When Justin Bieber cut his iconic shag hairstyle, his legion of teen followers weren’t the only ones in shock.

Toy manufacturer The Bridge Direct, the only company with an official license to make Bieber dolls, was up in arms when the teen heartthrob chopped off his trademark locks just before his 17th birthday, saying the heartthrob’s haircut cost them $100,000.

“First off, I had no idea what he did,” Jay Foreman, founder and CEO of the Florida-based firm tells CNN Money. “I heard a lot of shrieks around me, and people running in and out of their offices,” he added.

Foreman’s brand managers, many of who had set up Google alerts in order to keep a tab on Bieber’s every move, were the first in the company to know about his new shorter haircut.

“I got everyone into a conference room and we looked at some images,” Foreman recounts. “We weren’t sure what he had done. Then it became obvious that his trademark was gone.”

The $100,000 loss comes in because the company had to unexpectedly alter its current collection (Autumn 2011) to reflect the Biebs’ new ‘do.

“We didn’t want to disappoint fans with a Justin Bieber doll that doesn’t look exactly like him anymore,” says Foreman. “But there wasn’t much we could do about it.”

The first round of the new collection will feature the original shag hairstyle while the second delivery will reflect his new spiky, short cut.

Bookmark to: