Labubu: The ugly plush toy trend has its grip, even in NZ

A “cute ugly” collectible known as Labubu, spotted hanging off the fancy bags of megastars and models, has caused a craze which has now made it all the way to New Zealand.

The surging popularity of the toothy, fluffy figurines boosted the wealth of the chairman of Chinese toymaker Pop Mart - which bought exclusive rights to the character in 2019 - by US$1.6 billion in a single day, according to Forbes.

Aucklanders this month followed in the footsteps of Asian and American markets when more than 200 people queued outside Westfield Newmarket’s Pop Mart at the crack of dawn to get their hands on the new series. Named ‘Big into Energy’, the range features 12 designs in various colours that represent different emotions.

Related stories:

In under two hours, 150 customers secured Labubu plush pendants, costing $234 for the set of six or $39 for one. Resells on some websites like TradeMe advertised prices of $50-plus for one in the latest series.

An Auckland mother of two, who did not want to be named, stood in line for two hours but still missed out. She ended up getting a set after joining a WhatsApp group with about 800 members, which notifies Pop Mart customers of product restocks.

“I was really surprised when I turned up [and saw so many people at Newmarket],” the 33-year-old said.

Content creator Jasmine Kim was an early adopter, swept up in the hype in November last year. She said the recent Auckland frenzy sparked “sighting groups” on social media, where fans notify each other of stores with fresh stock.

Newmarket store manager Al Zhang said the demand was so great at Pop Mart they could barely keep up. A restock dropped to the shop's WhatsApp group on Wednesday afternoon was all gone in under 30 minutes.

The character has been around since 2015 when it was created by illustrator Kasing Lung Lung as part of his story series The Monsters. Lung told Hong Kong local newspaper Ming Pao he was inspired by Nordic folk tales of elves, trolls and fairies he had heard as a child in the Netherlands.

Pop Mart at Newmarket has been selling them since the store opened in 2023.

However, it’s widely believed that member of the K-Pop group Blackpink, Lisa (also of The White Lotus fame) fuelled Labubu's popularity after being spotted with one (and publicly confessing how much she loved the character in a Vanity Fair interview in April last year). They have also been spotted on the luxury handbags of trend-setting celebrities like Dua Lipa and Rihanna.

Shop manager Zhang said the Labubu customer base was predominantly Kiwi Asian last year but the demographic has widened.

“Some customer told me that like every girl in their classroom got one Labubu, otherwise you won't be able to go to school… There’s a more social element in it, so kids will show ‘look what colour I’ve got’, or if someone’s got the ‘secret’ version.”

The palm-sized keyrings come in blind boxes, and there’s also a one-in-72 chance of securing a ‘secret’ version.

The Auckland mum-of-two, who secured the new set of six, was not a collector nor was she influenced by the celebrity backing, but had seen several of her six-year-old’s peers with the pendant.

“It feels like it's got its own personality, like it's got quite a cheeky face … it's actually got a bit of edge and I think that's why it appealed to me.”

Kim, who now has four Labubus, believes the surprise concept and secret version are part of the appeal.

“The psychology behind wanting to collect everything, I think it's always been around. You're embedded with it as a child with Kinder surprises and all those other toys that they sell these days like the giant unicorn eggs.”

Like many others, she thought it looked ugly before it grew on her as “cute ugly”.

“It’s that urge to collect them all, I think, is what got me into it even more because I opened it up [and thought] ‘oh my gosh, I got the green one, it’s so cute, but I actually wanted the blue one’.

“It's not just me who thinks like this. I believe a lot of people think like this.”