #105 numbers.
One reference noted that these outfits came on P, KT and OK kids. In this case, the OK kids wouldn’t match their outfits. What combination is your Circus kid? (Ref#2, p. 72)
There are several different tags from both factories. This is likely due to changing trends during the production period.
Front – Factory codeBack – outfit code
Each outfit comes with a pair of clown shoes, socks, and a head accessory. The shoes are stamped on the bottom with a factory code, and one shoe from each pair will be a squeaker. The socks are always made of brightly coloured silky material and are quite a bit longer than regular socks. In addition, the socks have no distinctive top edge.
Circus sock vs. regulra sock
As with all the specialty outfits, these outfits were eventually packaged and sold separately from the dolls. In addition, you can sometimes find individual pieces of these outfits in ‘lot’ packages. Leftover Jesmar stock dolls were also dressed as clowns and were sold on the Canadian Market in bilingual boxes. (Ref#2, p.72) I don’t remember seeing a clown in a ‘regular’ box, but it could have happened. Many other specialty outfits were sold this way in later years.
Do I have all the pieces?
Along with the face mask, headgear, socks, and shoes, each outfit includes the following:
Preppy Polka Dot – #100
One-piece romper with sleeves
Pointed hat with ruffle
Neck ruffle
100A – missingmask100B
Cuddly Crinkles
Top with a large neck ruffle and three pom poms
Matching bottoms
White pointed hat with ruffle and pom pom
101A101B
Bashful Bow
Dress
Yellow bloomers with white polka dots
Large puffy hair bow
102A102B
Teasin’ Topper
Shirt (structured like a t-shirt)
Vest with tails
Matching shorts
Small bow tie
Small hard vinyl top hat
103A103B
Rowdy Rainbow
Shorts with suspenders (detachable)
Shirt with collar
Large neck tie (sewn on)
104A – missing socks104B
Preppy Pom Pom
One piece romper with the large pom poms
Small neck ruffle
Vinyl bowler hat
105A105B
The Ringmaster Outfit – #188
This outfit is the only 188 I have recorded, and for some reason, was coded separately from the clown outfits. This outfit was worn by both boy and girl dolls. The doll came in a circus box with a Circus Kid birth certificate and included a black megaphone. I am unsure if these dolls came with a poster.
The outfit includes a black bowtie, a red velveteen jacket with tails, a fancy white shirt with ruffles down the front, a gold and red vest, white satin jodhoppers, high black boots, and a large black top hat.
The boots are factory labelled on the inside rim and are easily confused with the Russian World Traveler boots. The more obvious differences are the detailing and the height. The Russian boot is shorter than the ringmaster boot.
Russian World Traveler bootRingmaster boot
Other Information
These are the photo from the 1987 Coleco Catalogue. It looks like they used actual outfits for these pictures, which is unusual.
A Butterick sewing pattern was available to make your own clown costumes.
Precious and cozy, these pajamas’s are so cute. If you’ve got the slippers you’re lucky!
This series consists of five outfits, four for girls and one for boys. They are all a type of pyjamas. The girl’s outfits are all made of flannel and come with fuzzy pink slippers. Like with some other series, the boy’s outfit is unique.
Although their code numbers start with a 6, generally indicating that they came out in 1986, most of those I’ve seen mint-in-box are in 1987 boxes. I hypothesize that they were sold in 1987 or even late 1986 into 1987. Most sources list them as being sold in 1987. (Ref# 3, p. 160) These outfits are not common, so I don’t believe they were produced for very long. They are very hard to find with slippers now.
They were all made by the KT factory. There’s only one version of each outfit, and they were not made by any other factory. I believe I have this series entirely recorded, although I could use a better picture of outfit #693 with the slippers.
Girl’s PJ’s
689 – Bon-Bon Two-Piece PJs
This outfit has a dress-like top with matching pants. The fabric pattern is pastel-coloured bonbons and it has a V-neck with two purple buttons and a purple bow.
Photo courtesy of Kat Perhouse.
