It’s been a 65th anniversary celebrated in style for Dick Bruna’s iconic white bunny character, Miffy, whose fans have been ‘spoiled by an array of new products’ released throughout 2020.

A highlight of the milestone year – and not one to be forgotten anytime soon – has been the Miffy Design Challenge, in which brand owner Mercis invited design and fashion students from across the world to re-imagine the character by designing a new outfit for a 3D Miffy.

No fewer than 82 highly creative entries have been whittled down to 10 winners, each of which has been produced as an exclusive, limited-edition plush collection by Dutch licensee, Bon Ton Toys. Launched in the UK with a competition via the Miffy Shop. fans were given the chance to win one of the exclusive winning plush toys before it is launched to retailers across the world.

This summer saw the launch of a high-end collection of Miffy bags and purses from Strathberry, as well as a new range of craft kits from Stitch and Story that brought Miffy and friends, including Poppy Pig and Boris Bear brought to market. Licensed to Charm launched a range of silver and gold Miffy-inspired jewellery for the teen and adult market, while still to come is a new Miffy Christmas charm from the gift partner Magpie, and bamboo plates will follow recent tinware lines.

In publishing, Dick Bruna became the star of the latest edition of Thames & Hudson’s series The Illustrators which celebrates our greatest illustrators and acts as an introduction to the art and techniques of Bruna including his creation of Miffy. A new treasury of four Miffy classic stories was also published by Simon & Schuster in October. 

Translating well into fashion across the ages, Tobias and the Bear launched a new baby and toddler collection with a new distinctive and stylish unisex handwriting. A partnership with Next in girlswear has been rewarded with a Licensing Awards nomination, while another success story for this year was the Miffy NHS Heroes T-Shirts initiative.

Alicia Davenport, licensing director at DRi Licensing, said: “In spite of this year’s many challenges we were happy to be able to celebrate Miffy’s milestone birthday with so many genuinely beautiful and innovative new collections. And as we come to the end of this celebratory year, it has been a wonderful pinnacle for Miffy to be selected as a Finalist in the prestigious Licensing Awards, Classic Licensed Property category.”