Here she is, the anti-Barbie, fresh from the rainforests of Northern New South Wales, Australia.

This 34 cm vinyl doll runs barefoot, dreadlocks her hair with coloured braids and beads, wears simple rainbow clothes, has piercings and a range of tattoos, and even a bit of natural body hair.

Feral Cheryl is modelled on the green extremists, known as ‘ferals’ from Australia. (For more on the background to Feral Cheryl, see ‘behind the scenes’).

In contrast to the ‘fashion doll’ mentality, Feral Cheryl does not have an extensive wardrobe, or high heels, or swimsuit, or gym gear, or wedding dress or cheerleader outfit. She needs no sports car or hairdressing salon, no disco stage or shopping mall.

Her motto is "Live Simply, Run Wild". Her only accessories: a bag of home grown herbs*, a sense of humour and a social conscience.
Each Feral Cheryl doll is individually crafted with a variety of coloured beads, bindis and a range of tattoos, so there are no two exactly the same.

* the doll comes with a small stash of dried basil.

 

Feral Cheryl is made entirely in Australia. There is no cheap third world toy factory labour used in the production of this doll.

The plastic body, with sewn in hair, is produced in a small family-owned doll factory in South Australia. The Feral Cheryl doll mould was specifically designed to have a natural body shape. The doll is blow-moulded, which unfortunately means small details, such as nipples and clearly defined fingers are not possible. The original doll had brown eyes, but sometimes, because of a problem with sourcing the glass brown eyes, there have been dolls made with blue eyes. There are usually both blue eyed and brown eyed dolls in stock. You can specify which style you want on ordering. See order page.

The raw bodies are then shipped to The Channon where they are transformed into Feral Cheryl…with handpainted tattoos, body piercings, dreadlocked hair, beading, braiding and hand-dyed, handmade clothes.
They are then packaged in recycled cardboard boxes, ready for posting.
The only other packaging is reused plastic bag around the doll, and reused or recycled packing material ( usually pages out of the old yellow pages). There is also a poster with details of Feral Cheryl’s lifestyle.

For more details on who makes the dolls, see behind the scenes. For details on the conditions in the factories where most OTHER toys are made, see Toys of Misery.