Why I Ended Up Wholesaling Mini Colettos Dolls to the UK
Last Christmas, I found myself with a problem I never expected to have: no dolls.
Shelves that should have been full of cute little dolls ready for the busiest time of the year were empty. It was very frustrating, but it was also the push I needed to go looking for something new.
So in January of this year I started researching doll brands properly. Really digging into who was out there, what quality looked like, and what was the right fit for Bluebell’s Burrow.
That's how I came across Mini Colettos. I stumbled on a post from the brand looking for distributors, and something just clicked. These weren't dolls I'd seen everywhere already — they were already loved in places like Australia, but nobody had brought them properly to the UK yet. I reached out, and before long, I'd become the exclusive UK distributor. This was not really the plan for this year!
And that's how Ellory Distribution started.
It started small — introducing the dolls here at Bluebell's Burrow first — but it's grown steadily since. We now have three UK retailers stocking Mini Colettos (alongside Bluebells), with three more due to join us in September. And I will be taking the dolls to their first trade show in September.
Which brings me to the next chapter: the dolls needed clothes worthy of them, and I also wanted limited fastenings so little hands were able to practice dressing their own dolly. Not many 4 year olds can do up bows!!
I couldn't find a clothing range that matched the quality and imagination I wanted for these dolls, so I've been designing one myself. It's been a genuinely exciting process — thinking through fabrics, details, little finishing touches that make an outfit feel special rather than just functional. That range now has a name of its own, Ellory Designs, and a small range of clothes is currently going through safety testing before we launch. All being well, you'll see it arrive late August. I have lots of big ideas for the clothing range but to start with I will be launching 2 outfits and a dolls bow headband – but lots more are to follow….
It's been a proper full-circle moment: from an empty shelf last Christmas, to distributing a brand I believe in across the UK, to now designing clothes for the very dolls that started it all.
Since the dolls arrived at Bluebell's they have already been very popular. Let me know what you think of them
Bonnie
