Bark's Bog is a small-batch plushie artist based in Austria who creates nearly everything in-house, from sewing to embroidery to fabric printing. He's available on tumblr @barksbog !
Bark's Bog is as ethical as it gets. The only parts of his plushies that he doesn't make himself are the raw materials, such as fabric and eyes, which to my knowledge can be easily produced by machine. Even still, Bark works hard to avoid outsourcing to factories, including using his own embroidery and fabric printing machines. He also designs and patterns all of his plushies himself. You can find this information in the About section of his website and his blog.
I reached out to Bark directly, who confirmed that he does not use generative AI in any step of his process. He makes pride plushies yearly and does not do any sort of public fundraiser for it, but as he himself is a queer artist, I think that's more than fair. He also shared that he does donate privately in general when he can, which he believes is more effective.
It's worth mentioning that Bark was the inspiration for this series. He's very outspoken and passionate about ethical plushie manufacturing, as evidenced by his own business practices!
