Labubu are a line of puppets distributed by the Chinese toy chain Pop Mart. The Labubu were created by the artist Kasing Lung, they are part of the universe of The Monsters: it is a world populated by fantastic creatures, in which elements of eastern folklore and typical atmospheres of western fairy tales blend.
The Pop Mart chain acquired the production and distribution rights of the puppets in 2019: the products are generally sold on the market in 'surprise boxes', or 'blind boxes', so the buyer does not know which doll will be inside the package. The phenomenon exploded in 2024, when the singer Lisa of the k-pop group Blackpink began to show and talk about her passion for these puppets. And other international stars have also exhibited them, from Dua Lipa to Rihanna via Kim Kardashian.
Labubu's success soon took on a global dimension: in August 2025, just over twelve months ago, Pop Mart announced that in the first six months of the year sales had risen to 1.93 billion dollars. Profits were up nearly 400%, and its shares were up 12.54% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The sales numbers of the puppets had led the parent company to grow exponentially, and to be worth more than the US toy giants Hasbro and Mattel combined.
There seem to have been two elements behind Labubu's success: the blind boxes and the difficulty in finding some particular pieces. As for the former, Katelynn Carlson, a marketing professional and enthusiast, explained to the BBC that the surprise box system helped make them popular around the world because it made collecting a nostalgic experience, evoking the feeling of opening presents in childhood. And regarding the difficulty in finding some dolls, Samer El Hajjar, marketing professor at the National University of Singapore, added that this phenomenon pushed fans to repeatedly purchase the surprise packages in the hope of getting the desired version.
The success, however, did not last forever: in fact, Pop Mart recently announced that global sales in the quarter ending in September 2026 decreased by up to 50% compared to the previous year. The decline was particularly sharp outside of mainland China, with revenues in the United States falling by at least 70%. The value of its shares has also fallen by more than 50% since its peak last year.
In any case, the company can still count on some strengths: Pop Mart in fact has 500 stores in more than 30 countries, and also 2 thousand vending machines all over the world. And the company's value is almost 24 billion dollars, a figure that places it among the most valuable toy companies in the world. However, investors fear that the brand's global success was due to a period of product virality, and not to sustainable growth driven by customer loyalty. And according to Ashley Dudareno, of the Chinese research company ChoZan, the sense of exclusivity of the Labubu disappeared when Pop Mart increased the production of the puppets to satisfy the growing demand on the market.
Another sign of Labubu's decreasing popularity also comes from collectors and content creators: several people contacted by the BBC have in fact underlined how their videos and online content, which previously easily achieved impressive numbers of views, have for some time now begun to struggle to obtain those figures online. And so for some of them a repositioning operation began, giving more space to other trends such as Hello Kitty and squishies (soft toys to squeeze).
And if the virality of Labubu has waned, other collectible products sold in surprise packages are recording growing numbers: for example the Sonny Angels, tiny cherub-like dolls, or the Smiski fluorescent miniatures, are experiencing ever greater popularity. And now you can also find My Little Pony and KPop Demon Hunters in the blind boxes. According to experts, one of the main challenges for Pop Mart now is to create characters capable of lasting over time: and the company is in fact investing huge resources to develop its brand, including through the opening of a theme park in Beijing and the announcement of a film dedicated to Labubu.
