Who makes squishies? Manufacturers, importers and what EU law expects from each

Who actually makes squishies?

Squishy is a product type, not a brand. Many different factories and brands make them, and a lot of products reach shops without a name most customers would recognise. One published data point: the Danish EPA bought 43 squishies for its August 2018 study and found that they were polyurethane foam, mostly from China. That is a sample from 2018, not a market statistic, and styles have since widened to the butter, crunchy and dumpling squishies sold today.

That is why the question has no brand-level answer such as you get for a snack. Instead of asking who makes squishies in general, ask who the responsible business is for the specific item on your counter. EU law gives you a way to find out, and we set it out below without naming individual factories.

How does EU law define the roles?

Directive 2009/48/EC, the current EU toy law, defines these roles in Article 3. The manufacturer is whoever makes a toy, or has one designed or made, and markets it under their own name or trademark. The importer is a business established in the EU that places a toy from a third country on the EU market. The distributor is anyone else in the supply chain who makes a toy available on the market.

Roles attach to what a business does, not to what it calls itself. A company can be a wholesaler in everyday language and an importer in law for the same product.

What must a manufacturer do?

Under Article 4, the manufacturer must design and make the toy to meet the safety requirements, prepare technical documentation, run the conformity assessment, draw up an EC declaration of conformity and affix the CE marking. Documentation and the declaration have to be kept for 10 years. The toy needs a type, batch or serial number, and the manufacturer's name and a contact address must appear on the toy or its packaging.

The European Commission describes the CE marking as the manufacturer's declaration that the toy satisfies the essential safety requirements. So CE is a claim made by the manufacturer, not a stamp from an authority. Under Article 15, by drawing up the declaration the manufacturer assumes responsibility for the toy's compliance.

What must an importer do?

Under Article 6, an importer may only place compliant toys on the market. Before doing so, it checks that the manufacturer has carried out the conformity assessment, that the documents exist and that the CE marking and required labelling are there. It adds its own name and contact address to the toy, the packaging or an accompanying document, keeps a copy of the declaration for 10 years and can make the technical documentation available to authorities.

This is the point at which a small shop can take on more than it expects. If you order squishies yourself from a factory or marketplace outside the EU and bring them in, you may well be the importer, with all of these duties. Stiftung Warentest reported on 26 September 2026 that many products named in European safety alerts for squishy dumplings lacked manufacturer details. Gaps like that are something an importer should have caught.

What must a retailer or wholesaler do?

If you buy from a business inside the EU, you are normally a distributor. Article 7 requires you to act with due care. Before selling, check for the CE marking, the required documents, instructions and safety information in your customers' language, and the manufacturer's and importer's details and batch or type number. If you suspect a toy does not comply, do not sell it, and inform your supplier; where there is a risk, inform the authorities too.

Article 9 adds traceability. For 10 years you must be able to tell the authorities who supplied a toy to you and which businesses you supplied. Consumers do not count, so a shop needs its purchase invoices above all. Our guide to EU toy rules for squishies goes through the product checks in detail, including warnings and the debate about dumpling squishies.

When does a retailer become the manufacturer?

Article 8 is the clause many sellers overlook. An importer or distributor counts as the manufacturer if it places a toy on the market under its own name or trademark, or changes a toy already on the market in a way that may affect compliance. All Article 4 duties then apply to that business.

In practice that covers private labels, such as printing your shop's logo on a neutral squishy, and changes such as adding filling, scent or a keyring. If you plan something like this, speak to a test laboratory or legal adviser first. Selling an unchanged product under its existing name does not trigger the rule.

Will the rules change?

Yes, but not immediately. According to the European Commission, Regulation (EU) 2025/2509 entered into force on 1 January 2026 and will apply from 1 August 2030, replacing the directive. All toys will then need a digital product passport. The role logic stays familiar, so a clean supply chain today is the best preparation.

How does MDH handle this?

We have part of our squishies produced ourselves and work directly with manufacturers for our range. CE declarations of conformity and test reports for our toys are available on request. Ask for the documents for the exact items you want to stock, and keep them with your invoices. Our guide to documents you can request from a wholesaler shows what a declaration should contain.

Most squishies come in cartons of 12, there is no minimum order value, and we deliver to all EU countries. Retailers can see the range and our production approach on the page squishy manufacturer and wholesale, and open a dealer account to see prices.

Sources

• Directive 2009/48/EC on the safety of toys, Article 3 Definitions, as adopted (legislation.gov.uk)
• Directive 2009/48/EC, Chapter II Obligations of economic operators, as adopted (legislation.gov.uk)
• Directive 2009/48/EC, Article 15 EC declaration of conformity, as adopted (legislation.gov.uk)
• Toy safety (European Commission, accessed November 2026)
• Survey of chemical substances in consumer products no. 164: squishy toys (Danish EPA, August 2018)
• Warnung vor Kinderspielzeug: gefährliche Squishy Dumplings im Umlauf (Stiftung Warentest, 26 September 2026)