of plastic waste produced globally each year, businesses are all too aware of their responsibility in minimising waste and recycling materials where possible. Andrew Hendy, CEO of Headstart, said the toy category has long-struggled to produce sustainable alternatives, instead focusing on packaging, and sees this as a major step forward.  “Traditionally, it has been really hard to make toy products in a sustainable way. We’ve broken the mould in the plush category,” Hendy told Inside Retail.  Headstart is a global toy business, designing and producing toys that are sold all over the world, with 70 employees across Melbourne, Hong Kong, China and Los Angeles. Founded in 2007, it’s the largest Australian-owned toy company based on retail sales in Australia, according to NPD data. It’s owned by David and Andrew Hendy. David has worked in the toy business for over 40 years and previously built up two successful toy companies: First Kidz Biz, which was sold to Solomon Lew and Funtastic and became the largest toy company in Australia and the first to float on the ASX. From bottles to bears To produce Resoftables, Headstart works with a large recycling plant in China that collects all PET bottles from household waste, breaks them down into flakes and then into plastic pellets, which are milled to make a new polyester.  “Once we’ve broken the PET bottle down to that raw material, we can build a new product,” Hendy said.  Each product in the Resoftables range is GRS-certified (Global Recycled Standard). The company expects to repurpose more than six million plastic bottles by the end of 2021. Today, products from the range are available in major retailers across Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Israel, Sweden, the UK, the UAE and beyond. Headstart is also expanding its eco-friendly offering to include a range of outdoor toys called Replayables and blocks called Rebuildables, made from the plastic bottle caps which can be moulded into hard plastic toys.  “We’ve just launched a frisbee and preschool-sized building blocks. Next year, we’ll bring out the first miniature collectible toys made from 100% recycled bottle caps [with Warner Bros],” Hendy said.  Cost of toys to rise Beyond Resoftables, Headstart creates everything from ride-ons to inflatable products and sporting goods. A team of 50 creatives in Australia are responsible for about 75 per cent of the product design globally, with teams dedicated to different categories from dolls and action figures, to collectibles and plush toys.  Hendy said it’s a fun and creative place to work.  “We’re all big kids really,” he said.  “The designers really get to know the category and become experts in that area, just constantly thinking creatively and pushing the boundaries.” Hendy says, however, that the industry is challenged by rising costs of shipping and raw materials.  “We’ve seen raw material prices come up 5 per cent, shipping costs have gone up 1000 per cent, you put those two things together and it adds a lot of pressure. Depending on inflation, I think toys will cost more.” Digital and physical play Headstart works with major licensing partners such as Disney, Warner Bros, Universal, and more recently with a company called Pocket Watch, which manages the biggest stars on Youtube.  “We develop products based on famous YouTubers like Ryan’s World – that kid is earning like $30 million a year – and Love Diana, she has about [5.92] million subscribers on her Youtube channel,” Hendy said.  Headstart is also collaborating with sister company Cactus Production Studios, which is in the mobile gaming space, to bridge the gap between digital and physical play for kids.  “There will be lots of innovation in the digital space. We’ve got a whole lot of concepts with new brands that have a digital play on the iPad and also have a physical play through toys,” he said.  “We have the same target demographic, so we’re trying to break down a few of those barriers and leverage the strength of the game to get kids to collect more toys.”