Our Story

Born from a creative mind, love of the ocean and fascination with the creatures that call it home, Soft & Salty is a soul project designed to inspire interest in ocean conservation centred around creating quality plush toys using sustainable and recycled materials.

Obsessed with plush toys from a young age, I was always frustrated by their blank facial expressions and grumpy mouths.

The idea for Soft & Salty began to form a few years ago when I was sitting in a café watching a child having a wonderful time playing with a plastic lobster from the token toy box. I remember thinking to myself, wouldn’t it be great if there were more children’s toys that weren’t bunny rabbits and teddy bears but more unique and interesting in shape, appearance, back story, and not made from and stuffed with plastic?

So although we’ve included a few classics in our collection, a big focus for us is shining a light on some of the lesser known and traditionally not as 'cute' ocean dwellers, who are just as worthy of recognition and cuddles! With bright and expressive faces, each of our friends are specifically designed to be happy and approachable and inspire a curiosity to learn more about them and their environment.

Based around 100% Merino Wool felt, our creatures are tactile, with a variety of shapes and textures to explore. They are filled with stuffing made from recycled PET derived from plastic bottles, re-purposing 50-100 bottles per animal, which would otherwise destined for landfill or our waterways.

All our friends of the sea are designed from scratch and made with love, by hand, in Tasmania, surrounded by the ocean. Originating from shapes hand drawn on paper, a varying number of enormous prototypes, a lot of frustration and half-drunk cups of tea, each creature gradually comes to life.

Our mission is to inspire the world to cherish our oceans and the fabulous creatures who call it home by creating quality products through an organic and mindful creative process.