Margarete Steiff

Margarete Steiff, born on July twenty-fourth, eighteen forty-seven, in Giengen, Kingdom of Württemberg, was a remarkable German seamstress and entrepreneur. Despite contracting polio in her childhood, which left her with both legs paralyzed and pain in her right arm, she persevered and trained as a seamstress. Her determination led her to raise enough money to purchase a sewing machine by teaching others to play the zither.

In eighteen seventy-seven, Margarete opened her own store, where she initially focused on making clothes. It was during this time that she discovered a sewing pattern for a toy elephant, along with patterns for mice and rabbits. Using felt and lambswool, she crafted these toys as gifts for friends, which soon evolved into a small business as she began to sell them.

The popularity of her toys grew, prompting an increase in production and variety. In nineteen hundred and two, her company began creating a toy bear with moveable joints, inspired by a design from her nephew, Richard Steiff. This innovative creation gained immense popularity in the United States, where it was affectionately nicknamed after then-President Theodore Roosevelt, marking the birth of the first 'teddy bear.'