Brands we Trust: Gotz Dolls

The Gotz Company is the original factory that worked with Pleasant Company in the 80's to produce the original American Girl Dolls, so it's no surprise that they rank high for us on our brands list. The Gotz Company consistently puts out high quality doll lines. We cater to an older audience (older children and adults), so we don't carry everything they produce i.e. dolls intended for younger children, but even those dolls are worlds above anything you'd find in Target, Walmart, and Amazon (unless you found a Gotz doll on Amazon).

To those on the outside of the doll community looking in (non-doll collectors and gift givers to someone they love) a doll is a doll and you're looking for something that looks cute and costs something in your price range. But there is actually something much more going on. For us as a company that is always looking at dolls, we take at least a mental note of what is being discarded just as much as what is being purchased. Those easy gift ideas at Target, Walmart, and Amazon? Those are what is ending up in the thrift stores in the masses. For the purpose of this article, we are going to discuss what is in the same size category as there are other doll lines that frequently are discarded in other size ranges and styles. For 18" dolls Journey Dolls by Walmart, Our Generation Dolls by Target, and those knockoff dolls appearing on Amazon are all in the discount bins at your favorite Goodwill marked at $3.99. Goodwill operates their own "ebay" types shopping on their website www.shopgoodwill.com where they have already pulled anything that is of a Gotz Doll deemed of value from donations to auction off to the highest bidder. Not to say that you can't still find a treasure of a Gotz doll or American Girl doll in a thrift store because smaller thrift stores don't auction, but it's rarer to find the top brands on the shelves. What does this mean exactly? It means that these dolls hold no resale value. A person looks at the doll and says, I can get a brand new one for not that much, so buying used becomes of no value whereas a doll that costs $120 found used for half price is a significant savings to someone.

Higher price point dolls, force a company to ensure a higher level of quality, otherwise buyers won't think a doll is worth the asking price. It also becomes a doll that is more likely customized by an artist because it holds more value on the market. Why put expensive customized products like high end doll wigs , glass eyes, and bespoke outfits on a doll only worth $30? It doesn't make any sense. You can upgrade a cheap doll, but it's like putting a fancy paint job on a Pinto.

So what makes the Gotz dolls special? First of all, knowing that this company made the first American Girl dolls is a clear indicator that this company knows how to put out a high quality doll. American Girl brand adopted some of Gotz early doll molds and the way they were put together. American Girl dolls are extremely easy to learn to customize and to repair and can last over multiple generations even if they aren't cared for well. The same applies to Gotz dolls direct dolls, and some avid collectors even seek out early examples of Gotz dolls that inspired the American Girl dolls at high price points. But creating high quality dolls for other brands isn't the only reason. Gotz level of workmanship and experience is reflected in the other dolls they sell directly.

Our favorite is the Gotz Happy Kidz Line that we carry in our store, though all their other lines are beautiful as well.

FACE MOLDS AND BODY TYPES

They use a number of repeated face molds, but it can be sometimes confusing because they assign a different name for each combination they sell. For example an Emily doll comes with blonde hair and brown eyes but the mold is exactly the same as a Sophie doll which comes with brown hair and brown eyes. Both dolls also are sold in completely different outfits. So sometimes one doll sells faster if a customer likes the outfit better on a different doll or the coloring combination of hair and eyes since they have the same face mold. The face mold used on Emily and Sophie is really beautiful and child like. There is a very full lip, delicate eye lashes, and wide eyes and proportionate cheeks, ears, and chin. Gotz Dolls are strung differently than American Girl dolls so there is 360 movement in their heads allowing you to position the head in expressive poses - looking down, to the side, tilted, etc. which makes them look more lifelike. The face mold since it is so detailed and child like is popular to repaint for artists as they can add detail beyond the stock paint to make the doll's face incredibly realistic, artistic, and lifelike. Given that the heads pose with much more mobility than other dolls they become popular to photograph as well.

Gotz Happy Kidz Sophie

Some of the Gotz Happy Kidz are made with more articulation than other molds. Sophie, Emily, Ella, Greta, Sophia, and Mila all have bodies with joints at the elbows and the knees allowing them to sit and pose in more realistic kid-like activities. Hannah and the Hannah-Lea or just Lea are all molds that do not. It can be a bit confusing on the name for Hannah-Lea but it basically means a Hannah body and a Lea face mold combination. Hannah's body mold has a curved arm without a joint. The legs have one straight leg and one leg that is slightly bent at the knee. This gives the look that there is a joint there, but there is not, so when shopping you need to pay particular attention to the description. If the description says "9 joints" it's a jointed doll and if it doesn't, it's a Hannah type body. It is tough to keep up with all the name changes for the different combinations they do, so there may be a few that are not shown on their website or ones that have disappeared and sold out. Gotz also releases some limited edition dolls priced higher and with more details using these same molds, so if you come across a doll at a high price point with a name you haven't seen, odds are it's one of those.

Hannah-Lea (left) Sophie (middle), Hannah (front)

The body types of the Hannah dolls also work in ballet poses. Because of how they are strung, there's a lot of mobility even without the articulation in the elbows and knees because of the natural curvature of their arm and leg molds. With both arms over head, the two arms form a perfect oval around the head rather than a "Y" that most doll brands do with straight arms. This is probably why there is a full series of Hannah's in ballet outfits. Of course the articulated molds can do even more poses because they also have the curve in their arms and legs. This is the part that is slightly confusing as I am not sure why we have a Hannah or why it's necessary as it's kind of the one doll that is different from all the rest in the same line. The one thing that I'll say, is that having a knee joint does make the articulated dolls just a tad more work to pose than having no knee joint. With a lot of mobility in the knees, the doll can do a bowlegged look or straight knee, or inward knee, and of course bent knee, so you do have to pose those legs before photography. Some poses might make the doll difficult to stand and stay balanced, but it really depends on how you are using/playing with the doll and what your needs are. Hannah's non-jointed knees still allow her to hold ballet poses like "the splits" but keep her legs steady when standing without the need for posing maintenance. This could be appealing to collectors who use dolls for display and are mostly standing. I do also want to say that Hannah's face mold is very unique and is not used on the articulated dolls. She has a large cheek, a different lip style, and nose style. Can you put Hannah's head on an articulated body? Yes you can. You can find our article here on changing eyes helpful as it includes instructions on how to remove the head. Note that Gotz doesn't sell the articulated body as a separate item, so whenever swapping heads, something needs to go on that non-articulated body.

