Barbie
In 1959, Ruth Handler designed the first Barbie doll, kicking off the legendary Barbie brand. Even after six decades, collectors continue to flock to these dolls. According to Mattel, the company that manufactures them, 58 million dolls are sold each year. Thus, it is selling over a hundred dolls per minute. Mattel generates around $1.5 billion in annual net revenue. As many people assume, the United States never made Barbies. In Japan, the first one emerged in 1959, during the country’s post-World War II reconstruction. The world’s four remaining plants are presently located in China, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
Barbie
Huffy
The fact that the bicycle supply company has been in operation for over a century is quite remarkable. Although it is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, it currently operates a number of regional offices throughout the country. Among the companies on the list are Gen-X Sports, Royce Union, Huffy Bicycle Co., and American Sports Design Co. George Huffman founded the corporation, which he named after his boyhood nickname. It closed two of its American operations and outsourced the remainder of the production a few years later, in late 1999. One is in Taiwan, and the remaining five are in China. They’ve been in Celina, OH since then to meet with their American colleagues.
Huffy
