No more Kimber Deluxe?

Well that escalated quickly! Kimber Deluxe is no longer on the UK Kimber Doll website :oops: I don't mean she's out of stock, she's not even listed. Kimber AU has them listed and out of stock. Kimber US still has some at just under full price and Kimber CA has them at the usual inflated CA prices. Sadly, that gives weight to the suspicion that they aren't going to make any more. Just as well I bought two in the last couple years.

WHAAAAAAAT !!!!!!
I really hope that they’ve come off the website in the UK simply because they’re out of stock. That would be really terrible news if they’re not going to make any more. I’m very surprised because I thought they were very popular. Unless of course they’re bringing out a Kimber Ultra or something. But even so, the Deluxe is a fabulous doll. This will be a very dark day for us if that’s the end of the line for the Kimber deluxe.

Wow, that's a surprise!

I wrote to Kimber UK and received this response.

“Thank you for your message. Great to hear from you.

Thank you for your concern. The Kimber Doll Deluxe is currently out of stock. We are hoping for the arrival of a new container in early 2026.

So just the standard Kimber Doll is available for the meantime.

No further changes to the range are planned at this time.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Thank you for your time”.

(I’d asked if the deluxe had been discontinued, maybe because they were planning on bringing out a Kimber Ultra or something?)

I read somewhere recently that Kimber is up for sale - the entire business…

I wasn't sure if it could be repeated, but since it was posted publicly on TDF, guess it can be:

A well known person in the doll world said somebody they know was contacted by KD offering the business!

Looks like they're doing the rounds of people involved in the doll community; a poisoned chalice if ever there was one.

So it really is the end of Kimber Doll (at least, as we know it) If only it would happen to XPO

If noone buys then it will be a huge loss.

Yeah, to low cost, If you start out to low you can't get the price up, and you soon find you can't make dolls at that price, Lady-J

So look after you Kimber they could be very collectible in years to come , just like original standard Teddy Babes 😁

mr track , er’ I always sign ☹️ off Carly xxx

perhaps Jed will now believe me when I keep telling him that I’m more than worth my weight in gold. Looks like that’s going to be literally true in the future.

Is it the whole business that’s up for sale or just the UK distribution side?

Ah - good question- don’t know. But I do know Kimber is manufactured by Aibei so as I understand it essentially Kimber is just a “shop”. Of course they will own the design rights to the actual doll. I guess the UK branch could be a franchise or similar.

I didn’t realise that Kimber was owned by Aibei. I’ve actually just ordered an Aibei doll and if her skin feels like a Kimber, then I will be extremely pleased

Kimber are not actually owned by Aibei; rather, Kimber are their own organisation and do the specification and possibly some minor points of the design; however, they subcontract the manufacture to Aibei in the same way that Game Lady subcontract theirs to Zelex.

Aibei is to dolls what Clevo is to laptop computers or TSMC is to microchips; half the world's laptop computers are made by Clevo with another badge then put on the case (Sager, Schenker, System76, BTO, XNB, Eurocom, Origin, and Digital Storm are the main ones) and many many microchips are designed by their owner but fabricated by TSMC (AMD branded chips in particular, my Dell workstation has one).

After starting out doing nothing but subcontracting, Aibei started selling their own designs as well and the 158 G "blonde honey" type doll is what Kimber is derived from; you can still buy this AibeiGirl now.

https://www.qidoll.com/product/aibei-158-cm-blond-hair-g-cup-realistic-sex-doll

I don't know if the TPE mix is the same; it might be that Kimber had their own TPE blend made for them or maybe it's just one that Aibei doesn't use that often, but it does feel different to regular WM TPE for sure.

Ah ,, I might have not explained properly…. my understanding is not that Aibei specifically own Kimber but rather Aibei are the sub contract manufacturer of the Kimber doll. Kimber is a stand alone company but it’s likely they own the Kimber design rights and possibly the actual doll moulds. I just had a quick look on Companies House and there is virtually no info on Kimber which suggests they could be owned outside the UK. I guess all will be revealed in time……..

Kimber are an Australian company; an "on paper only" company with no bricks and mortar presence other than the offices they rent; they're a two or three person band with offices and maybe a couple of tech people. They don't have multiple branches in different countries; just a website and a subcontracted warehouse for each continent (you could tell this, if you didn't already know, as if you contact them the response is always sent in AU daytime hours). Even their address is a PO Box so they clearly don't want to be found :)

Corporate info: Siteindeces USPTO Zoominfo

Party ................ Personal Technology Pty. Ltd.
Address .............. Box 364, Southport BC, AUSTRALIA, 4215
Legal Entity Type .... Proprietary Limited Company (p/l Or Pty. Ltd.)
Legal Entity State ... AUSTRALIA

So anyone with enough cash and a couple of rented office rooms could buy the business and it would be the entire organisation, the design rights, the model files on its servers (unless Aibei hold these for them) and its contracts with their website hosts, various continental suppliers, and Aibei. But given their inability to keep up with innovation and with other cheap dolls coming onto the market, even Darkseid himself wouldn't touch it with a bargepole :P I certainly won't :LOL: