July 27, 1998 

Boca Raton, Florida -- Planet Plush, a division of Royal Boca Publishing, Inc. is pleased to announce that they have entered into an agreement with Sally Winey to design their initial series of pellet-filled, Beanie-size, plush bears. 

The first bear in the series will be called "Windy", the Chicago bear. Windy will be introduced the first week in August at the National Sports Collectors Convention being held in Chicago from August 6 - 9th in the Beanie Pavillion.  

Sally Winey started making teddy bears over 15 years ago. Her creations came to the attention of Ty Warner who purchased two bear designs from Sally's existing line and duplicated them for the specialty market. Based on Sally Winey's original bear patterns, Ty created new designs which include rabbits, cats, monkeys, pandas and dogs. The result was some of the most collectible and cuddly creations ever hugged. Sally is known internationally as one of the top bear artists in the world. She designed the Annette Funicello bears and designs stuffed animals for a number of manufacturing companies including Heaven Sent and Sweet Memories. 

Each bear designed by Ms. Winey will have a limited production run of 36,000 bears. The limited numbers produced will insure the collectibility of each bear in the series. The bears will be individually numbered and authenticated using a counterfeit-proof hang-tag. 

"We are extremely excited about working with Sally Winey", said Carley Knobloch, Creative Director, "we know the impact that she has had on the plush collectible market in the past and feel confident that her success will follow her to Planet Plush". "We have been overwhelmed by the response to date from all oaver the world and are highly confident that Beanie collectors will be excited about the release of our first bear". 

Other bears in the series include: "Apple" the New York bear, "Rocky" the Colorado bear, "Elton" the British bear, "Artic" the Alaskan bear, "Mountie" the Canadian bear, "Lucky" the Las Vegas bear, "Noel" the Christmas Bear, "Sunshine" the Florida Bear, "Otto" the Detroit Bear, and "Peach" the Georgia Bear. 

Planet Plush Press Release From www.beaniemom.com