From a school assignment to a viral shark
Chumbuddy began with a simple school assignment: design a toy and its packaging.
For artist Kendra Phillips, the answer was obvious — sharks.
Kendra had always loved sharks and wanted to create a plush shark that felt as close to actual size as possible. But instead of making it frightening, she decided to turn the idea of a shark attack completely upside down.
What if getting “attacked” by a shark could actually be cuddly?
That playful idea became the first Chumbuddy.
Kendra also wanted the project to say something meaningful about real sharks. Alongside the toy, she included facts explaining how rare shark attacks actually are — and how humans pose a far greater threat to sharks than sharks do to us.
Handmade from the very beginning
The first Chumbuddy was not created in a factory.
Kendra made the prototype herself — despite having never sewn anything before.
Her mother even told her the idea was crazy.
Kendra did it anyway.
She originally imagined Chumbuddy being around 9 to 10 feet long, but material costs forced her to scale the design down.
Even then, the prototype was enormous.
The fleece fabric was so thick that the sewing machine could not handle it. Every time she tried, the machine broke down.
So she did something slightly ridiculous:
She sewed the entire 7-foot shark by hand.
Kendra spent roughly two weeks working on the prototype whenever she had time, including two straight days of almost nothing but sewing.
Her fingers became raw.
Sometimes she would finish attaching an entire fin, turn the shark inside out, and discover that she had sewn it backward or upside down — forcing her to undo the work and start over.
It was exhausting.
But Chumbuddy was finally alive.
And yes — she got an A
After all that work, there was one very important question:
Did the project get an A?
Yes.
Thankfully.
From classroom project to real product
Kendra later discovered PatchTogether through the online art community DeviantArt.
After her Chumbuddy design was selected for production, classmates became fascinated by how she had managed to turn a school project into an actual product.
What began as one student's unusual idea had suddenly become something real.
Then Chumbuddy went viral
After Chumbuddy entered production, something unexpected happened.
People started sharing it.
Blogs picked it up.
Friends would send Kendra links.
Sometimes complete strangers who recognized the product would approach her and ask about it.
Her friends would occasionally receive a Chumbuddy link from someone who had no idea they knew its creator — giving them the chance to say:
“Hey! I know that girl!”
For Kendra, the whole experience felt surreal.
A toy she had once spent days sewing by hand for a school assignment had somehow become an internet phenomenon.
Support the original
Today there are plenty of shark plush toys and shark sleeping bags online.
But Chumbuddy began with one artist, one unusual school assignment, and one enormous shark sewn almost entirely by hand.
The Original Chumbuddy was created by Kendra Phillips.
When you choose Chumbuddy, you're supporting the original idea and the creative story behind it.
A final word from Kendra
Kendra described seeing Chumbuddy become a real product — and then unexpectedly go viral — as surreal, strange, and incredibly fun.
What began as a personal art project became something people around the world discovered, shared, and enjoyed.
And that's still what Chumbuddy is about today:
taking something people are supposed to be afraid of and making it impossible not to hug.