Hasbro plans designer gear for toy dolls

Action Man and Sindy could soon be sold wearing branded clothing, such as Levi’s, Caterpillar and Joe Bloggs, if a fashion publicity stunt involving the dolls proves successful.

Over 300 leading brands are designing clothes for the dolls as part of the activities at the 40 Degrees casual wear fashion show being held at Olympia in August.

A spokeswoman for Hasbro, which owns Action Man and Sindy, says the project is being handled by the Explosive design agency and could lead to one or two brands being selected to team up with the dolls commercially.

She says such a link might be an appropriate project for the next millennium, for which Hasbro is already planning designs.

Action Man celebrated its 30th birthday last year and sales are still strong, but the 35-year-old troubled Sindy brand has been usurped by Barbie. Hasbro withdrew its 5.5m advertising support for Sindy earlier this year and several major retailers were rumoured to be delisting it (MW January 31).