Irwin Toy Limited was a Canadian distributor and manufacturer of

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and p ...

s. It was Canada's oldest toy company and remained independent and family owned until 2001.

History

The company began in 1926 as an importer and distributor of dry goods and clothing, located in Sam and Beatrice Irwin's house. Later on, the company moved to a warehouse in the west end of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and focused mainly on toys. Sam and Beatrice's sons, Arnold and Mac Irwin, took over management of the company in the years to follow. Most of Irwin's profits came from distributing other (usually American) companies' toys. Almost all of the more popular toys available in Canada until the early 1990s were distributed by Irwin. Major American companies wished to sell their toys in Canada, but did not open Canadian branches because of the lower population and

tariff A tariff or import tax is a duty (tax), duty imposed by a national Government, government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods ...

s which would generate less income for them. Irwin's success came mainly due to their licensing and contract manufacturing of American companies Kenner and Parker, where Irwin was the Canadian importer and distributor of their products. The business found success with the help of the

Hula Hoop A hula hoop is a toy hoop (rhythmic gymnastics), hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck. It can also be wheeled along the ground like a wheel with careful execution and practice. They have been used by children and adults since ...

, Slinky, Frisbee, and later on in the century with the popular ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' action figures,

Care Bears Care Bears are multi-colored bears, painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. They were turned into plush teddy bears and featured in ''The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings'' (1983) and ...

and the

Easy-Bake Oven The Easy-Bake Oven is a working toy oven introduced in 1963 and manufactured by Kenner and later by Hasbro. The original toy used a pair of ordinary incandescent light bulbs as a heat source; current versions use a true heating element. Kenner ...

. In the early 1980s, the Atari Video Computer System was a success, and Irwin was the Canadian distributor. Irwin would also acquire the rights to the

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

video game brand in Canada later on. The video game sales helped fuel revenues of $100 million and growth for the company. The company also had a junior shareholders program to have children become interested in the toy company and introduce them to the stock market. The company had 350 employees at their downtown Toronto factory. From 1972 to 1987, Ed Hurst, Jerry Inch and Bob Blakely, in charge of Irwin's Frisbee promotions, were instrumental in the introduction of disc sports (Frisbee) across Canada. With the use of performing Frisbee athletes Ken Westerfield and Jim Kenner, Irwin partnered with several major companies such as Lee Jeans,

Orange Crush Crush is a brand of carbonated soft drinks owned and marketed internationally by Keurig Dr Pepper, originally created as an orange soda, Orange Crush. It was created in 1911, 30 years before Coca-Cola's Fanta, by beverage and extract chemist ...

, and

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada, by size and passengers carried. Air Canada is headquartered in the borough of Saint-Laurent in the city of Montreal. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and cha ...

. Together they sponsored Frisbee show tours and the beginning of organized disc sports programs in Canada. Two successful nationally sponsored tournaments were the Canadian Jr Frisbee Championships and the Canadian Open Frisbee Championships (1972-1985). During the 1980s and 1990s, major American companies such as

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

, and Kenner, acquired many of the companies which Irwin did business with. In the 1980s, with the introduction of the

Free Trade Agreement A free trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating state (polity), states. There are two types of trade agreements: Bilateralism, bilateral and Multilateralism, m ...

and later, the

North American Free Trade Agreement The North American Free Trade Agreement (, TLCAN; , ALÉNA), referred to colloquially in the Anglosphere as NAFTA, ( ) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The ...

, it became less expensive for American companies to form their own Canadian branches, and Irwin lost many business deals as major toy companies began to distribute toys themselves. In 1989, Irwin Toy challenged the constitutionality of a Quebec law prohibiting advertising directed toward children. The Irwin Toy Ltd. v. Quebec (Attorney General) case reached the Supreme Court resulting in a landmark ruling regarding the interpretation of freedom of expression provision in the

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part of the '' Constitution Act, 1982''. The ''Char ...