690 – NO OUTFIT
691 – Two Piece Sheep PJs
This outfit has a dress-like top and matching pants. The fabric pattern is pastel-coloured pink and blue sheep with flowers. The yoke has three bows; pink, teal, and purple.
Photo courtesy of Kat Perhouse.
692 – Ruffled gown
This gown is white with a pink flower pattern and three buttons at the neck. The neck area has a lot of ruffles, and there is a ruffle running around the hem, a few inches from the bottom.
Photo courtesy of Kat Perhouse.
693 – Striped gown
This gown has a large white bib front with three buttons. The remainder of the gown is a thick stripe pattern in pastel shades of teal, pink, and white. There is a ruffle around the bib, and the bottom hem is white with pink hearts.
Boy’s PJ Outfit
694 – Nightshirt and cap
This outfit is unique within the CPK clothing world. Unlike outfits #689 – #693, this one is made of cotton, uses darker colours, and includes a nightcap and booties with suede soles. The nightcap and booties can be difficult to find.
Mimic Outfit
This outfit mimics the look of the Pajama Series and is often thought to be a part of it. Outfit #142A looks very similar but came out in 1989 as a packaged outfit. The dark colours and yellow slippers are the immediately visible differences.
Photo courtesy of Kat Pershouse.
Special thanks to Kat Perhouse for her amazing pictures.
Based on classic 1983 outfits, these 1986 outfits re-imagine, reinvent, and rejuvenate to create amazing new looks.
Mimic: implies a close copying, often for fun
Miriam-Webster Dictionary
The 1986 Mimic Series
Three of the six outfits in this 1986 series closely mimic many dresses that came before them. The other three also closely resemble earlier outfits, although not as much.
As these outfits are much harder to find than some others, they may not have been produced for long. In addition, there are only two to four variations (letters) for each outfit.
Although the outfits are numbered from #655 to #661, no #657 was produced (that I know of). They were all produced by the OK factory and used letters H, J, and K, once again skipping the letter i.
Although many of the outfits have a copyright date of 1985, an outfit number in the 600s indicates that they were sold in 1986. Based on the tags, some may have been manufactured in early 1987 as well. I speculate that an outfit with an Amsterdam, NY tag (below) was produced in late 1986 or early 1987. I have only two Amsterdam tags recorded in this series, so very few of these outfits were being produced by that time. I have no idea why they changed the number to include a /3 or /__ instead of keeping the original code. I can only speculate that they planned to change the entire outfit numbering system but quickly changed their minds. I also have an example of two slash numbers for the same outfit. I can’t explain this.
These outfits came on the regular yarn-haired kids, as opposed to the Cornsilk kids, which also came out that year. They came in the newer pastel-coloured boxes with the aqua birth certificates. I have no evidence that these outfits came packaged.
Version Information
My goal is to find every version of every outfit that was produced. Below is a spreadsheet showing each version of the outfits in this series that I have recorded. To understand clothing codes, factories, and variations, please refer to these posts: 1st Blog – Why do this project?, What are Clothing Tag Codes?, Factories and Companies
If you have an outfit that is not recorded here or does not match my information, I would like to hear from you. Information is best sent in the form of pictures. For details, visit Taking Clothing Tag Pics.
Outfit Information
#655 – Mimic Swing Dress
These empire waist dresses are a solid colour with a light white crosshatch pattern and a small white bow at the neck. I believe they came with tights, but I’m not sure if they were solid white or lace. I also believe they came with Mary Jane shoes, but I need to see one of these outfits in the box to know for sure. If you can confirm or debunk it, please let me know.
Outfit K comes in two different colours. I can only assume they could no longer source the first one and changed to the other. I don’t know which was first and which was second.
Photo courtesy of Jodi’s Punki Patch.
Mimicked Outfit:Outfit #1 – Swing Dress Significant differences between these outfits include the pattern and the size of the bow. To see other outfits similar to this one, visit Outfit #1 .
#656 – Mimic Shoulder-Tie Dress
There are no significant differences between this dress and the original dress, except that the white fabric in the #656 dress is sometimes a thicker ribbed cord-like material rather than the thin white cotton used in the original. Of course, there are differences in pattern and colour, but that’s it! I do not know what shoes this outfit came with, but I would guess white Mary Jane shoes.
