Fans can't get enough of the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot souvenirs. See how the popular collectibles are made.
The Winter Olympics are coming to a close, but millions of fans won't soon forget this year's Games.
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- Souvenirs of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics mascots keep flying off shelves.
- The collectibles are reselling for nearly 20 times their retail price, and China boosted production to keep up with demand.
The Winter Olympics are coming to a close, but millions of fans won't soon forget this year's Games.
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While the athletes were the main draw, there was an unofficial event that drew plenty of attention of its own: the race to snag Olympics mascot souvenirs.
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The mascot for this year's Olympics is a panda clad in a shell of ice resembling a spacesuit.
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Its name is Bing Dwen Dwen. The IOC says "Bing" means ice in Mandarin and also symbolizes purity and strength, while "Dwen Dwen" means robust and lively and also represents children.
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For this year's Paralympics, the mascot is a Chinese lantern child.
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It's named Shuey Rhon Rhon. The IOC says "Shuey" shares the same pronunciation with the Chinese character for snow, the first "Rhon" means "to include, to tolerate," and the second means "to melt, to fuse" and "warm."
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Souvenirs of Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon have been in high demand.
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People have been camping out overnight to boost their chances of scoring the mascot merch, and souvenirs have even resold online for nearly 20 times their retail value.
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In response to the red-hot demand, China boosted production of the souvenirs.
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Here's a closer look at how the coveted collectibles are made, starting with the stuffed animals.
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The plush toys begin as several pieces of fabric.
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Workers sew the pieces together to form the stuffed animals' skin.
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They leave a hole where the skins will later be stuffed to take on the mascots' shape.
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Here are the workers who stuff the animals.
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Next, the hole is sealed, and the toys are now ready for their final touches.
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Workers inspect the toys ...
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... and remove dust or other unwanted materials that may have accumulated on the stuffed animals throughout the manufacturing process thus far.
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But the plush toys aren't finished yet; they still need their silicone shells.
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The shells are made using metal molds in the shape of the mascots.
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Silicone is put onto the molds before they enter a machine that applies pressure to get the material to conform to the molds' shape.
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The colorful halo around Bing Dwen Dwen's face is then applied onto the silicone shells with heat transfer printing, as is the Beijing 2022 logo.
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Now, workers put the plush toys into their finished silicone shells.
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The stuffed animals are then packed up to be moved to the next destination in the process.
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Now that assembly is complete, it's time to focus on packaging the stuffed animals.
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The next crew of workers is tasked with packaging the toys before they hit store shelves.
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The pandas are placed into blue boxes decorated with snowflakes and a picture of Bing Dwen Dwen; the boxes also have handles on top for easy carrying.
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Once they're packaged, the stuffed animals are ready to be shipped off to stores.
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Besides stuffed animals, other popular souvenirs at this year's Olympics include ceramic figures of the mascots.
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Workers fill molds of the mascots' shapes with clay.
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After some time, they remove the clay from the molds.
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The ceramics are then left to air-dry for a while.
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Here's how they look for the Bing Dwen Dwen figures.
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Then the clay firing process takes place, after which point workers start painting the figures.
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Once the figures are painted, it's time to put stickers on them.
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Workers apply stickers for Bing Dwen Dwen's rainbow halo, the Beijing 2022 logo, and other features.
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After that, the ceramics are finished.
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The ceramic figures are transported to stores, where plenty of eager customers await the merch of the beloved mascots.
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