From collector toys to the international status symbol

It was a sunny Thursday evening in the New York Washington Square Park. People gathered there for one reason and only for one reason: a labubu fashion show.

On June 12, Labubu lover strut off the sidewalks with the tiny toy monsters, which were even cut on their wallets, backpacks, Beltloops – even their dog belts. The model with the best flair won a new toy and of course a wallet to hang it up.

The evening gave an insight into an apparently sudden obsession with the blind-boxed toy toy, which is sold for around $ 30 and sold by Pop Mart by Chinese Collectible Company. A label is “a small monster with high, pointed ears, jagged teeth” and a “mischievous” smile, according to Pop Mart.

Pop Mart sells hundreds of different versions of labubu – varies in color and rarity – and the fans do not know, which they bought until they were bought, similar to a sealed pack of baseball cards. The eerie little monsters mention more than 1 million TIKTOK videos and often sell in minutes.

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The fans range from adult fashionistas and toy collectors to parents who buy the strangely creepy dolls for their toddlers. You can put up in pop Mart stores and machines for hours and even travel overseas to get you into your hands. Some labs opt for hundreds or even thousands of dollars on resale marketplaces such as Stockx or Ebay.

According to the company's latest announcement, Pop Mart brought around 13.04 billion Yuan (1.8 billion US dollars) in 2024. This included the equivalent of around 460 million US dollars at a profit, according to the announcement.

According to Emily Brough, the head of intellectual property for America, only around 423 million US dollars of the global turnover of the Labububu's Global turnover. This is an increase of 729% compared to 2023, adds.

“We saw an incredible sales and interest in all of our IP,” says Brough. “Labubu certainly reached astronomical figures last year.”

Here is how Labubu went from a simple collector toys to a viral, money earner sensation.

Pop Mart was founded in 2010 as a small variety shop in Beijing, China. His founder Wang Ning – now 38 – had a knack for retail as a advertising student at college, where he sold accessories to his classmates, according to Bloomberg.

The company grew steadily and opened another retail store in a shopping center in 2011 and in 2016 in an online shop. Pop Mart regularly worked with artists to design and create different toys and figures.

Labubu is a character of “The Monsters” and Pop Mart's first wave of Labubu dolls “broke the [business’] Sales record in the Art Toy category, “said the company's website. A year later, Pop Mart began to act publicly in Hong Kong with an evaluation of 6.9 billion US dollars, so that the company manufacture in the reach of international toym such as Mattel and Hasbro.

In 2023, Pop Mart started selling versions of label with them. Then, in April 2024, Lalisa “Lisa” Manoban, member of the K-Pop band Blackpink, was discovered with a label on her handbag as a bag charm.

She unknowingly started mad when people flocked to get their own monster toy accessories – and quickly converted Pop Mart's dolls into a fashion accessory and a symbol of social status. Celebrities like Lizzo and billionaire Rihanna bring label on to her own wallets and popularly the toys.

People adapt their dolls and give them hats, “designers” outfits, sunglasses and their own wallets. Some people even rely on real tattoos on the faces of their laboratory. The market capitalization of POP Mart from Monday afternoon costs $ 43.28 billion -well over the 6.44 billion US dollars from Mattel and Hasbros $ 10.63 billion.

The vast majority of Pop Mart's sales come from Asia -only 1.6 billion US dollars in 2024, including 1.1 billion US dollars from the Chinese mainland. Nevertheless, Labux now has hundreds of thousands of fans all over the world, including 145,000 “monsters” in Redits Labububu community.

According to its website, Pop Marts worldwide include more than 90 retail locations in the USA, including vending machines. The success of the company has increased the estimated assets from Ning to 21.6 billion US dollars, says Forbes.

Some Labubu fans say that their affection for the plush monsters go far beyond the prominent influence: they love the unique-looking toys, the personalities created for them and the thrill to get a specific label for their collections.

Pop Mart's limited offer reported that customers fought for labeling. Increasing resale prices have created a market for Knockoff label known as “Lafufus” on platforms such as Amazon and AliExpress.

Fashion and pop culture trends do not last forever, which means that Labubu dolls could become increasingly popular over time. Pop Mart is currently planning to continue to expand internationally – to take advantage of enthusiasm while it exists – and expand its list of artists to create and sell more characters, says Brough.

“Pop Mart has been around for 15 years and we really build a brand for durability,” she says. “While we continue to diversify the portfolio of our artists and diversify the way people can really interact with our characters, we will continue our mission, to illuminate passion and to bring joy over years.”

Conversions from CNY to USD were carried out with the Oanda Conversion rate of 1 CNY 0.13923 USD on June 16, 2025. All amounts are rounded off to the next dollar.

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