Maker record
Gégé
Gégé was a French toy maker established in Moingt in 1933 by Germain Giroud. Its products included dolls, reduced-scale models, construction sets and scientific toys. The company began with dolls and expanded its range as injection-moulded plastics came into use, making mechanical toys, model vehicles, electric cars and trains. Its doll ranges included Caroline, listed in the company catalogue from 1962, and Mily, launched in 1964. The Musée d’Allard holds a Gégé Dolly fashion doll dated 1968–1979.
- Founded
- 1933
- Final year
- 1986
- Locations
- Moingt · 1933
- Founders
- Germain Giroud
The story of Gégé
Gégé was established in 1933 by Germain Giroud at Moingt, near Montbrison. The company first specialised in large dolls made from fabric offcuts produced in Giroud’s upholstery-fabric workshop. By 1939 it employed about forty people and sold dolls fitted with a walking mechanism. Giroud’s wife, Juliette, later became a close collaborator and designed doll clothing.
After adopting injection-moulded plastics, Gégé broadened its range to include mechanical toys, reduced-scale models, electric cars, trains and scientific and educational sets. The doll ranges included Caroline, listed in the company catalogue from 1962, and Mily, launched in 1964. Gégé introduced its HO-scale electric trains around 1960–1962. The Ministry of Culture dates its Dolly fashion doll to 1968–1979 and records the firm’s closure in 1979. In 1988, the firm’s assets were sold to Soclaine, which marketed Gégé dolls in the 1990s.