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Award Recipient
Manufacturing/Consumer Products
Michael A. Richter
Children’s Factory
Michael
A. Richter |
Mike Richter calls himself a 58-year-old kid. He describes his career
as, “I don’t have a job. I get to make toys.”
Richter started the Children’s Factory in 1982 to focus on his ideas
for soft play equipment for children. Before starting his own company,
Richter was president of a local company that manufactured outdoor
playground and sports field equipment for 15 years.
Through this work, he saw the need for soft play equipment. “Children
are soft and like soft toys that are fun. I saw a need to make bright
colorful play equipment that was fun, safe and educational,” he
says.
The company was started out of Richter’s attic with $500 and a loan
on his house. His first designs were sewn in the back room of a
tavern in South St. Louis by the local church sewing circle. The
first year he lost money, but by the second year he broke even and
has been profitable ever since.
Children’s Factory now sells through a network of 500 dealers around
the world with partnerships in Great Britian, Germany, Italy, Hong
Kong and Israel. They recently added 50,000 square feet to their
plant in Union, Mo., and employ more than 100 people.
Last year, Richter was chosen as one of five national winners in
the Great American Toy Hunt sponsored by Haystack Toys of St. Louis.
That same toy winner, Jumbo Tumbos, was selected to be an Oppenheim
Gold Medal Toy winner for 2001, the most prestigious award in the
toy industry.
Richter has a passion for children and for designing toys. He and
his wife Barbara, who is a co-owner of the company and instrumental
in making the company a success, have five children and five grandchildren.
Two of their children are interracially adopted, and they have had
30 foster children in their home over the years. They have donated
more than $1 million worth of preschool equipment to local, national
and international agencies.
The Children’s Factory’s play products are found mostly at daycare
centers and in playgrounds. Richter says he is thrilled that children
around the world use his soft play equipment. “I still get excited
about the creative process and love coming up with a new idea and
bringing it to market. It’s fun to see our products used by so many.
In fact, I saw our equipment on the TV show “ER” when it had a scene
at a daycare center. That was a thrill.” (back)
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