The Next Big Leavers Trend: Custom Plushies
The Next Big Leavers Trend: Custom Plushies
Leavers hoodies are a popular tradition in the UK for students finishing their final year of primary or secondary school. These hoodies are worn as a keepsake to commemorate their time at school and are often seen during end-of-year celebrations or trips. A typical leavers hoodie features the graduation year printed on the back, often with the names of all the students incorporated into the numbers. The school logo usually appears on the front, and students can personalise their hoodies with their name or nickname on the sleeve or chest.
But Leavers hoodies aren't the only way that people are commemorating their final years at school. Personalised graduation gifts are on the rise and we might've just found the next big Leavers trend.
Giving a personalised teddy bear as a graduation gift is a thoughtful and meaningful gesture that combines sentimentality with celebration. It’s a comforting keepsake that adds a personal touch, especially when customised with the graduate’s name, graduation year, or even their school colours and a mini cap and gown. This is where Mumbles come in.
Mumbles
If you don't already know who Mumbles are, then please, let us educate you. Mumbles are a trade company that manufactures plushie teddy bears with blank areas ready for decoration. Made from the finest quality materials, Mumbles plushies are stringently tested, ensuring that they comply to certifications such as EN71 European Toy Safety Standards, making them perfect gifts for children and teens of all ages.
Mumbles manufacture the perfect Leavers gift in the form of their MM036 Graduation bear with a detatchable cape, that can be customised for gifting purposes!
So we thought we'd give it a go!
It is possible to use heat transfers for this sort of gift. Stahls' UK offers UltraColour MAX heat transfers with a minimum order of just one, making it easy to create custom designs without needing to commit to bulk quantities. However, since this teddy bear was meant to be a special gift with a bit of extra “wow” factor, we chose to use a speciality heat transfer vinyl (HTV) instead.
We opted for Stahls' CAD-CUT Glitter HTV, which comes in 57 vibrant colours, making it easy to match a recipient’s favourite colour or a school’s uniform. Glitter HTV is also very user-friendly, it’s easy to cut and weed, making it a great option for heat printers of all sizes. Whether you’re a large operation or just starting out, this approach works beautifully across the full Mumbles plush toy range, making personalised gifting a fun and profitable opportunity for your business.
Stahls' CAD-CUT Glitter HTV is available in 57 different colourways which means that you're more than likely to find a shade that matches your recipients favourite colour, or a schools uniform colour. Glitter HTV is extremely simple to cut and weed, making this kind of product offering very accessible for every kind of heat printer. Whether you're big or small, this concept can be applied to the full range of Mumbles plushies making custom gifting a great way to bring revenue in for your business.
Once you’ve prepared your chosen heat-applied material, remove the graduation bear from its packaging and get ready to press.
Upon inspecting the bear’s gown, it was clear that the fabric was likely heat-sensitive. While there’s no care label inside, the texture and appearance of the material suggested that caution would be needed to avoid scorching. To help manage this, I used a Grip Flex Pad, which provided a layer of protection against the 150°C required for applying glitter HTV.
Next, I needed a way to isolate the back of the gown from the sleeves and collar to ensure a clean and accurate press. Ideally, I would have used the Hotronix 10x10cm platen, which is perfect for small, detailed applications like this, but since it was already in use, I opted for a Print Perfect Pad instead. Its firm structure helped raise the print area away from seams and awkward angles, giving me better control during application.
From there, all that’s left is to follow the application instructions for your chosen material, and you're all set!
And there you have it, a custom premium gift that you can pitch to any of the 32,149 schools in the UK!