Blast from the past: Ted Rogers professor looks back on time with Barbie

With the much-anticipated arrival of the Barbie movie, the media glare is focused on the iconic Mattel toy, but one Ted Rogers School professor had a front row seat to an important chapter in Barbie’s story.

Janice Rudkowski, an assistant professor in the School of Retail Management, worked with Mattel Inc. from 2001-2006, first as a senior licensing manager for Barbie & Polly Pocket, and then as senior marketing manager for girls’ brands in Canada. 

It was in the latter role where she spearheaded and oversaw a Barbie design contest with Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Fashion that saw a limited edition Barbie designed by a Toronto Metropolitan student, and sold exclusively in Canada. 

In the early 2000s, the doll business was incredibly competitive. By 2004, toy manufacturer Mattel was concerned that sales were flagging and there were new entrants, like Bratz, in the doll category.

But, in 2004, the Barbie brand was celebrating its 45th anniversary and was ramping up some big initiatives to commemorate it. 

Rudkowski, who then managed both the regular doll business and the collector business, wanted to do something special that was unique to Canada to boost the collector business. She had graduated from the School of Fashion at Toronto Metropolitan University, (which was known as Ryerson at the time) and wanted to give back, to collaborate with her alma mater, she explained. 

Barbie is something of a fashion icon, who has worn Giorgio Armani, Christian Dior (external link) , Oscar de la Renta, Vera Wang and Carolina Herrera, Kate Spade and Christian Louboutin over the years. 

“I knew that there had to be something specific we could do for the collector business in particular that would get the Canadian Barbie collectors really excited,” Rudkowski said. “That's when I approached the School of Fashion and said, why don't we run a Barbie design contest?”

“What will Barbie wear in 2005?”

Rudkowski worked collaboratively with the Mattel Inc. global head office to get approval. It wasn’t easy to get a U.S.-based company to approve a Canadian exclusive, because they preferred a centralized approach to brand management, Rudkowski explained. 

“But, they were excited to collaborate with design students. That was really cool to them because they value education and they thought this is an innovative way of creating excitement around the Barbie collector business in the Canadian marketplace.”

Mattel Inc. offered financial awards for the first, second, and third place winners, and the winner would have their doll produced and sold in Canada. The contest was integrated into a design course as a project so that students would get course credit for the work. 

“The main challenge that we gave them is that we wanted to commemorate Barbie's 45th anniversary, but we wanted to launch a Canadian exclusive Barbie. We asked the students to describe what Barbie meant to them and to answer the question, ‘what would Barbie wear in 2005?’” 

While Barbie has at times been criticized, the design students were excited to participate in the contest. The students envisioned, illustrated and sewed their own prototype designs. 

“As fashion students, they were all influenced by Barbie," Rudkowski explained. "They all played with Barbies as kids. The dolls were an outlet to express their creativity. They all designed and sewed clothes for their Barbies. So, for these students, Barbie was a positive role model.”

At the end of the contest, Rudkowski received 30 Barbies with different designs. The fashion students included an illustration and a paragraph describing the inspiration for their design and why they thought that it would be the best Canadian exclusive.

A judging panel, including Rudkowski, reviewed all of the submissions against their criteria. There were so many exceptional designs, it was very hard to choose.

“But, the submission from Christy Marcus was so compelling because she wrote about her Inuit background and how it had so much meaning to her, at the same time, the important role that Barbie had in unleashing her creativity as a little girl,” Rudkowski said.

Marcus, then a second-year fashion student, created a doll that honoured her Inuk grandmother (external link) . 

“Christy was exceptionally excited to be selected. And, she was consulted when the Barbie was being designed. The Inuit Legend doll that was launched was very close to that original prototype that Christy designed. Christy was even featured on the box, including her photo, a brief bio and the illustration she submitted as part of the design contest,” Rudkowski said. 

The Canadian exclusive “Inuit Legend” Barbie doll appeared on store shelves nation-wide in the fall of 2005. 

Though social media was in its infancy, the Barbie design contest garnered significant traditional national media attention (external link) , including the Ovation Communications Award of Excellence in 2006. When the new doll launched in-store, there were lineups out the door at the stores that carried the collector exclusive. Within two weeks of the launch, the doll was sold out at specialty retail locations.

It was a successful project and a highlight of Rudkowski’s career. 

“It was very rewarding because we were collaborating with the School of Fashion. The students were really excited about participating in an experiential project,” Rudkowski said. “Now, it's very commonplace where we collaborate with industry and you have experiential projects in the undergraduate classroom. But, it was very rare two decades ago to have these types of industry collaborations, and with a monetary reward.”

Barbie is big business

In 2022, Barbie generated worldwide sales of around US$1.5 billion (external link)  and had a brand value of US$590 million (external link) , according to Statista.

In advance of the upcoming Greta Gerwig movie, there’s a lot of collaboration with adult apparel and Barbie-branded products that speak to nostalgia, Rudkowski said. 

Over a dozen brands are looking to capitalize on Barbie mania, from toothpaste, to candy, to clothing and footwear brands like Gap and Crocs (external link) . There are Barbie collaborations with homewares and hair care brands, and even Xbox. Meanwhile, AirBnB has an oceanfront mansion Malibu DreamHouse available (external link) . 

“You continue to see Barbie evolve,” Rudkowski said. “Every year, the brand is doing something new and innovative. The Barbie brand doesn't stagnate. They continually think about how to stay relevant with a variety of age groups.”