Barbie Home

Fun Facts & Findings About Barbie

• "The first shipment of Barbie dolls to arrive in America from Japan had Oriental eyes!" (Handler 10).

• Placed head to toe, Barbie could circle the Earth more than 7 times! (Barbie Fun)
   
• There are more Barbie's in this country than there are people! (Lord 16)
    
• The best-selling Barbie was Totally Hair Barbie in 1992 at more than 10 million dolls sold world wide.  The length of her hair reached her toes.

• B.F. Goodrich provided the technology behind the casting manufacturing process of Barbie's soft, vinyl body (Handler 7).  

• "Mattel calculates that every second, somewhere in the world, two Barbies are sold" (Lord 7).

• More than 105 million yards of fabric have gone into making Barbie's (and friends) fashions, making Mattel one of the largest apparel manufacturers in the world (Barbie Fun).

• An original Barbie in mint condition sold for $10,000 (Barbie Fun).

• In 2000, Barbie was introduced with a belly button for the first time (Barbie Fun).

• Although Barbie isn't yet recycleable, Wal-Mart co-sponsored a campaign with Mattel called "Give Back with Barbie Cares" on November 8, 2008 to encourage people to donate their old dolls.  For every doll donated (up to 100,000 dolls) Mattel will donate a new doll to local children's hospitals (greenlagirl).