Inside the Jellycat phenomenon
The soft-toy craze with growing numbers of collectors, fakes and thefts
There’s a new fish and chip shop in town where you can do anything but eat the food.
And a portion of fish and chips will set you back £70.
Salt and vinegar? That’s another £46 please.
But people are queuing up, contactless cards in hand, ready to tap their money away.
Welcome to the world of Jellycats.
The soft toys are sweeping the globe and capturing hearts with their fluffy exteriors and tiny embroidered smiles. Their top sellers include a bear dressed in an aubergine costume and a grumpy turtle called Timmy.
Emily Fay, 27, from Dublin, was first bought a Jellycat by her sister and now her collection has snowballed to around 200.
She said: “It’s the whole personification of things, you know you do it when you’re a kid, and you think they have thoughts and feelings and it’s just this impulse that I have, that I have to collect them.
“When I hear something is rare or retired I just need it.”
And it’s not just about buying a teddy off a shelf. Jellycat has introduced a range of interactive experiences unique to certain stores which see staff role play with customers.
The Jellycat Fish & Chips Experience started at Selfridges in London in July 2024. But from February 2025, Jellycat fans have been able to scoop up exclusive items from the fish and chip range in Selfridges in Birmingham, Manchester Trafford Centre and Manchester Exchange.
The full experience - where staff prepare your toys as if in a real fish and chip shop - is currently only available in London. There is an added cost for this and comes with gift wrapping, stickers and a pin badge.
Jellycats range from standard teddies like soft toy rabbits to the more curious items, such as a baked bean. And if you’re looking for a bridal gift then look no further than the veil-wearing boiled egg.
Abi McKeown, 21, from Liverpool, collects a range of toys including Sonny Angels and Sylvanian Families but her Jellycat collection started off with the purchase of a small sushi teddy.
She said: "I think I've got it off my mum, she used to collect Barbies and like the Sindy Dolls and you know everything like that.
"So she basically encourages me as well."
Toy collectors are not a new phenomenon. Vectis Auctions in Stockton on Tees in fact have a whole team which specialises in dolls and bears.
Their lots vary from Barbies to antique bears but most recently they have noticed an increase in Jellycat enquiries.
Kay Rankin, dolls and bears cataloguer for Vectis Auctions, said: “We’ve been quite surprised by the money.
“Even without the tags we were still getting £30 for just a small bunny rabbit and I think we made £70 for a goose and they were used.
“So it just shows for the retired ones, people will pay that bit extra and I think it’s because they’ve got the Jellycat name.”
Jellycats are not the top seller just yet at Vectis. They have recently had a tin plate Mickey Mouse go for £10,000, a Star Wars figure for £20,000 and an antique German character doll for a staggering £54,000.
So what does it take to become a dolls and bears cataloguer? Well it helps to be a collector yourself says Rankin. She collects Charlie Bears and Godzilla figurines - a trip to Japan is on the bucket list.
Olivia Burley who also works as a dolls and bears cataloguer for Vectis Auctions has a variety of collections including limited edition Disney dolls and Loungefly backpacks.
If heading to an auction, Burley recommended factoring into your budget how one of a kind the toy is, whether you’ll have the chance to buy it again and how much you really want the item.
The collectors
Jess Bailey, 22, from Ipswich, started collecting three years ago when she happened to see a butterfly Jellycat and asked her mum for it for her birthday. Since that first one it’s been non-stop for Jess and she now currently owns around 48 Jellycats.
Jess said: “I think it is the cuteness and how you can get so many different types of Jellycats.
“I also think with the normal stress of life when I come home from work and I see them on my display, it’s just for happiness really and a little hobby, just something to do.”
Jess made the journey down to London to pick up a fish at the fish and chip shop experience. But it isn’t just about buying the soft toy in a simple transaction. Customers role play with staff to ‘cook’ their fish and chips.
She said: “You have to pretend to put the salt and vinegar on, they’re just Jellycats and you shake them on, and you squeeze the lemon.”
And it’s not solely the UK with unique Jellycat experiences. There’s the Jellycat CAFÉ Shanghai, the Jellycat Patisserie Experience in Paris and the Jellycat Diner Experience in New York.
Exclusive items at the experiences are then often launched across the world after a period of time. Next on Jess’ list is the strawberry tart, previously a Paris experience exclusive.
“There’s definitely a lot of people who don’t agree with adults collecting teddies,” said Jess.
“But there are worse things in the world going and if it’s your money, do what you want with it.”
Emily Fay, 27, from Dublin has also faced criticism for her collection. “Someone said this is over-consumption and okay it might be but it’s my money and my philosophy is if you’re happy and as long as it’s not impacting anyone else then do what you want,” Emily said.
