Dear Collectors,
Over the years you have lived through many changes with me, which
generally tended to have a very positive outcome. This time I
unfortunately only have very sad news for you.
In 1986 I introduced my very first vinyl
collection. Now – 23 years later – I will close my manufactory
towards the end of the year 2008.
There have been tremendously
successful years, but there were also very tough ones. Either way,
one thing was always of utmost importance to me: the joy and the
ambition to always create increasingly better dolls.
Through the years I’ve gone
through a lot of changes, partly deliberate, partly because I had
to. The world of dolls is constantly changing, for which I’m in
part responsible. To get better, to work more elaborately and to
achieve higher quality standards, has made collectors and
retailers alike more and more demanding as a result. The dolls
became more and more expensive in the making, due to the material
and wig costs on the one hand and the need to employ more and more
members of staff on the other. In the last few years I employed
between 50 and 80 members of full time staff.
In addition people’s
financial situation has got more difficult in the last two years.
Economic problems the world over, rising energy costs, and more
recently the credit crunch, the crashing property market and many
other factors have contributed towards people becoming less
inclined to spend their money as easily as they could in the years
before. Times got harder and the unfavourable US$ exchange has not
helped the situation.
For the five years between 2003
and 2007 we have unfortunately experienced very big losses as a
result of this. Because we have compensated for the bad exchange
rate by charging a much lower rate to our American collectors. But
because the dollar got weaker and weaker, in 2007 the losses were
so enormous that we simply couldn’t sustain them anymore. We had
to increase the doll retail price in the US this year to get
closer to the real exchange rate. For our American collectors this
meant of course a lot of money. But we just couldn’t keep
calculating our dollar prices based on an exchange rate of $1.15,
where in fact it was closer to $1.60 to the Euro.
The simple truth is that to
sustain a company like mine that produces high quality dolls in
Germany a set amount have to be sold each year. Unfortunately the
orders we’re getting aren’t enough any more.
As a result I have no choice
but to close my manufactory by the end of 2008. We will fulfil all
orders of the Sommer Kinder, the Club Minis as well as all orders
that will get to us by mid November.
I think that the last
collections will become as popular as my first collection in 1986
was at the time. I am sure that they will increase in value.
I have spent nearly a quarter
of a century in my manufactory and worked there with passion, much
discipline and a lot of idealism.
I have enjoyed working with my
team, whom I would like to thank once more for their hard work and
commitment. Some of them have been with me since the very
beginning.
I thank my collectors and
retailers for their faithfulness over the years.
I have experienced many highs
as well as a few lows during this time but the pleasure I have
been able to bring to collectors worldwide has always been the
central driving force for me.
I hope that Himstedt collectors
will continue to cherish all the different dolls that were created
and lovingly crafted from the manufactory here in Paderborn.
I am sure that I’ll remain in
the world of dolls in some shape or form, but how exactly this
will be I don’t know yet. One thing is certain though: it
won’t be with a manufactory.
I wish you all the best.
Take care,
Annette Himstedt
