Labubu Dolls: The Unlikely Collectibles Selling for Tens of Thousands of Pounds
In a phenomenon that has left many baffled, small and furry Labubu dolls, created by Chinese company Pop Mart, have become highly sought-after collectibles, selling for tens of thousands of pounds. According to _The Times_, the dolls, which resemble a cross between rabbits and elves, have captured the hearts of mainly female social media fans, who deem them “impossibly photogenic”.
The Labubu dolls, supposedly based on Nordic mythology, have spread rapidly across the Pacific from their original home of Hong Kong to America, and are now on a mission to take over the world, or so Pop Mart hopes. The company’s success has been remarkable, with its value rocketing thanks to the popularity of the Labubu line. As _The Times_ reports, a four-foot-high Labubu was sold at auction for more than a million yuan (approximately £110,000) in Beijing on Wednesday.
The buying frenzy surrounding the toy has been remarkable, with China, along with other east Asian countries, having a youth culture that is obsessed with “cute style”, a trend first seen in Japan with Hello Kitty dolls. This trend has been expressed in everything from soft toys to the dress codes of Korean boy and girl bands. While mostly confined to Asia, the trend is beginning to spread, particularly via Chinese communities on the western American seaboard.
Pop Mart has become a giant in Asia and beyond, with 500 own-brand stores, including 22 in the US and 16 in the UK. The company’s marketing skills have proved second to none, with its trick being to sell its toys in “blind boxes” where the buyer does not know exactly what model they are getting. As _The Times_ notes, just a few enough Labubus are made in some designs to turn each one of those models into a collectable, with some customers buying more and more in the hope of being able to sell a “rarity” for thousands of dollars.
The toy was unofficially endorsed by Lisa, a Thai-born member of the K-pop supergroup Blackpink, who posed with one for an Instagram video a year ago and then started attaching miniatures to her handbags. Then, pop stars Rihanna and Dua Lipa were separately photographed carrying them, while David Beckham was said to have been given his by his daughter, Harper. The craze has already taken over large parts of Asia, Europe, and the United States.
The sale of the four-foot-high Labubu in Beijing was part of a 48-lot collection that went for more than £380,000 in total. The piece was from a 2017 series of which only 120 copies were made, accounting for its high value. Other models have been sold by Sotheby’s, including a “don’t hear, don’t speak, don’t see” set valued at up to £7,500. Police have since been called to control crowds of young women queuing to buy models in Singapore, and raids have been conducted on fake Labubu manufacturers in Thailand. The company’s share price has almost tripled since the start of the year. As _The Times_ reports, “The success of the Labubu line has helped the value of Pop Mart to rocket.”
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