At left, you see the Tomy (Foot-bottom-tag) Tails. He was made in the early 1990s, and is about 13 inches high. As you can see, he has no glove belts, and fuzzy shoes. His bangs are also smooth pieces of felt. He was released alongside the Sonic who also had the tag across the bottom of the foot. 

The photo above however...shows this Tails (right) and the Japanese one (left) complete with its original green-squares Sonic 2 tag. Look how similar they are! The only differences are that the Japan one used a more expensive method for the bangs (they're plush) they bothered to detail his gloves, and the shoes are more proporionate/not oddly fuzzy. It is likely Tomy bought the pattern from the Japanese maker, then changed the materials they used.