Jellycats can be grouped in various ways such as the Amuseables - a unique range of quirky objects like a raindrop wearing wellies. Whilst other Jellycats can be grouped more simply such as by animal type.
Emily is hoping to finish off her bird collection and recommends those wanting to start collecting should focus on one group of Jellycats at first.
She said: “I think, try to grow a collection so I grew my collection of fruit and veg first and then I moved on.
“I think it keeps you focused and you’re not buying everything that you see.”
The fakes
With the rise in popularity, collectors are seeing more fake Jellycats appearing online that can trick buyers into parting with a significant amount of cash on unofficial items.
The dolls and bears cataloguers at Vectis Auctions have to be quick at picking out the fakes. And this is where their collector experience comes into play.
Burley explained by having their own collections they can spot tell tale signs like bad quality.
Collector Emily said: “Unfortunately I did buy a fake. It was my fault because I didn’t pay enough attention to the actual ad where it said it was a Jellycat ‘style’.
“Someone really nice on TikTok helped me figure out it was a fake.”
She was also caught out by a fake website pretending to be a wholesaler in America. She said: “It looked very legitimate, the photos looked very good and I tried to find reviews.
“There were red flags but I just ignored them as they had rare and retired ones.”
Emily noticed the total for her items didn’t add up but put this down to there being an offer on. At first her bank declined the payment but later the sale had been approved.
“I realised I wasn’t going to get anything. The account name was fake but I’ve raised it with Paypal and Revolut and I’m hoping that they can help.”
To avoid fakes, Emily recommended always checking the tag on a Jellycat for a number code starting with Jelly.
Popular Jellycats or ones that have been discontinued often end up on secondhand websites with inflated prices. After the fluffy peach went viral last year Jess ended up spending £50 on one on Vinted as it was always out of stock online, which is over double the original £23 price tag.
“I don’t think it’s fair that people charge double, at the time I just thought I would never get it and they still haven’t really come back in stock.”
Jess was able to check the authenticity with the help of Facebook groups.
“You can tell if they’re fake by what the batch number is so I was posting my code on there, can anyone tell me if this is fake but that wasn’t fake in the end.”
The thefts
Selfridges has exclusive ranges but Jellycats can also be found in other shops across the UK. The popularity of these toys however, has led to shops becoming a target for theft.
Thieves ram raided The Gorge Bear Company in Cheddar, Somerset in the early hours of Sunday 30th March 2025.
Police have launched an investigation into the theft of around 320 Jellycats and Charlie Bears from the independent toy shop, with Jellycats making up the bulk of the items taken.
The Gorge Bear Company has posted a list of stolen toys with batch codes on their Facebook page and has asked the public to keep an eye out for people selling similar items at car boot fairs and on second hand sites including Vinted and eBay.
Owner Elaine Moodie said she was gutted, deflated and still in shock. She explained how they have been in The Gorge since 1999 and that other shops selling Jellycats in Bristol have also been targeted recently.
The thieves used a piece of timber as a battering ram causing up to £20,000 worth of damage to the shop according to Moodie.
The community has rallied around the shop after the theft. “The support has been overwhelming, we are gradually responding to all the messages of support,” said Moodie.
“The Facebook posts have been shared in excess of 700 times as the hunt for the scum continues.”
But it’s not just thefts stores are dealing with. Some independent shops have claimed their supplier contracts with Jellycats have been cancelled which stops them from stocking the toys.
Hares & Graces in Hull posted on their Facebook page that after a series of difficulties Jellycats had cancelled their contract, she wrote: “It now appears we’re not good enough for them.” Owner, Abigail Taylor, did not want to comment further.
Customers, however, expressed their opinions in the post comments with several stating they will no longer be collecting Jellycats.
Jellycat in numbers
But how much are fluffy fish and chips worth in the grand scheme of things? According to the toy company’s financial accounts - a lot.
Jellycat, who declined an interview request, published their profit after tax for the year ending 31st December 2023 at £59,804,876 compared to 2022 which was £9,054,728. A rise of more than £50m in a year.
Online searches have also shot up for Jellycat. With a growth of 208% over the past year with around 8.8 million searches a month according to Glimpse, an online consumer behaviour analyst site.
The Jellycat empire continued to expand with the openings of two new ‘Jellycat General Stores’ in Selfridges Birmingham and Manchester in 2025.
The Manchester store opened February 2025 and is housed on the top floor of Selfridges, Exchange Square. Take a look inside:
At least for now it seems Jellycat is surfing a wave of success and only time will tell if collectors will be able to make their own big profits at auctions in years to come.
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