Roger Schlaifer Coca-Cola, Rushton Toys and IBM. In 1978 Schlaifer branded an early jogging-shoe roller-skate as Hot Rollers and licensed the Hot Roller brand for kids’ apparel, skates and fashion accessories which sold at stores such as Bloomingdales, Belk’s and Mervyn’s. Building on the success of his licensing Hot Rollers, in 1981 Schlaifer proposed an exclusive, worldwide licensing agreement with Xavier Roberts’ company, Original Appalachian Artworks, for the rights to "Little People" soft sculpture dolls and Babyland General Hospital. Schlaifer rebranded the "Little People" dolls as Cabbage Patch Kids. In addition to signing up Coleco Industries on August 9, 1982, as its
R. John Wright Dolls The technique and style of the R. John Wright dolls underwent significant changes throughout 1977-78. The early felt dolls of the Steiff Company were a strong inspiration. The Wrights were also inspired by the early molded cloth dolls of Kathe Kruse and the felt Lenci dolls. In 1978, through trial and error, the Wrights were able to reinvent the art of molded felt dolls using their own techniques. In 1978, R. John Wright joined the United Federation of Doll Clubs (UFDC) and was elected to the National Institute of American Doll Artists (NIADA) where he served as the Standards Chairman