SHANGHAI — After flying 6,000 miles from California to Shanghai, Alexis Amaya skipped the city’s skyline views, the dumplings, and the historic gardens. Instead, she made a beeline for a toy store — on a mission to score a snaggle-toothed gremlin she just couldn’t get back home.

The creature she was after is called Labubu, a mischievous, wide-eyed gremlin born in a Chinese picture book and now one of the country’s most unlikely global exports. Once a niche collectible, Labubu has exploded into an international obsession, with fans lining up from Tokyo to Los Angeles and resale prices rivaling luxury handbags.

Amaya first learned about Labubu from her younger cousin, who joked that the furry, gremlin-like characters reminded her of Amaya’s dog. Intrigued, Amaya watched several unboxing videos, in which vloggers open toys and randomized “blind boxes,” and read countless social media posts about the frenzy surrounding the dolls and their growing scarcity.

“Due to their limited availability in the United States, a Labubu was on my checklist when I planned this trip to China,” Amaya, in her 20s, told Sixth Tone, as she browsed the Pop Mart store’s variety of wide-eyed figurines and candy-colored plushies.

Labubu — the name of both a tribe and its “ugly-cute” leader — first appeared in 2015 in “The Monsters,” a picture book series created by illustrator Kasing Lung, who was born in Hong Kong and raised in the Netherlands. After booming in popularity in China, the brand has gained global traction in recent years, with fans worldwide keen to showcase their collections online and secure limited-edition merchandise.

Driving the trend has been the global expansion of domestic toy companies, such as Pop Mart, Miniso, 52Toys, ToyCity, and StarPony, which is helping export more of China’s cultural products and intellectual properties, or IPs.

International endorsements for Labubu have come from megastars including Dua Lipa, Rihanna, and Lisa of the K-pop group Blackpink, while last year, Pop Mart launched a co-branding activity with Thailand’s tourism authority in which a Labubu mascot — in full traditional Thai dress — enjoyed a four-day tour of the nation’s capital, Bangkok.

The toy is even mentioned today in the same breath as Birkin bags and gold, thanks to a thriving secondary market that positions it as a promising long-term investment.

In addition to Labubu, Pop Mart has also released collectibles based on more creatures from “The Monsters,” such as Zimomo and Mokoko, as well as other homegrown IPs including Molly, a designer toy character created by Hong Kong artist Kenny Wong.

On April 25, the company announced that its app had reached No. 1 in the shopping category of Apple’s U.S. App Store, while long lines have become common outside its brick-and-mortar outlets in Japan, the U.S., and the United Kingdom, especially around new product releases.

“We tried to get one (a Labubu) in Tokyo, but the lines surrounding the Pop Mart store there were insane,” said Michelle Diaz, also from California, who has been traveling around Asia with Amaya. “People were waiting in lines that wrapped around the building just to get in the store. We never made it inside.”

Tina Dang, a tourist visiting Shanghai from Vietnam, was initially excited at the prospect of finding her favorite Labubu character from the “Big Into Energy” series in the Nanjing Road store, but she ultimately left empty-handed. “I was hoping it would be easier to get one in the source country, but it’s a pity — it’s sold out here, too,” she said.

With no Pop Mart outlets in her country, Dang said that a regular Labubu doll can cost the equivalent of 400 yuan ($55) through secondary market sales channels, which is roughly 300% more than the official retail price.

Global ambitions

Overseas sales of Labubu dolls helped Pop Mart increase its non-mainland revenue by 375% last year, contributing 40% of its $1.8 billion in total revenue, according to the company’s annual report in March.

About one-fourth of its 530 physical outlets and 7% of its 2,500 vending machine stores are located outside the Chinese mainland, stretching from Bangkok to Amsterdam to Los Angeles.

Wang Ning, the founder of Pop Mart, said in a media briefing that the toymaker aims to double its overseas sales in 2025, reaching at least 10 billion yuan, with North America seen as a new growth market alongside Southeast Asia.

Overall, China’s designer toy industry is expected to reach about 110 billion yuan in annual retail sales in 2026, up by more than 1,500% from 2015, while the global toy collectibles market is forecast to be worth $49 billion by 2034, compared with $26 billion last year.

A major driver for this commercial success in recent years has been the trend toward “emotional consumption,” in which the focus for purchases is meaning, rather than materialism. In this sense, designer toys have proven a distinct breed that transcends traditional toys, street art, pop culture, and cartoon IPs, according to Shanghai-based artist Agan, who specializes in the sector.

“What sets it apart is the organic evolution from this blend, imbued with a unique cultural essence that reflects the era and Chinese young people,” Agan told Sixth Tone. For her, collectibles are to China what K-pop is to South Korea and anime is to Japan — a cultural phenomenon born out of the country’s economic and cultural environment.

Agan said that the market success of an IP largely depends on its intrinsic value and long-term growth potential, with standouts often featuring a strong artistic vision and creative depth, enabling sustained evolution in content and design. “The key is that a good IP should have the adaptability to accommodate different potentials,” she added.

Jiang Yiyan, a university student in Nanjing, capital of the eastern Jiangsu province, said she’s drawn to Labubu’s endearing yet mischievous personality, as it reminds her of herself. “We’re very similar,” she said. “My Labubu is super adorable. The way she bares her teeth and wrinkles her brow gives off this evil-but-cute vibe. I love taking photos with her.”

The overseas expansion of Chinese IPs like Labubu is about more than just commercial success, according to experts, who say that, alongside the global popularity of the video game Black Myth: Wukong, the rise of collectibles in international markets underlines China’s growing cultural reach.

Domestic companies are shifting from exporting products to exporting brands and IP, Lan Qingxin, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics, in Beijing, told local media. “This is an inevitable result of shifting to the service economy. ‘Made in China’ will gradually transition to ‘Service by China’ and ‘Brand from China,’ fully reflecting the transformation and upgrading of the country’s industrial structure and the globalization of Chinese enterprises.”

China has been ramping up efforts to develop its cultural industry as part of a broader push to boost soft power. Online literature, video games, film and TV projects, and micro dramas are all experiencing similar development, as companies look to attract global audiences.

U.S. tourist Diaz said that beyond the Labubu toys themselves, it’s the experience that keeps her interested. “I think it makes me more inclined to visit and want to understand the culture because we don’t have anything like this back home,” she said.

Additional reporting: Yang Xinrui; editor: Hao Qibao.

(Header image: Shoppers browse the Labubu dolls at a Pop Mart pop-up store in Bangkok, Thailand, May 6, 2025. Lillian SUWANRUMPHA/VCG)