Photo courtesy of Kat Perhouse.
Mimicked Outfits:Outfit #3 – Shoulder-Tie Dress, Outfit #504 Apron Dress To see other outfits similar to this one, visit Outfit #3.
# 658 – Velveteen Overalls
There are only two versions of this outfit. Although they look like Outfit #12, the Ruffled Overalls, it would be almost impossible to confuse them. These overalls are made of a lovely dark/light blue velveteen, and the bib is backed by the same fabric as the matching blouse. The blouses are made of flowered cotton fabric or white silky fabric. The most obvious difference is the embroidered winged heart on the bib. I have only one picture for reference, but this outfit appears to come with Mary Jane shoes.
Outfit #658HOutfit #658J; Kat PerhouseExample of bib backing
The tags in these outfits are different than those in the rest of the series and almost every other recorded outfit. I’m unsure if this is significant, but it is interesting to note.
It is also interesting to note that the velveteen fabric used for these outfits is only used in one other type of CPK outfit, two of the Jesmar preemie outfits.
Mimicked Outfits:Outfit #12 – Ruffled Overalls. Significant differences are found in the fabrics and blouse patterns.
#659 – Mimic Yoke Dress
The fabrics used for this dress appear to be textured, but all are a solid colour. The yoke and sleeves have frilly lace, and there is a small velveteen bow at the neck. It came with matching bloomers and either Mary Jane or regular lace-up shoes. I am unsure which.
Photo courtesy of Jodi’s Punki Patch.
Mimicked Outfit:Outfit #13 – Square Yoke Dress Significant differences include the frillier lace around the yoke and the velveteen bow. To see other similar outfits, visit Outfit #13.
#660 – Shadow-Stripe Dress
Structurally, these dresses are almost identical to Outfit #15, the Bib Dress. However, these outfits don’t have a bib, they have a silky ribbon running across the front, a small white bow and flower patch in the middle, and capped sleeves. The fabric has a shadow stripe pattern, and the arms, lower hem, and collar are all edged with frilly lace.
Photo courtesy of Kat Perhouse.
I’ve seen this outfit, minus the ribbon, twice. I believe the ribbons have been removed as they don’t appear to be well attached to the outfit.
#661 – Heart/Butterfly Dress
These dresses are also structurally similar to Outfit #15, the Bib Dress, but have a heart with flowers patch or a butterfly with flowers patch on the chest. It has cotton lace running across the front and at the sleeves and leg hems. For some reason, they used one patch for some outfits and the other patch for others. I’m not sure why.
Courtesy of Vanessa Brisson.Courtesy of Jodi’s Punki Patch.
There are two versions of #661H, red and dusty rose. Although both H’s are considered HTF, the red version is considered the harder to find of the two. (FB Conversation, Kat Perhouse, Feb. 2020) I don’t know which was produced first and which colour came second. Whenever the change happened, it was before the Amsterdam tags began being used.
These dresses are often confused with a great imitation aftermarket dress made by Happy Kids. Can you spot the differences? The most obvious differences are the embroidered patches and the lack of CPK clothing tag inside.
Coleco continued to produce Twin sets in 1986 wearing the original four outfits, but they also started to use twin sets as a dumping ground to get rid of overstock. At this time, it wasn’t unusual to find a variety of combinations in twin boxes, for example:
Twin outfits with Fun Furs overtop.Animal SleepersWorld Traveler outfitsWorld Traveler OutfitsOriginal 20 outfits (left over stock) Photo courtesy of Cheryle Alexander.Football Sports Outfit Courtesy of Andrea Crick Huckaba.Twins wearing Fun Furs, animal sleepers, and World Traveler outfits. I have confirmed that they used all 5 WT outfits on twins but only the Football of the Sports Collection.
Especially in the Canadian market, it wasn’t unusual for the dolls wearing these non-twin outfits to be Jesmar as it was at this time that Coleco was looking to rid themselves of the remaining stock from the recently closed foreign factories. (See Jesmars and J Clothing for details.)
