PTP: Packaged Outfits: Questions and (Some) Answers

Many outfits were sold packaged separately, some that came on the dolls and some that didn’t. When were they produced and what outfits were they?

Packaged Outfit: an outfit that was sold separately in its own box, without a doll.

Early Coleco Packaged Outfits

Coleco marketed four different packaged clothing lines.

Line 1

The first was produced in 1983 and was never sold on the kids. It was called the Casual Wear Line and included at least eight outfits.

Packaged Engineers Overalls from the CPK Casual Wear Line
Packaged Red Teddy Bear suit from the CPK Casual Wear Line
Packaged Safari Suit from the CPK Casual Wear Line
Packaged Painters Smock from the CPK Casual Wear Line
Photos courtesy of Kat Perhouse.

Line 2

The second line was small, with only three outfits, and was produced in 1984. I call it the 1984 Knit Series. It was produced by the EX factory.

Yellow and white knit outfit with sweater, pants and hat.
Packaged knit outfit with purple knit shortalls with suspenders and a matching white sweater with purple accents.
Mint green and white sweater with matching leg warmers.

Line 3

The third came out in late 1983 I think, or early 1984. The contents are all 1983 series outfits. Although outfits from many factories were packaged, the CC factory only produced clothing for packaged outfits. If iti’s a CC outfit, it didn’t come on a doll.

Collage of pictures showing packaged outfits including a blue ducky dress, red elephant romper and yellow trimmed kitty track suit.

Line 4

The fourth ‘line’ consists of the specialty outfits that were produced in 1985 and later. Some of these outfits were intended only for sale as packaged outfits but were sold on dolls eventually. Eg. Sports outfits. Others were only packaged when Coleco found itself with an overabundance of outfits. Eg. Twin outfits, World Traveller Outfits. Although these outfits were not officially promoted as a ‘line’, they all came out around the same time.

Pair of dark green velveteen twin dresses with tams on a board packaging.
Twins (Courtesy of Holly Jean)
Spanish World Traveler girls dress on a board package.
World Travelers
Orange and purple Hockey Uniform with stick and shoes in a proper original package.
Sports Collection
Orange clown outfit on packaged bord.
Circus Kids Outfit
All-Starts Baseball uniform, Mets and Dodgers, on package boards.
All-Stars Baseball uniforms

Transitional Coleco Outfits

In 1989/90 Coleco started producing a number of outfits that were only sold in packages. These make them hard to find as they were not sold for long and were only available separately from the kids.

The Outfits line included outfits in the following code series: 120s, 130s, 400s (that I am aware of to this point) and transitional Hasbro outfits. Some of these outfits were also produced by Hasbro and do not have recognizable tag codes.

A packaged peach bunting bag with ruffle accents, two flower patches and a hood.
A packaged jean skirt with suspenders over a shirt that has a red trunk and purple sleeves. The transfer on the front is neon green.
A packaged blue, pink and white floral dress with silky blue ribbon and socks.
A packaged dress with a blue background and red flowers. It has three buttons across the waist, a red one flanked by a yellow on either side.

The COLECO Deluxe Outfits line includes outfits in the 140s series along with other new pieces.

Packaged jacket of red, white and black plaid with red accents.
Packaged pair of purple, pink and white cameo patterned overalls with a white shirt with purple trim.
Packaged outfit consisting of a blue, pink and yellow jacket, a whit shirt and light blue pants.
Photos 1 & 3 are courtesy of Jodi (Punki Patch).

However, there was a concurrent HASBRO line.

Transitional Hasbro Outfits 

Hasbro must have found themselves with an overabundance of Designer Line (DL) outfits, as the Deluxe Outfits that they packaged (on virtually the same packaging as Coleco) consisted of entirely DL outfits. Currently, I have evidence for the use of the 170s and 180s series of DL outfits, not the 150s series.

Outfit 180A packaged. It includes the jacket, overalls and shirt.
Outfit 179 packaged. It includes the jacket, sweater, and skirt.
Outfit 183B packaged. It includes the jacket, sweater, and skit.
Middle photo courtesy of Holly Jean.

Hasbro then produced three packaged outfit lines independent of Coleco. This most likely occurred from 1989 to 1990+. As they are not numbered in the ‘traditional sense  I cannot slot them into the clothing record I am creating. However, they are interesting, nonetheless. They are:

Packaged Deluxe Fashion yellow ducky raincoat
Packaged Deluxe Fashion red and white western themed dress that includes the dress, shirt and bandanna.
Pink bunting bag with yellow and blue accents. Packaged Deluxe Fashion
Old school patterned button up sweater in red, black and blue with yellow trim. Packaged Deluxe Fashion
Deluxe Fashions – Not to be confused with the Deluxe Outfits.
Packaged "Fashion" of a pink dress with blue sleeves and a matching blue bow.
Packaged "Fashion" of a pink sleeveless dress with a matching pink silk bow.
Packaged "Fashion" of a white shirt with red and white striped sleeves and hem. Also has white cotton slippers.
Fashions – Hasbro; Photos courtesy of Nichole Sorensen Barnes.
Packaged Fashion Separates on a board. It's a pink shirt with heat transfer patch.
Packaged Fashion Separates on a board. It's a steel blue dress with little colourful pockets.
Packaged Fashion Separates on a board. It's a pair of steel blue pants with red trim and 4 red buttons.
Packaged Fashion Separates on a board. Pair of sweat pants with a red leg and a blue and yellow leg. Black trim.
Fashion Separates – Hasbro; Last two photos courtesy of Nichole Sorensen Barnes.

Splash and See Surprise Pouches.

During the transitional years, Hasbro also produced a type of packaged outfit which included a ‘gimmick’. As many of the outfits used were already in production, it may be that they were trying to get rid of extra stock. This is not clear.

The Splash and See Surprise packages contain an outfit and a small pouch with a surprise in it. When you wet the pouch it would melt away and your surprise was revealed. During a 2020 Facebook group discussion, it was noted that these pouches were included with kids as well. (Ref. FB discussion, Jodi (Punki Patch), Feb. 7, 2020) The surprise items included sunglasses, hair barrettes, hair combs, or outfit pieces. Some of the clothing came from the 150s clothing line produced by Coleco in 1989 and some only have Hasbro tags.

Surprise pouch and contents of a dark pink comb and silver hair bow.
Surprise pouch and contents of a pair of sunglasses.
Lemon blonde popcorn kid in a Transitional outfit in a later box with the Splash'n See Surprise sticker on the front.
Splashn' See Surprise packaged outfit on the board. The outfit is purple with yellow trim.
The first three photos are courtesy of Jodi (Punki Patch).

Foreign Packaged Outfits

Some of the foreign factories produced packaged outfits as well.

Italian Jesmar packaged outfit; striped jogging suit.
Jesmar
Packaged Tsukuda Kimono outfit.
Tsukuda
First photo courtesy of Holly Jean

If you have any packaged outfits that you can ‘unpackage’ safely, or that have already been ‘unpackaged’, I would love to get pictures of the outfit and its tags! I have many information holes that need filling.

One thought on “PTP: Packaged Outfits: Questions and (Some) Answers”

  1. Pingback: Shoes: An overview and reference links – Hilary's Cabbage Patch Clothes Closet

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