When moving into a college dorm, there are only so many items you can fit into a handful of milk crates. Books, mugs, and posters are staples, but there’s only so much personality you can cram into a 6’ by 4’ living space—intentionality is key. One little buddy that came with me to this small public university was my vintage Garfield plush.

Made in 1981 in Korea, standing at 7 inches tall, weighing no more than a copy of Turtles All The Way Down from the local library, this plush lives on my desk, seated next to the six-year-old dollar store bamboo plant and a coin jar I repurposed from an old ice cream container. I purchased this version of Garfield from eBay for $10 back in April 2022. I find familiarity and comfort in this plush, hence why I will refer to this Garfield as he.

The first thing to know about this Garfield is that he is orange. Not a dark orange like a tangerine, or a rich orange like a pumpkin—his orange is lightened by years of wear and tear, leaving him a bright yellow-orange. This is more noticeable when he is sat in areas of dull colors. Just under his eyes, across his face, his cheeks are a light tan color. His ears, head, body, legs, and tail are dusted black to make up his stripes, appearing very light but still noticeable. 

Another thing to know about Garfield is that he’s soft to the touch. His fur very short and coarse but clumped close enough together to resemble the texture of a tufted rug. If you were to squeeze him in any portion of his upper body, it would be the same as squeezing any other plush toy. However, when squeezing Garfield near his legs, lower body, or tail, he is much denser, and he makes a crunching sound from inside. This is the heaviest part of him, as the stuffing there is made of shredded clippings and ground nutshells. It is how Garfield can sit upright. Only his feet and tail are moveable, though they are firm stitched to return back to their original position once let go. Otherwise, he has very few moving parts.

From the corners of the base on either side of his ears, three black strands of thread stick out, making up his whiskers.  He is completely furry, save for his eyes and nose. Those are hard pieces of plastic stitched and glued into the fabric. His circular eyes are painted, glossy and half-lidded, with minor scuffs and chips; they are only slightly separated by a thin line of fur, disconnecting his eyes, a contrast to typical comic depictions of the cartoon cat. Garfield’s nose is a much smaller oval shape and a very light pink. This nose is disconnected from the eyes, but at the very bottom, a thick black thread emerges, diverging two ways from that point and stretching a curl across his face, making up Garfield’s smile. That very same type of thread makes up his whiskers (mentioned previously) and marks the indents between his toes.

Now this all sounds like the making of America’s famous cartoon cat, but what makes this particular plush different is that he is a chef. Garfield wears a small white bib, a piece of felt sewn onto a white ribbon tied around his neck in a double knot. Though it has the capacity to become undone, the bib remains. In magenta text, center-aligned and in all-caps, the bib reads, “I LOVE LASAGNA!” He also had a hat, a small, white, thin piece of fabric stitched to make a chef’s toque. The hat has no stuffing, stitched into the back of Garfield’s head and right ear. Though the original plush had more stitches, they have since broken, and the hat is only held by two white threads, one in his ear, the other just halfway down his head. 

Being a vintage plushie, this particular Garfield is also made of what he is not. Newer/minted versions of this plush still retain the original tag, a red paper tag held by a thin piece of plastic hooked into his ear. The tag featured the comic version of Garfield, with a thought bubble reading, “Take me home…feed me.” On the back, instructions and other information on caring for the plush is listed. This tag did not come with my Garfield, but it is one I knew he once had. (Seen below is an eBay listing for this Garfield that has the original tags).

This vintage Garfield plushie is one of tens that circulate the eBay market, but I was drawn to him for his size and charm. He was the perfect pal to have throughout high school, and now to bring to college. He brings me back to a time when I was 11, voraciously consuming every comic I could all the way back from 1978; he reminds me of my special interest from so long ago, coming back in a new way, in a new body, in a new little chef’s hat.