Labubus Are the Key to Understanding 2025
The question isn’t why the furry, ugly-cute toys have achieved such success, so much as why not.
What all the fuss is about.
Source: VCG/Getty ImagesIf you ever get the feeling that your kids have a better grip on the state of the world than you do, maybe that’s because they understand Labubus better than you do.
Labubus were introduced to the world in 2015, when Netherlands-based author Kasing Lung published The Monsters, a series of children’s books featuring the characters. It wasn’t until the past couple of years, however, that fortune truly smiled on these ugly-cute elves — by transforming them into collectible furry toys that then became a globe-spanning cultural phenomenon, with sales this year on track to overtake Barbie’s and exceed $1 billion. The resulting surge in the share price of Pop Mart International Group Ltd., which makes and sells the toys, caused the Hong Kong-based company’s 38-year-old founder, Wang Ning, to became the 12th richest person in China, with a net worth of more than $20 billion.