Disney’s Mickey and Minnie don iconic red uniform,
Product by Toronto toymaker follows more than two years of talks with Disney, RCMP
Two famous octogenarian recruits are set to join the ranks of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Mickey and Minnie Mouse will don the Mounties’ red uniform, although neither has the required Canadian citizenship.
Stuffed animal versions of the Disney characters made by a Toronto toy company, 2 blue ducks, are due to hit the shelves of mom-and-pop, airport and souvenir stores across the country in a few months.
The dolls are the fruits of more than two years of negotiations between the toy company, RCMP Foundation and Disney to ensure that the characters and uniform look just right, said Michael Glina, the company’s managing director.
The toy company needed special permission from the RCMP Foundation to add a red bow with white polka dots to Minnie’s standardissue hat, Glina said.
“Normally, the hat is iconic. You can’t really mess with it, but we needed a distinguishable characteristic between Mickey and Minnie.”
The RCMP Foundation, a nationally registered charity, also suggested that the text on Mickey and Minnie Mouse’s shoulder patch be in both official languages.
“Everything from the way the hat looks, to the jacket, the boots, the eyes, the nose and mouth — every single thing has been painstakingly reviewed,” Glina said.
The Mountie outfit has evolved since the late 19th century into a Canadian symbol. The Norfolk jacket, or red serge, was chosen to mimic British army uniforms. Before the wide-brimmed hat became part of the official uniform in 1902, officers wore pith helmets or pillbox hats, RCMP Sgt. Penny Hermann said.
There was no particular reason to dress Mickey and Minnie in Mountie garb, but Glina says Canada’s 150th anniversary next year is as good an occasion as any.
The contract was a big score for the Toronto company with two full-time employees, Glina and his wife Jenna — plus a “product tester,” their 18month-old son Cooper.
They plan to ship about 2,000 toys to Canada before Christmas. The couple considered making the toys domestically, but found that manufacturing them in Canada would be too expensive, Glina said. To bring the retail cost down to about $30, the dolls are being made in China.
The licensing fees go toward funding mentorship, nutrition and education programs for youth, said the foundation’s president and CEO Hope Henderson.