About Us – FLATOUTbear

About FLATOUTbear.

For over 20 years, sisters Sarah and Prue have shared their love of flat bears.
This is the story of FLATOUTbear.

Welcome to the FLATOUTbear family

In 2001, sisters from Sydney Australia, Sarah and Prue teamed up to create FLATOUTbear and share their love of flat bears with the world.

Having grown up with flat bears of their own as children, flat teddies have always been part of their lives – as has retail. As babies they watched their dad work in his antique shop and then later saw their mum run her homewares shop. It seemed only natural that one day they would start their own business together.

FLATOUTbears has grown from an online store, to supplying wholesalers all over the world. With over 400,000 bears sold, FLATOUTbears have travelled to over 50 countries including the USA, UK, China, Japan, Denmark, Sweden, France, Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand and Korea – just to name a few!

Where do FLATOUTbears come from?

In Sydney, Australia, two sisters had a great idea…

… to share their love of Australian sheepskin bears with the world…

… and in 2001, the original FLATOUTbear was born!

First, the sheepskins are sent to our factory in China to be tanned…

… then each FLATOUTbear is cut out by hand – so every bear unique.

Matching skins are then sewn together by hand.

The bears are carefully checked before being packed…

… and sent to our FLATOUTbear HQ in Sydney, Australia…

… where each bear is checked again and groomed.

Our warehouse team lovingly pack each FLATOUTbear…

… and send it to you, wherever you are in the world…

… to become baby’s new best friend!

Buy a bear

Meet the FLATOUTbear team

Prue Trollope

Starting FLATOUTbears in 2001 was a great way to ease myself back into Australian life after two years working in Asia. Our business is fun, exciting, sometimes hard work but it’s something we’ve created together and fits with my lifestyle and growing family. I work mainly on strategy, order fulfilment and international markets. I love how the FLATOUTbear makes an impact on people’s lives – my two kids won’t sleep without their bears, so I know first hand, that they truly do work!

Sarah Novati

Owning and running FLATOUTbears is my little bit of sanity in my otherwise chaotic family life. I love it. I love coming to work, dealing with our lovely customers and sending our gorgeous bears out all over the world. I work mainly on the operations and day to day running of our business. We have a great all-female, dynamic team and we all work hard together, have a laugh and achieve a lot. To think our bears are sold all over the world – from Tokyo, to Hong Kong, Paris to London… wow!

The Warehouse Team

We couldn’t manage without our amazing team of fabulous, local women. Anna and Maria are our right hands in the office, processing orders and getting on top everything. Jo and Marissa pack the bears and get them ready to send out. They take great care in combing their fur, checking their little faces and making sure they are ready for their new homes. We work hard but always manage to have a little fun (and cake) at work too!

The Factory Team

We have been working with the same family business in China for over 15 years. The factory is in a remote area of China, a couple of planes rides and long car trips to reach, but it’s a treat to visit. Our highly skilled factory team select the best sheepskins for us (we are very fussy), tan the raw material, hand cut each and every FLATOUTbear, sew them together, then finally check and pack them. We rely on each other and consider ourselves a family.

Buy a bear

Your FLATOUTbear purchase helps us support families in Cambodia.

After spending a year in Cambodia as a volunteer, Prue fell in love with the country and its people. When Prue returned to Australia to start FLATOUTbear with her sister Sarah, it was important to keep that connection and support going.

Over the years FLATOUTbear has supported both CEDAC, a local, non-government organisation and Australian-run Sunrise Children’s Village.

Through CEDAC, FLATOUTbear has built two childcare centres which run education programmes for both adults and children. The centres, run by local staff, provide a place where pre-school children can play, learn, borrow books and local families can meet for health education and to discuss local issues with their community.

We are now building wells in partnership with CEDAC, to provide households with clean water for their homes and land. One well usually benefits around 15-20 households. We feel that building these wells makes a big impact on a small community.

It’s really exciting to see these projects making an impact and we are proud that each FLATOUTbear purchase supports such a worthy cause.