Latest news with #plush toys
The Independent
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Labubu doll maker says profits set to soar 350%
Chinese toymaker Pop Mark said it is expecting the massive popularity of Labubu dolls to lead to soaring profits for the first six months of the year. The popularity of the fang-toothed plush toy spread like a wildfire after celebrities like Blackpink 's Lisa and Rihanna were seen flaunting them on their luxury bags. The Beijing -based company on Tuesday said it expects at least a 350 per cent profit and about a 200 per cent jump in revenue for the first six months of the year. The persistent global demand for Labubu dolls has turned Pop Mart into a $40bn (£31.6bn) company, with its Hong Kong -listed shares jumping 588 per cent over the past year, according to Bloomberg. The company's revenue more than doubled in 2024 to $1.81bn (£1.35bn), mostly due to the elvish dolls. Revenue from Pop Mart's plush toys soared more than 1,200 per cent in 2024, accounting for nearly 22 per cent of its overall revenue, according to the company's annual report. The Labubu, by artist and illustrator Kasing Lung, first appeared in three picture books inspired by Nordic mythology in 2015. In 2019, Mr Lung struck a deal with Pop Mart to sell Labubu figurines. But it wasn't until Pop Mart started selling Labubu plush toys on key rings in 2023 that the toothy monsters suddenly seemed to be everywhere. It took the dolls less than a year to break into the Western market, aided by their increased visibility on the Chinese video app TikTok. The charms can often be seen dangling from expensive Hermes Birkins and Miu Miu bags, lending them a fun and colourful twist. Labubus, priced at around $40 (about £30), are released in limited quantities and sold in 'blind boxes', meaning buyers don't know the model they will receive. The company has faced criticism over its marketing technique, which some say promotes compulsive buying. As well as regular designs, there are also so-called "secret edition" Labubus, which are especially rare and sought-after by collectors. Demand for Labubus is so high, that rare Labubus are being resold for more than $1,000 (£745) each, according to reports. In June, a life-sized Labubu figure was sold in China for 1.08m yuan ($150,000 or £111,800 ) at an auction, setting a new record for the "blind box" toy. Amidst its growing popularity, Pop Mart has responded to the surge in counterfeits by releasing detailed videos on how to verify a doll's authenticity. Right now Pop Mart, whose products are manufactured across Asia, says that it is continuously scaling production and expanding distribution across its online shop, retail stores and 'blind box' vending machines to meet increasing demand.
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Bloomberg
Labubu Craze to Spur 350% Surge in Profit, China's Pop Mart Says
Chinese toymaker Pop Mart International Group Ltd. expects the soaring global popularity of its Labubu plush toys to drive a threefold increase in first-half revenue and an even bigger boost to profit. Labubu — a plush, pointy-eared, serrated-tooth monster — is the center of a global collectibles craze, with celebrities like Rihanna and BlackPink's Lisa flaunting them. Last month, a human-sized toy sold for $150,000 at an auction in Beijing.
BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Jellycat: Independent shops devastated as brand pulls supply
Jellycat plush toys have been lining the walls at Rumours in Whitby for more than two times, they've taken up a third of the North Yorkshire gift shop's total shelf space. "They've always been a good seller," said manager Joe Orrell, whose father owns the last month, Mr Orrell received an email he "couldn't quite believe".Jellycat, the British soft toy company, told him it would no longer be supplying Rumours. It did not provide a reason."We were absolutely gutted," Mr Orrell said. Sales of the brand's toys made up a "significant portion" of the shop's income. The BBC spoke to owners and managers from four independent shops who said they had been hurt and surprised when Jellycat abruptly told them it would stop supplying them."Unfortunately we're not able to support every shop that wants to stock our products and, after very careful consideration, we recently reviewed our relationship with some stores," Jellycat said in a statement. It put this figure at 100 stores in the UK. "We're truly grateful for their historic support and wish them all the best for the future," it said, adding it still supplied about 1,200 independent stores. Puddleducks, a children's clothing store in Diggle, near Oldham, had been selling Jellycat toys for close to 20 brand had "really taken off" in popularity over the past year, said owner Alison McCabe, and some weeks she sold hundreds of items. She would be "inundated" with messages from customers asking which items her shop had in stock, she after what she described as months of difficulty getting hold of stock, Jellycat contacted her in mid-June telling her it would no longer supply her. The emails to stockists who were being cut off were sent on 18 June and appear to be identical in content, apart from the name of the shop. The owners and managers were not addressed by name, with the emails instead addressed to a "Jellycat stockist"."We're sorry to let you know that, after careful consideration, we'll no longer be supplying Jellycat products to Rumours," the email to Mr Orrell, viewed by the BBC, said. This was related to its "brand elevation strategy", it added."Please do not place more orders as they will not be fulfilled," the email continued. "Our decision to conclude the business relationship is final and not open to negotiation."Jellycat did not explain in the emails why it cut the businesses off."We can only think that we're not good enough," Mrs McCabe said, adding she did not know if she could make any changes to encourage Jellycat to start supplying her group of store owners, who Jellycat says are among the 1,200 still being supplied, were told they would not be what Jellycat called an "official stockist" but their accounts were "unaffected". The BBC understands this means Jellycat would still supply them with stock, where available, but would not given them an Official Jellycat Stockist sticker to display in their shop in this group was Erica Stahl, owner of Pippin, a gift shop in Edinburgh. She told the BBC she was "speechless" when she read the email and that she chose to close her told the BBC: "We select our stockists carefully so that we know customers will receive a joyful experience in their stores, and so Jellycat characters can be found throughout the country." Jellycat became a TikTok hit Shop owners told the BBC Jellycat's toys had always been a stable seller, bought as gifts for newborns or by children saving up pocket money. Then, last summer, the brand boomed in store owners credited this to the toys becoming hugely popular on TikTok and Instagram, with collectors showing off their toys have also been a growing trend among "kidults" - adults with a strong interest in toys and childish ephemera, such as Lego and Sonny Angels dolls. In recent years, Jellycat has become increasingly focused on the theatricality of presenting its products, with big "immersive" displays at some large department stores. At Selfridges in London, toys are displayed around a pretend fish and chip van and wrapped up like a take-away by staff. Jellycat also opened a "diner" in New York City and a "patisserie" in Paris - all in gentle shades of blue, with shelves of neatly arranged toys, which fans began to post about on social brand said presentation was just one factor it considered when reviewing partnerships with stores. Jellycat also told the BBC it had visited all its independent stores in person. 'Dribs and drabs' of stock However, with Jellycat's rise in popularity, came changes to the availability of stock, the shop owners approximately the last 12 months, since the toys became more of an online trend, Mr Orrell said stock would only arrive in "dribs and drabs" and his shop had had to reduce the size of its Jellycat display. Collectors visiting his store were getting "more and more disappointed" with what was Kenyon, co-owner of JAK Hanson, a department store near Wigan, said he would wait months for some orders, or they would arrive incomplete. Customers would travel from around the UK to buy Jellycat toys from his store, but he couldn't advise customers on when stock was arriving as he didn't owners and managers said they felt Jellycat was prioritising its relationships with bigger retailers."It became nearly impossible to even order any of the bestselling stock," said Miss Stahl."Small independents like