Harumika Fashion Design Toy Review

Reviewed by M Connelly

Harumika by Bandai is a fashion design toy known to the last generation and relaunched in 2020. Who knows, maybe our current stylists and fashion guru’s were inspired by Harumika in their childhood?
There are two types of Harumika set, either a double or single torso. Each set contains one or two mannequin dress forms, one stylus design tool and pins, fabrics, ribbons or belts.

There’s also a variety of styles, with designs by NelliRodi, a French fashion agency, creating a new collaboration and bringing the toys forward into the 21st century.  With much of social media and the explosion of celebrity culture the idea of being a fashion designer or influencer is very popular and in this toy children can explore their creative side with a view to the world in which they’re growing up.

It’s a simple and no mess concept, there’s a colourful plastic mannequin to use as a base and it requires no glue, scissors, sewing, pins or otherwise. The Style Lock System means you can fold, twist, pleat, layer, wrap and create and use the special tool to hold it in place before augmenting with an array of clip and pin accessories. It’s all reuseable and there’s the possibility of extending play with more fabrics, ribbons and washi tape. Reuseable is great, and because other fabrics can also be reused, it begins to lean into sustainable too. It’s not a toy which is going to wear out and it’s reasonably sturdy.

If you’re stuck for ideas there’s a YouTube channel dedicated to Harumika and you’ll find it on most social media platforms too. Harumika Style – YouTube

For us it was entertainment for a good while and kept a creative flow going. We used extra fabric and lace to expand the design possibilities. I can imagine kids enjoying cutting up their old clothes to restyle them too.
We received the Frozen Fruits set which is a fun design and it was soon shared with my partners kids, brilliant because it’s a double torso set but held up by the fact there’s only one stylus. There’s enough fabric for the two figures and a variety of extra bits to help put your personal twist on all your designs.

I can imagine this being brilliant for play with the 11inch dolls often collected in that age group, although I don’t know if the clothes fit the forms. Also because these are transient and temporary designs they can’t be transferred to dolls.

They’d also be fun for cosplay design.

Suitable for ages 6+ and I can see there could be mileage for up to teen years, depending on the child. There’s nothing sharp but there are small pieces so it’s definitely not appropriate for little kids.
Single torso sets available from most major toy stockists in ‘Street Blues’, ‘Neon Beast’, ‘Soft Brit’ and ‘Sweet Peru’ concepts. Double torso sets available in ‘Frozen Fruits’, ‘Cosmic Kawaii’, ‘Yummy All Over’ and ‘Asian Dream’ concepts.

See them all at Harumika – Bandai
Harumika Starter Set: Amazon.co.uk: Toys & Games
From around £10 at most retailers and up to around £20 for the double torso set.

We’d give it 4.4/5 because we would have liked the extra stylus for two to play at once.

Rating: 4.4/5

RRP: around £10 (up to around £20 for the double torso)

This product can be purchased from Amazon here.