Lions, elephants, eagles, cartoon faces, and the odd banana: novelty buttons are where vintage gets fun. Most designs here are 1980s nylon and metal shanks made for children's wear and playful fashion, which makes them perfect for kids' cardigans, quirky knitwear, and craft projects that need personality. Collectors hunt several of these designs; sewists just enjoy them. Packs of 6 or 12, sizes on every listing.
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Novelty & Animal Buttons: Where Vintage Gets Fun
Lions with Greek-key borders, black nylon elephants, eagles in gold, smiley faces, the occasional banana: this is the corner of the archive where 1980s button designers clearly enjoyed their jobs. Novelty buttons were made for children's wear and playful fashion, and they remain the fastest way to give a hand-knit cardigan, kids' jacket or craft project a personality.
Two audiences shop here: sewists finishing children's clothes and quirky knitwear, and collectors — several of these designs (particularly the cartoon characters and figural animals) trade actively among button collectors, and our one-off packs tend to disappear permanently once sold.
For more character options, the star and heart shapes continue the theme, and novelty zipper pulls carry it onto jackets and bags.
Vintage Novelty & Animal Buttons — Questions, Answered
Are novelty buttons durable enough for kids' clothes?
Yes — that is what they were made for. The nylon designs especially survive machine washing and rough wear; sew them with doubled thread and they will outlast the garment.
Are any of these collectible?
Several — figural animals, cartoon designs and 1980s character buttons have an active collector market. We price as sewing stock, which is why collectors watch our new arrivals closely.
What size are animal buttons typically?
Most run 15–23 mm — cardigan and jacket scale. Exact sizes are on every listing, and packs are matched so a full garment gets identical buttons.
Can I buy single buttons instead of packs?
Packs are how the archive is organised, but collectors hunting a single design can email us — for rare figurals we occasionally split or locate singles in the unlisted stock.
