On 13 February 2026, at Pier Sixty in New York, the Toy Foundation named its Collectible Toy of the Year. The winner was Wigglitz, a line of tiny segmented creatures made on desktop 3D printers in Ogden, Utah. According to 3DPrint.com, it had been up against names such as Pokémon, Disney, LEGO and Hot Wheels.
Plenty of people print wiggly dragons in a spare room. Very few get them into Target. The story of how ZB Designs did it is worth reading closely, including the parts that rest only on the company's word.
One printer and a keychain
Zack and Berkley Bailey, a husband and wife team, founded ZB Designs in 2022. They began with one printer as a side hustle while still in college. The first products were keychains, before the move to wiggly fidget toys.
The next step matters most for small sellers. The Baileys started out backing designers such as Zou3D, then began drawing their own creatures. The whole catalogue is now theirs, and each toy carries a tiny W. That shift gave them something a distributor could sign. A shop full of other people's files has nothing to hand over.
VoxelMatters dates the Wigglitz brand to 2023, while one 3DPrint.com report says 2025, so the exact launch date is unclear.
What they sell
Each toy is one to two inches long, and the range has passed 200 figures in themes such as Ocean, Fantasy and Puppies. Specialty toy stores sell them by the bin, so children pick their own mix. Direct prices seen in late 2025 were $24.99 for a bag of 10 and $2.49 to $2.99 each.
That is collecting, not just toy selling. The themes give buyers a reason to return, and Fox 13 lists seasonal series, an advent calendar and a monthly box for collectors.
The turning point
The big step came in September 2025, when Moose Toys became the mass retail partner. Moose, known for collectibles such as Shopkins, brought the distribution network. ZB Designs kept the design and manufacturing, and kept selling to specialty stores itself. No financial terms were published.
Note what the company did not give up. It handed over reach, not production, and packs then reached Target.
The numbers, and how far to trust them
ZB Designs is private and no audited accounts were found. Most figures below come from the company or its staff.
| Claim | Figure | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 sales | Over $18 million | Company reported. Described as product line revenue in a second report, so it may not be company income |
| December 2025 units | 1.5 million | Stated by its distribution manager |
| Growth | 826% since the previous March | Stated by its distribution manager |
| Printers | 2,700 in November 2025, over 3,000 in February 2026 | Reported, company claim. VoxelMatters instead mentions a target of 600 |
| Stores | Under five at the start of 2025, thousands by the end | Stated by the CEO. A press release said over 1,500 specialty stores by September 2025 |
| Largest US print farm | Claimed | Not verified |
The printer counts do not agree, and a move from a handful of stores to thousands in a year is a large claim. What is independently on record is the award, the Moose deal and the presence at Target. That alone is a remarkable result for a company that began with one printer.
How it gets made
The farm is less futuristic than the headlines suggest. A 3DPrint.com writer's review of the operation in November 2025 described plates of about 90 to 130 parts, removed by hand. Quality control was done by eye, and no automated sorting was seen. The machines appeared to be Bambu Lab printers fitted with colour units.
He read this as a company that may have grown too fast to tidy up. He called its choice of small filament spools odd and suggested larger spools and cheaper machines for single colour parts. That is his opinion, and his article gives no cost data. It does show that nobody needed robotics to reach this scale.
What could go wrong
The first threat is price. The same writer found similar Chinese toys at about 60 cents on Amazon and about 14 cents on Temu, against about $2.50 to $3 for Wigglitz. He openly questioned how long that premium can last. An operator in China has said that winning products can be copied within days, which is his estimate and not measured data.
The second is safety. Tiny toys sold to children carry real duties. ZB Designs says its toys are tested for durability and safety. A small seller often skips that step, and the UK has already flagged imported printed animals that fit inside a small parts cylinder as a choking risk.
The third is simple economics at small scale. A mass brand can live on thin per-unit margins that would not work for you. Mystery flexi packs sell at $4 to $7 and earn little per print hour. Flexi keychains at $4 to $12 face high competition. Selling flexis alone, without a brand, is a hard way to earn. Our flexi toys guide covers the options in detail.
Three lessons to copy
- Own your designs before you try to grow. ZB Designs moved from other people's models to its own catalogue, which gave it a brand a retail partner could carry. Start by designing one small series and mark every piece as yours.
- Sell a collection, not a single item. Themes, seasonal drops and a mix-your-own bin give buyers a reason to come back. Copy this at small scale with a monthly drop of three to five designs at a local toy or gift shop.
- Trade reach for a partner, not control. ZB Designs let Moose handle mass retail but kept production and its specialty stores. If a distributor approaches you, ask which channels you keep, and get the answer in writing.
Estimates are ours unless a source is linked. This guide was drafted with AI and reviewed before publishing.
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