30 Mar 2010 No Comments
Sophie the Giraffe
I discovered Sophie the giraffe by Vulli while browsing baby stuff online. Sophie is made in France with natural rubber and food grade paint. For $24, it’s bit pricey for a teether, but well worth every penny knowing that my son will not be subject to potentially dangerous teethers from China.
When I ordered this toy, I had no idea the background behind it. Reading how and when it was developed and how long it has been in production, I was pleasantly surpised!
Once Upon a time, a simple story….
The Little giraffe was born on the 25th of May in the year 1961… St Sophie’s day! In those days, the only animal toys available were farm animal or pet figures. That is why one day in France, a certain Monsieur RAMPEAU, who was an expert in transforming sap from the HEVEA tree using the rotational molding of rubber as a toy-making concept, came up with the idea of designing a giraffe.
Such an exotic wildlife figure would be a first on the market, and its size and shape would be ideal for a baby’s small hands to grasp. Sophie the Giraffe, who looked exactly the same then as she does today, went into production on a Thursday, May 25th, whence her name. She was an immediate success.
Young mothers straightaway saw that she was a must for their children when the first signs of teething appear, Sophie the Giraffe helps baby stop crying! By simple word of mouth, the little Giraffe’s fame spread. From then on in Europe, generation upon generation of children were to love hearing Sophie squeak whenever they pressed her tummy and head!Vulli, a company based in Rumilly in the Haute-Savoie Region of France has continued to keep the jealously-guarded secret of how this wonder toy is made. SOPHIE is still “traditionally” produced to this day, a process that involves more than 14 manual operations. She is made from 100% natural rubber derived from the sap of the Hevea Tree.
I don’t know what we would do without Sophie the Giraffe. We got it before Jordan was born but didn’t start using it until he was 3 months old. Though it was a little big for him then, he would try to get it in his mouth and just couldn’t but boy did he try! When he got the coordination to get it to his mouth, he absolutely loves it. We take Sophie everywhere and she’s even been to Canada!