Welcome to the Dollhouse

Two trends that are driving many licensing and collaboration initiatives across categories of late—nostalgia and collectibility—are propelling the collectible doll market and creating opportunities for partnerships. 

Global retail sales of collectible dolls, including both vintage and new examples sold on the secondary and primary markets, are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 6.78% between 2024 and 2033, according to KD Market Insights, which valued the market at $7.2 billion in 2023. The increases will be driven in part by the high prices commanded for the most desirable offerings, the researcher says. 

Modern marketers of fashion dolls, on the other hand, are operating in a landscape where sales of new dolls in the U.S. declined 8% from 2023 to 2024 and 21% from 2019 to 2024, according to Circana and the Toy Industry Association. That said, they are capitalizing on the current interest in collecting with releases of new collectible products, including special editions based on entertainment, celebrity, fashion, and other properties. It should be noted that these limited ranges are often marketed for their collectibility, but that is not necessarily their exclusive purpose, as many are designed for their play value as well. 

Here is a sampling of what some of the leading brands have been up to recently: 

• Monster High. Collaborations in Mattel’s Monster High line naturally trend toward the creepy, in keeping with the franchise’s brand positioning, and typically are part of its Skullector program on the Mattel Creations platform. In May 2025, it created a Lady David doll tied to the film The Lost Boys that gender-swaps the role made famous by actor Kiefer Sutherland. It also teamed with Netflix, creating a Young-Hee doll tied to Squid Game last October, and a range of dolls tied to Wednesday last August. 

• Bratz. Some of the many recent collaborative offerings from this MGA Entertainment brand range from the classic film Clueless and fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, both of which dropped this month, to reggaeton singer Karol G and the movie Mean Girls, which both released last fall. Its first celebrity Bratz doll was with Kylie Jenner, introduced in 2023, while its previous fashion collaborations have included the London label Mowalola. 

• American Girl. This Mattel brand released dolls based on Wednesday and Clueless this year, as well as the latest of its collaborative offerings based on sister brand Barbie. It also partnered with the kids’ fashion label Janie and Jack in September 2024 for a range of apparel for both girls and dolls, which included a few limited-edition dolls under its WellieWishers and Bitty Babies sub-brands. One of its most notable partnerships is with Disney for a Disney Princess Collection of American Girl collector dolls, which was developed at the request of fans of both franchises and debuted in August 2023. The Swarovski crystal-embellished line started with Jasmine, Rapunzel, and Belle, with other princesses debuting thereafter. 

• Götz. This German brand paired with fashion label LoveShackFancy in 2024 for a collectible doll capturing the label’s look and feel with a floral dress and accessories. The brand has created a variety of other collectible dolls over the years, involving IPs ranging from global licenses such as Harry Potter and Steiff to several properties recognized mainly by German consumers. 

• Barbie. Mattel’s extensive range of collectible Barbie dolls, which began decades ago, has expanded of late with the introduction of a LeBron James doll, which came out in April of this year. In October 2024, for the Indian market, it created a Diwali Barbie in collaboration with designer Anita Dongre. Other recent issues include dolls tied to the 15th Doctor from Doctor Who, another range tied to Clueless, and celebrity offerings such as Kristy Yamaguchi and Laverne Cox, among many others. 

Collectible dolls have been part of the licensing landscape since its earliest days, albeit with ebbs and flows in popularity. In the 1930s, Ideal Toy released its first Shirley Temple doll and Madame Alexander debuted its first Scarlett O’Hara doll, to name just two of many vintage examples. 

One way the current upswing differs from some periods in the past is that the licensing and collaboration activity on the collectible side today is centered more often around brands coming from the biggest mainstream toy companies (namely Mattel with Barbie, American Girl, and Monster High and MGA Entertainment with Bratz) and less often from specialist doll companies such as Madame Alexander and the now-defunct Tonner, as would have been more common in past years. Both types of companies have released collectible dolls based on licensed properties consistently over the years, however.