. As Irwin Toy faced financial and business difficulties, the company was sold to a private investment group, LivGroup Ltd. of Toronto in 2001 for approximately $55 million. Eighteen months after the buyout, Irwin Toy, now owned by Richard Ivey and Jean Marie Halde of Toronto, declared bankruptcy and entered into creditor supported

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

. The original factory was sold to developers for $10 million and converted into a condominium called Toy Factory Lofts. Following liquidation, the company officially closed down, then in 2003 was re-purchased by the former employees, George and Peter Irwin.

Brands and toys distributed

* 1 vs. 100 * A-Team * American Gladiators * Atari *

Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered ...

* Barcode Battler * Dowell-Brown Power Fighters * '' Dino-Riders'' * ''

Dragon Ball Z ''Dragon Ball Z'' (''DBZ'') is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 ''Dragon Ball'' television series and adapts the latter 325 chapters ...

'' *

* Etch A Sketch * ''

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera Productions, which takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbors, the R ...

'' * Frisbee * Gogo's Crazy Bones * Ideal * Ipix *

Jenga ''Jenga'' is a Game of skill, game of physical skill created by British board game designer and author Leslie Scott (game designer), Leslie Scott and marketed by Hasbro. The name comes from the Swahili language, Swahili word "" which means 'to bu ...

* Kenner (prior to Hasbro's purchase) * Kids Can Press * Lil' Sport * Magic Dip *

Meccano Meccano is a brand of construction set created in 1898 by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, England. The system consists of reusable metal strips, plates, angle girders, wheels, axles and gears, and plastic parts that are connected using nuts and ...

* My One and Only * Mighty Max * ''

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ''Mighty Power Rangers'' (''MMPR'') is an American superhero television series that premiered on August 28, 1993, on the Fox Kids programming block. It is the first entry of the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, and became a 1990s popular culture, ...

'' * '' Oopsie Daisy'' * Pound Puppies * Power Wheels * Predasaurs * Pressman * ''

ReBoot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

'' * ''

Robotech ''Robotech'' is an American-Japanese science fiction Media franchise, franchise that began with an 85-episode anime television series produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production; it was first released in the United St ...

'' * ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 60 individual chapters (later reorganized into ...

'' *

* ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' *

Snoopy Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. He also appears in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of ...

* Slinky * '' Spawn'' * Square-1 * Tyco (prior to Mattel's purchase) * Wham-O * Wheel of Fortune * '' Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' * Wrebbit * Zaks

Toys and games manufactured

* 3D Snakes & Ladders * ''

'' action figures & items * Fib Finder * Frisbee manufactured in Canada under a Wham-O license * Girder and Panel building sets * Globetrotters * I See It! * iPix * i-Top * Interior Decorator Set (with Marvin Glass and Associates) in 1964 * Irwin Toy Pedal Motorcycle in 1960s * Lazer Doodle * Lil Makin Faces * IToys LCD Handheld & Deluxe Games * ME2 * My One and Only Guy dolls, like "Cliff the Aviator" * Oozers * Paint-Sation * Powerplay Hockey * ''

'' action figures * ''

'' adventure dolls & other Sailor Moon items * Skwooshi * SpectraColor * Street Stackers * Suzie Stretch dolls * The G.U.R.L.Z. * Thunderbirds * Top Corner Hockey * Trouble (usually under the name "Frustration") * '' Deal or No Deal'' (U.S. version only)

References

Sources

* {{cite web, url=http://www.kidscreen.com/articles/magazine/20010701/30952.html , title=Irwin Toy at 75 , date=1 July 2001 , first=Simon , last=Ashdown , publisher= Kidscreen , accessdate=9 December 2013 * https://web.archive.org/web/20090609232917/http://www.koskieminsky.com/client_links/IrwinToy/home.aspx
Toronto Star article

ProfitGuide.com
Game manufacturers Toy companies of Canada Toy companies established in 1926 Retail companies established in 1926 1926 establishments in Ontario