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The Vintage Aviator
A classic yellow duck with tiny leather-look goggles and a white silk scarf. Great novelty gift for aviation fans or as a fun shelf piece.
Specifications
| Material | Vinyl (PVC) body, faux-leather helmet, fabric scarf |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 3.6 x 3.3 x 3.8 in |
| Weight | 2.2 oz |
| Color | Classic yellow, brown helmet, white scarf |
| Age Grade | 3+ years |
| Origin | Designed on Vashon Island, WA · Assembled overseas |
| Care Instructions | Spot clean scarf only. Helmet is molded vinyl, wipe clean. |
The Full Story
The Vintage Aviator is one of the few designs in the catalog that came from an actual family heirloom rather than a company mishap, which makes for a slightly less chaotic origin story than most of our history section, though we've tried to make up for it with enthusiasm.
One of our early product designers had a grandfather who flew mail routes in the 1930s, and kept his actual leather flying helmet and silk scarf in a box in the closet for decades. She brought it into the office one day for "inspiration," and by the end of the week there was a duck wearing a passable miniature replica of it sitting on her desk. The goggles on the original helmet were, notably, cracked and held together with tape, a detail the design team chose not to replicate, on the grounds that a duck with taped-together goggles felt like it was trying too hard to be quirky.
The scarf fabric was sourced, for the first two years of production, from offcuts of an actual silk supplier before cost became prohibitive and we switched to a more affordable substitute that, we're told by people who know fabric better than we do, "you honestly cannot tell the difference unless you're looking for it," which we've chosen to accept as a compliment.
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Customer Reviews
Very charming little duck, the scarf drapes nicely and doesn't look stiff like some fabric accessories on novelty items. Would have liked slightly more detail on the goggle straps but that's a minor gripe.
He got a little emotional actually, kept it on his side table for the rest of the visit. Didn't expect a rubber duck to land that well as a gift, pun very much intended.
No notes, does exactly what it says, looks great, arrived quickly.
Photos make the goggle lenses look more three dimensional than they actually are, they're mostly a printed detail rather than a raised piece. Still a nice duck, just wanted to set expectations.
Arrived with the little scarf knot completely undone, just draped loose around the neck. Not a huge deal to retie but seems like a packing issue that shouldn't happen.
You can tell this one came from somewhere real rather than a marketing meeting. The proportions feel considered, the color palette is muted and warm rather than cartoonish. My favorite in the whole lineup, and I own eleven of them at this point, which is a concerning sentence to type out loud.