Welcome to the adventures of Trent, Josie, and Francesca.
If you noticed
that Francesca isn’t quite like the others, then you’ve stumbled onto a subgenre
of the Cabbage Patch craze. The popularity of Kids overwhelmed Coleco’s ability
to keep up. That led Xavier Roberts’ company to search the globe for additional
production. Among several new locations selected was a doll-making company
called Jesmar in Spain that made Kids from 1984-85.
The idea was
that while Coleco's Chinese factories would continue to satisfy the North American market, Jesmar
would sate Europe’s demand. They tended to have foreign (non-American) sounding
names and their birth certificates matched the local languages. Here’s how the
Kids showed up across the Old Continent.
- France - Les Patoufs
(translates to The Kids)
- Germany - Kuschel Kinder
(means Cuddly Kids)
- Italy - I Bamboli del Campo Incantato (means Field
of Enchanted Dolls)
- Sweden - Kal Ungarna (translates to Cabbage Kids)
- Finland - Kaalitarhan Tenavat (means Cabbage
Nursery Peanuts)
- Denmark - Kålhoved børnene (translates to
Cabbage Children)
In most respects
the Kids from Spain are indistinguishable from those from Coleco, but there are
a few unique features. Jesmar Kids are a little taller, their eyes give off
what many have called a “wild-eyed expression,” and most have freckles. In contrast, only a small subset of the regular Coleco Kids had freckles.
(For a deeper dive on Jesmar Kids, here's your rabbit hole.)
By 1985, demand had slowed enough that Coleco closed the non-Chinese factories. However, Jesmar is still going strong today making other dolls as you can
see from their website (you may need to use the translate function on
your browser) and this short promotional video.
Jesmars are highly sought after in the CPK world because of their relative scarcity. That's why dear Francesca has arrived at our facility and is stirring up so much relationship strife.
