“Kids are not 'the future', we are here now. We are not going to change the world 'someday' we are already doing it.” – Allie Weber (age 12)

These powerful words from Allie Weber - aka Tech-Nic-Allie inspiration behind Robot Girl Lottie Doll - perfectly encapsulate our company vision which is that childhood should be celebrated, and children should have a voice - today.

Our New Innovation Will Involve: 

• An official commitment that all Lottie products going forward will be directly inspired by ideas sent to us, by kids.
• We will work with independent retailers to run exclusive monthly competitions and within 9 months of selecting a winner,  the product will be on the market. 
• Our next competition (launching in September) - a Lottie's Hidden Figures design competition. 

Check out all of the Inspired by Real Kids videos: 

Each of the 6 videos in our mini-series tells the story of the girl behind the Lottie, Finn & Friends Product!

Could YOU inspire the next Lottie product?! Read more about the innovation: 

Six real girls (including young inventor Tech-Nic-Allie) inspired diverse Lottie doll designs to date – and now, the Irish toy company is making an official commitment; children will permanently play a role in the inspiration of all Lottie products. Monthly competitions online and in-store will officially roll out September 2017 to empower kids to create what they want to see, be, and play with.

Lottie aims to empower kids to be themselves, one doll at a time – the ‘Inspired by Real Kids’ competition was sparked from the brand philosophy that children should be heard, today - we love their diverse, quirky and unique childhood centric ideas. Lottie celebrates childhood and inclusivity and will encourage young designers to use their imaginations to create the toy of the dreams, all of which will be made available on www.lottie.com as well as in your nearest toy store.

The Lottie ‘Inspired by Real Kids’ campaign began this Summer with a mini video series, directed by filmmaker Elena Rossini, and tells the stories of five girls who have directly inspired Lottie Dolls through their dreams and designs, to date – submitting their ideas to the company and watching them unfold in doll form.

The forthcoming competitions starting in September will include the search for Lottie’s Hidden Figure, where children design an inspiring person who they feel should be celebrated and an outfit will be created inspired by the winning design as well as outfits inspired by Malala, Amelia Earhart, and Frida Kahlo (see sneak peak of template, below) Each month new competitions will be launched on Lottie.com and in participating independent retail stores worldwide, to engage young designers. Within 9 months of selecting a winner, Lottie Dolls will have the product on the market.

Launching Sept '17

Filmmaker and Equality Activist, Elena Rossini on the ‘Inspired by Real Kids’ campaign;

“…A dream job, as it fully aligns with my values and mission, especially when it comes to girl empowerment and pushing back against unconscious bias. When you see a young girl walking by you, what do you really see? I see girls as real-life superheroes. Their superpowers? Curiosity, creativity, confidence, generosity, fearlessness, positivity and a big, bold vision. Never ever underestimate the power of girls.”

Lottie Dolls (Arklu) MD, Ian Harkin on the company’s vision and how important inspiration from children has become to the brand;

“Before we started our business we did 18 months of research with kids, parents and child development experts, we initially focused on body image and since then we’ve blown away by how perceptive, imaginative and assertive children are today - they are incredible! In 2013, we partnered with Allie after seeing her Maker Faire project to build a robot, together we developed Robot Girl and Busy Lizzie the Robot. We had our first design competition in May 2014 which we did in partnership with “Brave Girls Alliance” to improve representation of girls in superhero roles and it really caught the imagination of girls around the world. We asked the girls also to include what those superpowers might be and the written responses were really empowering.

These girls are amazing, we love their spirit and to reiterate Allie’s words on kids having the ability to change the world today ‘We are not going to change the world "someday" we are already doing it” we’ve now decided now - to go all out, and let kids influence all of our product development going forward.

 Photo Credit Elena Rossini

The girls include - 

Taylor (Jacksonville, Florida, age 14) Aspiring astronaut Taylor inspired Astro Adventure outfit set, and aims to be the first African American woman on Mars, and her passion for astronomy, along with her volunteerism and literacy efforts has seen Taylor; meet her idol physician and NASA astronaut, Dr Mae Jemison, attend the UN Women’s Summit in the White House and become one of the youngest children to ever attend Space Camp. Taylor recently raised $20,000 to send over a 1000 underprivileged youths to see the Hidden Figures film, and inspired similar campaigns in 72 cities raising over $120,000. 

Abigail’s (B.C, Canada, age six) Stargazer Lottie doll ended up spending #264 days on the International Space Station last year as part of Tim Peake’s mission, with tweets from the space station of the doll from ESA astronaut, Tim Peake to tweets of support from her hero Chris Hadfield, Abigail has become an incredible role model.

Allie (Sioux Falls, USA, age twelve) inspired Robot Girl Lottie doll following her own robot creation made completely from recyclable materials for a school science fair, and Tech-Nic Allie was recently shortlisted for the 2017 Discovery Education Young Scientist Challenge.

Cadence (Ridgefield, USA, age ten) inspired a fishing accessory based on her love of the outdoors, and fishing with her Dad along the river. Childhood adventures and simplicity are worth celebrating.

Lily (Ohio, USA, age eight) designed her dream superhero Lottie outfit as part of Lottie’s international competition, to demonstrate that girls can be superheroes too! “Lottie has the power to be anything, to do anything and to make the world a better place. She is unique and special in her own way!”

In lieu of any compensation to overall design winners, 10% of the net profits from products developed through the Lottie “Inspired by Real Kids” competitions will be donated to charity.

The company invites families to participate on www.lottie.com where they can enter their designs and become the next Lottie inspiration as well as in their local participating independent toy stores. 12 products will be launched per year, following the monthly themed ‘Inspired by Real Kids’ competitions. #inspiredbyrealkids - our company commitment to childhood empowerment! 

The Campaign has received a lot of support:

“These Real Girls Inspired Empowering STEM-themed Lottie Dolls” by Trilby Beresford https://t.co/7VceXnqOCV

— GeenaDavisInstitute (@GDIGM) August 14, 2017

Empowering kids to be themselves while pursuing a passion for space. @astrostarbright, you are extraordinary! #STEMeducation 🖖🏾👩🏾‍🚀🚀🌎 pic.twitter.com/bMQj7MhtRu

— OTHER (@i_am_OTHER) August 1, 2017

About Lottie

www.lottie.com // @lottie_dolls

Lottie Dolls start at RRP: €19.95 // £18.99 // $19.95

Lottie dolls, an Irish doll company who believe that childhood should be an inclusive place where every child belongs regardless of gender, ethnicity or ability and aim to reflect that in their collection. Developed alongside academics in child development, unlike other dolls, Lottie Finn and Friends are based on nine-year-old children, the dolls are therefore relatable to all the elements of childhood – Lottie’s motto is Be Bold, Be Brave, Be You!

Six of the Lottie products to date have been inspired by ideas from real children from around the world. When launching Lottie, the vision was to create a range of dolls that would empower children to be themselves, to be imaginative and adventurous and - most of all – to have fun!

Lottie Dolls are now on sale in over 30 countries and here, on www.lottie.com