A used Hannah body left leg is straight and right leg shows the slightly bended knee

In terms of skin tones Hannah-Lea is the African American darkest skin tone and has the non-articulated body. Lea has a unique olive skin tone that is different from the fair skin you see in Sophie or Emily, almost a mixed race skin tone. Hannah-Asian has a medium dark skin tone. I would say it's more Hawaiian rather than a Chinese or Japanese skin tone. She also has a less wider eye. Lastly dolls like Sophie, Greta, Ella, Sophia, and Emily all have fair skin tone. It has a tan undertone to it so it's darker than a porcelain white skin tone.

DOLL PACKAGING

Most dolls come in a standard Gotz labeled box. Each box is universal in showing the logo and information about the Gotz company on the back with a plastic window at the front to see the doll. The doll is tied to a cardboard insert inside the box with the Gotz logo imprinted like a pattern. The ties are a brown cording and they can be cut easily to release the doll. Each doll comes with a burgundy cord around one wrist that has a plastic Gotz logo bead attached almost like a bracelet. Each doll comes with a small booklet within a plastic pouch. Inside is a oval doll tag with bar code and the Gotz logo, and then a booklet which has a handwritten numbered insert on it and then opposite a description of the Gotz company in English, French, and German. All dolls are standing in their packaging. The Hannah-Asian doll is the only exception, and we don't know why because it's a weird inconsistency. The Hannah-Asian doll is in a logo printed two piece box and lid with no window to see the doll inside. She also is tied to her cardboard insert in a sitting position. Everything else is the same, but her presentation is so vastly different. In person, we take her out for display otherwise she just isn't seen. Although the weight of the box is very nice and heavy construction, it's not my favorite display and is harder to sell in the packaging. It is my opinion that both of these packaging solutions were not designed to keep the doll in the box for any length of time. Sometimes doll collectors enjoy keeping their dolls mint in the box to retain value, but this is a doll that is designed to be handled and played with. The packaging is designed for brief presentation and then to be discarded. The doll's individual name is not on it, and it's generic in terms of logo print to be used across all dolls.

SIZE AND MEASUREMENTS

There are a few dolls that we consider to be in the 18" doll category but are actually not 18" tall and this would be one of them. A Gotz Happy Kid measures 19-19.5" tall depending on the mold. It has an all vinyl body unlike other dolls in this category that have cloth stuffed portions. It is considered to be close in style to slim 18" type bodies in it's look.

Body type: All vinyl, similar to 18" slim categories

Height: 19-19.5" Tall

Chest: 10"

Waist: 9"

Hip: 10.5"

Arm Length from shoulder to wrist: 6"

Hand length: 2.25"

Neck: 5", 1.5" tall including part inside the head

Neck to edge of shoulder: 1" (sleeve start)

Belly Button to foot: 10", leg socket to foot: 9.25"

Foot: 2.75" long, 1.5" wide at toes, 1" wide at base

Eye Size: 18mm Acrylic Globe Eye to replace exactly, 16-18mm half dome glass or acrylic eyes for variation of pupil sizes for customization

Hair: Rooted hair which can be shaved off and wigged to offer more customization options

Ears: Never pierced, piercing ears must be drilled by hand to fit whatever earrings you wish to attach i.e. human posts or AG thickness.

Head Size: 10.5-11" depending on mold and also how much of shaven hair is taken off before adding a wig. Many Gotz dolls can wear our 11-12" wigs easily if some stubble has been left on the hair. Gotz dolls where all the hair has been removed might be better with a 10-11" size.

CLOTHING

Gotz Happy Kidz Dolls do not fit American Girl clothing well. The American Girl body is larger and the Gotz body legs and arms are longer. It's not to say that in fun you can swap the outfits, because if you aren't concerned about exact fit you can mix and match and have baggier body fits and shorter sleeve and pant lengths on your doll. Gotz doll feet are also longer and thinner so they won't fit American Girl brand shoes, but they will fit any of our shoes with pointed toe design as it allows for the difference in foot length.

Gotz direct clothing is very limited, and to be honest it's not our favorite. I will say that their starter ballet outfits are beautiful and I was very impressed with the ballet shoes detail and craftsmanship. Lea's starter outfit was a "what were they thinking" moment for me as I felt the doll looked like she was dressed as a homeless person. You will never find bad quality clothing, all are sewn nicely and finished properly. It is just basic and most of it is designed with an 8-10 year old in mind. For adult collectors, I feel most of the available clothing is lacking in high detail and is missing the wow factor for collectibility. The Gotz Company looks to not make clothing a focus as purchasing separate outfits is not something they have very much of in terms of both outfits and shoes.

The handmade doll clothes community supports separate outfits for this doll line much more. There are a number of crafters on Etsy that specially knit and sew for this size doll. We've also developed our shoe line to fit both the American Girl foot and the Gotz Happy Kidz foot to expand the available footwear compatible for this doll line. We are also starting to release collections and outfits specifically made for the Gotz dolls to add further support to the line. Many collectors also sew and make their own clothes to enjoy these dolls, so it's not without options.