East Windsor NJ (August 14, 2024) – There’s something magical in the air! Kids Preferred, a leader in the baby licensing space, has signed a new agreement with Afro Unicorn, the inclusive children’s brand and brainchild of founder and CEO April Showers. As part of the licensing agreement, Afro Unicorn continues to expand their toy category with three new offerings: the Unique Activity Toy, Unique Plush, and Soft Book! All three new items are appropriate for ages 0+ and are now available at select Walmart stores across the country.
Known industry-wide for their adorable aesthetic and high-quality standards, Kids Preferred are experts in the plush category. With a history of heavy-hitting licenses to their name, it’s an honor and a privilege to welcome Afro Unicorn to their ever-growing group of business collaborators! The three new Afro Unicorn toys are safe for babies, but Unique’s regal aesthetic is appealing and welcoming to enthusiasts of any age. The 13.5-inch Unique Plush is able to stand upright on her legs or lay flat on her stomach and comes with multiple different soft surface textures across her beautiful brown skin, hooves, and elegant natural mane. She’s also always up for a big hug! The Activity Toy and Soft Book are both perfect for young babies. They’re sturdily built, as per the Kids Preferred guarantee, and include varied textured objects like teething shapes, plush, and fabric tassels to enrich baby’s playtime.
Afro Unicorn’s fascinating story began with April Showers, who was working as a real estate agent while simultaneously running an insurance business. For mothers to multiple children, balancing two business ventures at once is like looking left and right at the same time, but April managed it with grit and grace. It was this unique and rare drive which prompted her friend to refer to April as a “unicorn” one day in conversation, serving as the initial creative spark. With a newfound attachment to the mythical creature, April quickly found that most depictions of unicorns were all white and lacked diversity, and so she took matters into her own hands. Afro Unicorn’s message to young women and girls of color is a crucial and loving one: you are unique, you are magical, you are divine. Now the Afro Unicorn brand defies category and spans across toys, books, bedding, clothing and much more, showing that representation matters!
Afro Unicorn Unique Activity Toy · $9.97 · Introduce your little one to Unique the Unicorn with this multi-purpose activity toy! The base is a soft plush of Unique with velvety skin, natural hair texture, and smooth golden fabric hooves. Unique is “holding” some fidgety fun in her hooves like hard plastic teething shapes and a stuffed gold fabric star with satin tassels. Unique also provides auditory stimulation with rattling and crinkling noises as baby plays. Make sure she always sticks close with the velcro loop!
Afro Unicorn Unique Plush · $9.97 · Unicorns are cuddly, did you know? This Unique the Unicorn plush brings extra presence with her 13.5-inch-tall height. Her ingenious stitching and structure allow her to stand upright or relax and spread out her limbs. Unique has a regal crown surrounding her glittery blue horn, rich, soft brown skin, a long naturally textured mane and tail, plus gold fabric hooves. A truly ageless item, the Unique plush is a friend to everyone!
Afro Unicorn Soft Book · $4.97 · Get them reading early with the Afro Unicorn Soft Book! Delightfully flexible and tender to the touch, each page is illustrated with images of unicorn friends Unique, Magical, and Divine. The beautiful pictures and script impart a very simple but critical message: Kindness Matters! But that’s not all, each soft book has a loop with an attached hard plastic textured heart, gold plush star, and thick fabric crown. Taking a break? Store the soft book anywhere with the velcro strap.
About Kids Preferred: Kids Preferred is a company completely dedicated to delivering the most meaningful products that create magic and memorable moments for babies and children. It successfully does this through deep knowledge and understanding of a child’s development, the importance of a well-crafted toy and the power of play. Parents, grandparents and retailers know that Kids Preferred is a trusted reliable source by offering the very best in product quality, customer service, merchandising and parent solutions based on insight. By creating unique and on trend “own” brands along with partnering with the very best in children’s literature and family entertainment, Kids Preferred designs and brings to life the products and characters that children and parents love. Discover more at kidspreferred.com.
About Afro Unicorn: April Showers’ Afro Unicorn®️ brand is a true pioneer – the first female, Black-owned business to own a licensed character brand in major retail. The brand has skyrocketed onto the scene with 25 categories, from apparel and accessories to toys, puzzles, books, bedding, bandages, backpacks, collectibles, and more to inspire and remind women and children of color how unique, divine and magical we truly are. The Afro Unicorn®️ brand can be found in Target, Kohl’s, Amazon, JCPenney, HomeGoods, NovaKids, and more than 3800 Walmart stores nationwide in many categories. April is a lead-by-example creator who works to uplift, advocate and inspire women and children of color to achieve greatness. She is focused on fusing her passions with her life’s purpose to help other female entrepreneurs on their journey.