Why has Barbie's clothing styles become so cheap and tacky looking?
 

How did we go from this

90s
https://i.pinimg.com/474x/50/71/9e/5...ie-clothes.jpg

2000s
https://live.staticflickr.com/4045/4...3341956b_b.jpg

to this?
https://images.mattel.com/scene7/GBK09_01?$oslarge$
https://images.mattel.com/scene7/FXL50_01?$oslarge$
https://images.mattel.com/scene7/FXL49_01?$oslarge$

These new styles make me want to barf!

What happened?

These Barbies look amazing! It is a shame these can't be found in stores!
https://www.instagram.com/barbiestyle/?hl=en

How does does Mattel make Barbies like this and turn around and push cheap crap on the consumer?
https://scontent-sea1-1.cdninstagram...ninstagram.com
https://scontent-sea1-1.cdninstagram...ninstagram.com
https://scontent-sea1-1.cdninstagram...ninstagram.com

Several years ago there was a line of dolls called The Barbie Look but it seems like they haven't produced any more dolls in that line for the past couple years.
https://live.staticflickr.com/464/18...5c861f0f_b.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4302/...4ecba82b_z.jpg

Did Mattel fail to find success with the adult collector?

Should Mattel make the clothing styles of the barbiestyle Instagram available to the consumer?

Biggest reason? My guess would be WalMart. They are the number 1 reason decisions are made in the toy industry. Company X will show an amazing prototype, and tell retailers that they can mass produce the figure for an MSRP OF $50. Walmart shrugs and says “$35 or you don’t get retail space” ... then Company X either drops the line or redesigns it as cheaply as they can by reducing paint or material quality.

With no TOys R Us or other national toy chain to fall back on, the toy companies are now at the mercies of Walmart even more. Subscription lines are possible for smaller companies, but as Mettel learned with He-man, its a difficult model to make it work with toys, and their production schedule needs.

My favorite thing Barbie has done in recent years has been her vlogs. :o

My finger is pretty far from the pulse of all this, so I hadn't even noticed that with the rise of doll quality, clothing quality splashed right into the toilet. Woof!
The burlap lumberjack flannel thing is.... like, did she cut up one of Ken's shirts? Having a tough time wrapping my head around that one.

Sadly its not that far offa what i see women wearing these days.

This. They are probably trying to follow actual fashion which has deteriorated just as much. Seriously, brand new ripped jeans? Do you want to look poor? I thought the purpose of Barbie was to inspire little girls to excel to greatness, not mediocrity.


CCC.

Of course, if I had played with Barbie as a kid, I would have had a full room size rich celebrity style closet full of the latest runway fashions, all custom made by my mom. She would tell the story from when she was in England, while my dad was stationed there in the army, of taking her British friend shopping in the stores to look at fashion, then taking her home and teaching her how to make them herself. Back then, that was just not done and shop owners frowned on people who came in a did not buy, especially in England. My mom was a real DIY type person.


CCC.

I don’t have much to add in the way of meaningful discourse on this subject, as I’ve never collected Barbie. That said, I find this topic to be very interesting. Is it possible that this phenomenon is a confluence of a number of things? Retailers influencing the market, manufacturers cutting cost for production, and changing fashion sensibilities within pop culture (I hope that last bit doesn’t pivot this conversation toward the absurd – as oft happens here) could all be part of what we’re seeing with the line. Just a thought…