Jesmar dolls wearing World Traveler outfits in twin boxes, or who came as twins.
The dolls used for twins in 1986 weren’t always P/OK factory and weren’t always the same factory. For example, there are records of sets being OK and PMI. (Ref #4, March 1988, p. 4) This was rare, but apparently, it did happen.
They also dumped twin outfits by putting them on individually boxed regular kids and Cornsilk kids in 1986 and 1987.
Courtesy of Christy Ho.
Finally, in a last-ditch effort to get rid of stock, twin outfits were sold packaged separately. Often these packages didn’t come with accessories like gloves or shoes.
Other Cabbage Patch Twins
> The Tsukuda factory is the only foreign factory that manufactured Twins (Ref #3, p. 247). Their twins wear regular 1983 outfits with the word “TWIN” silkscreened on them. These sets are very highly valued by collectors.
The first two photos are courtesy of Carolyn Dahl.
> Preemie twins were never produced, but prototypes are visible in catalogue pictures from 1986. (Ref #3, p. 178, 192)
Many prototype outfits can be seen in catalogues from 1986. The outfits aren’t exact, but they’re pretty close! It’s too bad the white dresses were never produced, they’re very pretty.
Official Cabbage Patch Kid twin sets wore special sets of beautiful clothing. At least, they did when they first came out!
Official Cabbage Patch Twins became available starting in 1985. They continued to be sold in 1986, but with some differences (see Twin Outfits, Part 2). They came with specially designed boxes, birth certificates, and hand tags. When they introduced Twins, they also introduced a few new hairstyles and hair colours.
Courtesy of Hall Walls.
Although called twins, the dolls were not always identical. They always had the same colour of hair and eyes, but the head moulds were often different. Most Twin dolls were made by the P factory, but there were some OK factory sets. Although billed as a Limited Edition, it quickly became apparent that they weren’t limited and that they weren’t selling very well.
Twin clothing consisted of four different outfits and had a separate coding matrix, T#. The great majority of twin clothing was manufactured by the P factory; however, at least a few were made at the KT factory. I’ve seen only one example of this.
There are between five and seven versions of each twin outfit. The two additional outfits appear to be caused by a change in fabric colour. In a few cases, there are two distinct colours associated with the same code. I theorize that they could no longer source the original colour and so carried on with the second (C2, E2). “It would seem that the rarest velvet to appear was burgundy, which appeared on only a few 1985 sets.” (Ref #5, p. 82)
T1 – Party Dresses
These dresses come in two versions, one made of a cotton damask fabric with a velveteen waist bow, and the other a shiny satin fabric. The structure is the same for both. I believe there are only three versions of the satin dress (yellow, light purple, vivid blue), although I do not know why.
Damask VersionSatin Version
These dresses came with fancy mesh gloves with line patterns, white lace tights, a regular diaper, and Mary Jane shoes. They came only on girl/girl twin sets, and the dresses were always the same colour.
Fabric close up of the demask version
T2 – Knit Overalls
This outfit consists of a knit long sleeve shirt under a pair of knit coveralls and a matching knit hat. It came with a regular diaper and lace-up shoes. It was worn only by boy/boy twin sets.
These two outfits came on the only boy/girl twin combination that was produced but could also be found on boy/boy and girl/girl twin sets. Same-gender sets were much harder to find. (Toyland: What to Buy Report. Feb 4, 1986. p. 2)
Both outfits are made primarily of velveteen and come with a regular diaper and lace-up shoes. The girl’s outfit (T3) consists of a dress-like top, pants, and a matching tam, while the boy’s outfit (T4) consists of a white dress shirt, shortalls, a matching jacket, and a bowtie.
T3T4T4 pieces
Wacky Fact: T1 and T2 have rectangular-shaped tags, while T3 and T4 have square ones. I have no idea why, as they were all produced at the same factory!
The 1st BBB outfits came out in 1986 on Babies. (The 6- in their clothing codes indicate the date they came out. For details, visit Tag Codes Continued: A 2nd Theory.) However, I do wonder if the outfits in this series (#199 – #203) may have been a secondary set produced or designed after the 190s. These outfits all have a few oddities about them.
