German teddy bear firm to quit China

Steiff, the firm that has made teddy bears for over a century, said Wednesday it planned to move production back from China to Germany because poor standards there left some of its stuffed toys in a sorry state.

"If one of the glass eyes is even a millimeter off, it means the adorable devoted look on the teddy bear's face ends up looking more like some kind of a stupid stare," managing director Martin Frechen told the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper.

He told ZDF television the company had found it difficult during four years in China to maintain the quality of its expensive stuffed animals, toys and dolls because of high staff turnover.

"We had to keep training new people all the time, especially lately," Frechen said. "More and more of the products were rejects."