myself are only allowed to order from a list of random mismatched odds and ends that the big shops clearly didn't want," she said. Charlotte Stray, of Keydell Nurseries in Hampshire, agreed. Independent stores were "pushed to the back of the queue" for stock, she Keydell Nurseries got the letter in June saying Jellycat would no longer be supplying it, "we weren't happy, but we'd been disappointed in the last six, eight months over the supply anyway," Mrs Stray said."We've been increasing our supply to both types of stores - small independents and national retailers - at the overall same rate," Jellycat told the BBC. "Keeping all our partners well stocked remains a challenge, and we're constantly working behind the scenes to improve how we plan, allocate and deliver stock as fairly and thoughtfully as we can."The company said independent stores would continue to be "as important in our future as they've been in our past". 'It's left a really sour taste in my mouth' Mrs Stray said that by cutting off some stockists, Jellycat was "crushing independent stores", who had supported the brand from the start and relied on it for a big portion of their have said they are not happy about how Jellycat has treated independent stores, with negative comments flooding the brand's recent social media posts. A post by Miss Stahl on her shop's Instagram account about Jellycat telling her she did not qualify as an "official stockist" has nearly 50,000 likes, with many commenters criticising the brand's conduct."I think they've really let themselves down," Bex Christensen, 38, a photographer from Nork Yorkshire, told the BBC. She's been collecting Jellycat toys for more than 20 years and "it's always been from independent shops", she also buys the toys for her two children and estimates that, between them, they have about 100 Jellycat toys at home."As a purchaser, it's made it really difficult because my kids love it - but it's left a really sour taste in my mouth," she said. "Jellycat grew off independent businesses."Jellycat told the BBC it was doing more than ever to support the independent stores it works with, and was planning new initiatives and stores the BBC spoke to said they were going to stock different plush toys Orrell is optimistic about the future of his business."We'll certainly survive," he said. "We've been going a lot longer than Jellycat have. We're not too concerned."
South China Morning Post
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Travelling with a plushie? Japan hotel offers mini beds for stuffed toys
A hotel in Japan is offering mini beds and even pyjamas for stuffed toys, attracting travellers with plush companions. Growing numbers of young people are no longer travelling alone. Instead, they hit the road with carefully dressed plush toys. Some place them in backpacks with transparent windows, while others carry them in their arms. Many social media users have shared their travel adventures with plush toys, most of them young people or fans of popular cartoon characters. One traveller always takes Chiikawa, a shy and tearful white hamster from a Japanese manga series, on his trips across Asia. He takes it to restaurants, arranges it in different sleeping positions on hotel beds and styles it in cute outfits. Another person posted photos of two Japanese amberjack plush toys on a bullet train. 'My little fish loves watching the scenery roll by. It was so happy it flipped onto its belly,' they wrote. Seriously cute: psychologist explains Chiikawa's popularity among Hong Kong youth Wang Liufeng, a psychology consultant with the Chinese Association for Mental Health, noted that stuffed toys offer comfort and companionship. 'They do not talk, they do not judge, but they are always by your side. It is a form of unconditional emotional support,' said Wang. On June 25, the Japanese hotel chain Toyoko INN launched a new service for guests visiting with plush toys. For an extra 300 yen (US$3), guests receive a mini bed for their toy, along with free toy-sized pyjamas to use during their stay. A hotel representative told J-Cast News he often travels with stuffed animals and hopes the service will resonate with Generation Z travellers. The response has exceeded expectations, and the hotel plans to roll it out to more locations soon. This toy frog is clearly enjoying his stay. Experts say the cuddly companions offer their owners comfort. Photo: Many people on the internet welcomed the move. 'Affordable and heartwarming, this is truly a hotel with love,' said one person. 'I feel like my five teddy bears will fight over who gets to sleep in the special bed,' another said. The trend is also catching on in China, with related topics garnering more than 10 million views on mainland social media. In April, an internet user called 'do not Wanna Get Up' took two stuffed dog toys on a tour of Europe, snapping photos of them at 18 tourist spots. 'Everywhere I went, strangers wanted to take pictures with my plushies. It made me even happier than being in the photos myself,' she said. Happy birthday, Moo Deng! Thai internet sensation turns one In January, a woman in Shanghai took a stuffed eggplant toy on a flight and placed it in the seat beside her. A flight attendant even buckled it in, earning smiles from fellow passengers. One online observer put it best: 'One look at my plush toy, and all the memories from that trip come rushing back. That is their magic.'