I have recorded four outfits in the 200s, and all are in this series of outfits, plus #199. I believe #199 belongs in this group because, it is separated from the 190s series by the missing #198, unusual code letters were produced for it, and it is very difficult to find. Additionally, none of the recorded #199 outfits were manufactured by the WS factory, and the 200s outfits don’t appear to have been manufactured by the WS factory, just the SS and AF factories.
Each Baby comes with a footie outfit, a bonnet, a white felt diaper, and a blanket. The blanket trim matches the dominant colour of the outfit.
The Outfits
As I am including outfit #199 in this series (as well as the 190s), there are five outfits in this series. I have assigned outfit names, as I am unaware of any conventionally accepted ones. I think there are between four and eight versions of each outfit.
199 – Hearts Sweater201 – Flowers Sweater202 – Striped High-waisted onesie200 – Frilly-footed onesie203 – Diamond Decoration DressPictures courtesy of Sarah Ransom and Jodi Issacs.
Like the 190s series, in general, the letters in the clothing code (A – G) are associated with a specific colour. For example, if you have an A, the outfit will be mint green no matter the outfit number. However, there are some odd situations, even more than in the 190s Series. (See the chart below.)
A – Mint Green D – Baby Pink G- Peach B – Baby Blue E- Yellow C – Purple F- White
Version Information
My goal is to record every version of every outfit that was produced. Below is a record of the outfits in this series that I have recorded. To understand clothing codes, factories, and variations, please refer to What are Clothing Tag Codes? and Factories and Companies
If you have an outfit that is not recorded here, I would like to hear from you. Information is best sent in the form of pictures. For details, visit Taking Clothing Tag Pics.
Of the ‘additional’ letters J, N, P, and Q, I have only recorded one outfit per letter. (UPDATE May 2022: A second Q outfit has been located.) For H, I have two, #196 and #201. I have no idea why these random additional letters were produced. I don’t know if they produced these letters for all the outfits or just a few.
AF Factory Outfits (updated)
I have recorded AF (Thailand) produced outfits for only #200 and #203. Incidentally, these are also the most difficult to find of the 200s outfits. Were they produced by the SS factory? If not, why not? Do you have an SS version of one of these outfits? It seems many of the 190s series were made by the AF factory, but I’m not sure how many yet.
#200#203Pink outfit courtesy of Sarah Ransom.
Factory Variations
I cannot see any consistent factory variations. If you observe any, please, let me know.
The 670s series is what I call a ‘mimic series’ as many of the 670s outfits look similar to those in the 1st BBB outfit series. It came out in 1987.
#199 and #201 look similar to #674 and #195. They are all two-piece outfits with sweaters and footie pants. The hat and the pattern on the sweater are the most visible differences.
#200 is similar to #673, where the frill is missing from the feet.
#202 is very similar to #680, except #680 has pom-poms at the feet.
#203 is similar to #672, #681, and #193. They are all dresses.
Other Information
> HTF Info: Outfit #200 appears to be the hardest to find. Then outfit #203.
> The ribbon in these outfits can be easily removed and replaced. Refer to the Babies summary post for additional information on cleaning and care.
> Fun fact: Prototype versions of these outfits can be found in the 1986 Coleco Catalogue, p. 86 & 87. None of these outfits were actually produced.
These outfits were made in Thailand . . .what the heck? (Extensive revisions made Nov 2021)
Courtesy of Sarah Ransom
So far I have found six different outfits that have the AF factory and were Made in Thailand, all of them 1986 BBB outfits. The outfits in the 190s have the AF factory label, the 200s outfits do not. I’m not sure why. For my speculations, visit 1st BBB Outfits – Pt. 2 – 200s. For a list of known manufacturing locations, visit Factories and Companies.
AF factory picture courtesy of Zoe Milburn
Based on the look of the tag and the 6- in the code, I believe that these outfits were manufactured in 1986 with the rest of the outfits, or very soon thereafter.
Why did they hire another factory to produce these outfits?
Why pick a factory in Thailand?
How long did it manufacture CPK BBB clothes?
Did it produce more than just the 6 I’ve already discovered?
This series of outfits came out in 1986 on the first Babies. (The 6- in their clothing codes indicate the date they came out. For details, visit Tag Codes Continued: A 2nd Theory.) They were made by the SS, WS, and AF factories. There doesn’t appear to be a primary factory for this series. Also, I’m unsure if all three factories produced all of the outfits but there’s a chance that most were produced by the WS and SS factories. I’m not sure about the AF factory.
Each Baby comes with an outfit with footies, a bonnet, a white felt diaper, and a blanket. The blanket trim matches the dominant colour of the outfit.
There are eight outfits in this series. I have assigned outfit names as I am unaware of any conventionally accepted ones. I think there are between six and eight versions of each outfit.
191 – Large Ruffle192 – Onsie with Booties193 – Dress194 – Waist Ruffle195 – ‘Baby’ Sweater196 – Overalls197 – Sailor Collar199 – ‘Hearts’ SweaterPictures courtesy of Jodi’s Punki Patch.
Unlike other series, in this series, the letters in the clothing code (A – G) are associated with a specific colour. For example, if you have an A, the outfit will be mint green no matter the number. Well, mostly . . . keep reading.
A – Mint Green D – Baby Pink G- Peach B – Baby Blue E- Yellow C – Purple F- White
A – Mint GreenB – Baby BlueC- PurpleD – PinkE – YellowF – WhiteG – PeachPictures courtesy of Jodi’s Punki Patch.
There are some differences between the letters H, N, P, and Q.
Outfits #196 & #197 – It is the only two outfits with the letter H, and they’re both blue. I haven’t located a letter B (also normally blue) for outfit #196 so I wonder if this H was produced to replace B, which for some unknown reason was not produced? Do you have a blue 196B?
Outfit #199 – This is the only outfit, so far, that has the letters N, P, and Q. It is odd in several ways. I haven’t recorded many of this outfit, odd code letters have been used, and it’s a mimic of another outfit in the same series. Is it possible that this outfit belongs to PT 2, the 200s series? There is no #198, so maybe the 190s (PT. 1) went from #191 – #197, and Pt. 2 started at #199. For more information visit 1st BBB Outfits Pt. 2 – The 200s.
Version Information
My goal is to record every version of every outfit that was produced. Below is a record of the outfits in this series that I have recorded. To understand clothing codes, factories, and variations, please refer to What are Clothing Tag Codes? and Factories and Companies
If you have an outfit that is not recorded here, I would like to hear from you. Information is best sent in the form of pictures. For details, visit Taking Clothing Tag Pics.
Factory Variations
I cannot see any consistent factory variations. The SS factory may have used darker richer yarn colours, but that could also be the light when the pictures were taken in or a change in the batch of yarn being used. Collector Zoe Milburn noted that the WS yarn is somewhat itchier/scratchy than the SS and AF yarns (Messanger, Dec 2021). If you observe any others, please, let me know.
Similar Outfits
The 670s series is what I call a ‘mimic series’ as many of the 670s outfits look similar to those in the 190s series. It came out in 1987.
#201 and #674 look similar to #195 and #199. They are two-piece outfits with sweaters and footie pants. The hat and the pattern on the sweater are the most visible differences.
#203, #672, and #681 are similar to #193. They are all dresses.
#671 is similar to #192. There are no holes in the sleeves and booties of #671 and the necks are very different.
#673 is similar to #194. The chest area is the most obvious difference.
#676 is similar to #197. The collar style is the most obvious difference.
> HTF Info: White (F) is either the most difficult colour to find, or not all of them were produced. In general, outfit #199 is the most difficult to find.
> The ribbon in these outfits can be easily removed and replaced. Refer to the Babies summary post for additional information on cleaning and care.
> Fun fact: Prototype versions of these outfits can be found in the 1986 Coleco Catalogue, p. 86 & 87. None of these outfits were actually produced as we see here, although the yellow looks quite a bit like outfit #191.
