How Labubu became a celebrity-fueled collectible phenomenon

What Labubu is, and why it looks nothing like a standard cute toy

Labubu sits inside Pop Mart’s The Monsters universe, a world Kasing Lung created in 2015 across three picture books inspired by Nordic mythology. Pop Mart describes Labubu as a small monster with high, pointed ears and serrated teeth, mischievous but kind-hearted. That weird little contradiction is the whole point: it is cute enough to collect, but strange enough to feel fresh in a market crowded with safer, softer characters.

The character also has a longer runway than casual outsiders usually realize. Pop Mart’s official shop says Lung began collaborating with Hong Kong designer-toy maker How2work in 2011, years before Labubu became a mass-market obsession. That backstory matters because it shows Labubu did not erupt from one viral post, it was built through years of character development, art-toy culture, and careful worldbuilding.

The blind-box format turned curiosity into repeat buying

The most important engine behind Labubu’s rise is not just the design, but the way Pop Mart sells it. Pop Mart markets its blind boxes around the “thrill of the unexpected,” and that surprise unboxing is exactly why the format is so sticky. You are not just buying a figure, you are buying the reveal, the chance, and the possibility of getting the one version you wanted.

That matters because blind-box collecting naturally pushes people toward repeat purchases. If you want a specific variant, want to complete a themed set, or want to trade for a harder pull, one box is rarely enough. The same mechanic also feeds resale dynamics, because scarcity is built into the experience from the start: some pulls feel rarer, some are more desirable, and the hunt becomes part of the product itself.

Why Labubu works as a flex piece, not just a shelf toy

Labubu’s most common forms, bag charms and pendants, helped turn it into a public accessory as much as a collectible. That is a big reason it spread beyond traditional toy circles. A figure clipped to a tote or backpack is visible in the real world, and visibility is what turns a niche collectible into a social signal.

That visibility also fits the way fans use Labubu as a personal style marker. Some clip it to bags, some display it at home, and others collect themed sets that show off taste, patience, and access to the right drops. In social media terms, it is easy to flex because the object is instantly recognizable once you know the shape, and the act of posting a pull or a styled bag becomes part of the hobby itself.

Celebrity validation gave the craze a fast lane

BLACKPINK’s Lisa was one of the early high-profile figures publicly embracing Labubu, and that kind of visibility helped accelerate awareness in the United States and across social media. Celebrity adoption does not create a fandom from nothing, but it gives a character instant legitimacy outside its original collector base. Once a toy is seen on a major star, it stops looking obscure and starts looking culturally current.

That matters especially for a character like Labubu, because its appeal is not based on conventional prettiness. The figure’s oddness is the hook. Celebrity visibility made that oddness feel aspirational instead of quirky, and once the toy moved into everyday style feeds, it became easier for new buyers to understand why the community cared so much.

The business numbers show this is bigger than a fad

Pop Mart’s results show that Labubu is not just a fan favorite, it is a revenue engine. The company reported 2024 revenue of RMB 13.04 billion, up 106.9% from 2023, and said revenue from The Monsters surpassed RMB 1 billion that year. Another report said Labubu’s success helped push The Monsters’ revenue to 3 billion yuan, a 726.6% increase, which gives a sense of how much lift this one IP brought to the company.

Reuters later reported that The Monsters accounted for almost 35% of Pop Mart’s first-half 2025 revenue, showing how dependent the business had become on this single universe. Reuters also reported that Pop Mart’s shares were up almost 200% at one point in 2025, and that the company was worth more than Hasbro, Mattel, and Sanrio combined. Those numbers are the clearest proof that Labubu’s rise reshaped how investors and the wider toy market see Chinese art toys.

Pop Mart is building Labubu like a long-term franchise

Pop Mart is not treating Labubu as a one-season craze. Reuters reported that the company wants to build the character into a long-term IP with content, theme parks, store displays, and more merchandise, and that it sees Disney as a model for how to monetize a character over time. That is a major strategic clue: the goal is not to milk one plush trend, but to keep the universe expanding.

For collectors, that kind of strategy usually means more drops, more characters, more display pieces, and more reasons to stay plugged into the cycle. It also helps explain why Labubu has staying power. The company is not just selling a toy, it is building an ecosystem around a character that can live on bags, shelves, screens, and eventually in much larger formats.

Why Labubu stuck when so many toys do not

Labubu became a phenomenon because several forces hit at once. The design is odd in a memorable way, the blind-box format makes each purchase feel like a gamble, the bag charm and pendant formats make it visible, celebrity exposure gave it social proof, and scarcity keeps collectors coming back for another pull. Add Pop Mart’s huge expansion and you get something bigger than a one-off fad.

That is why outsiders who only see a little monster with sharp teeth miss the real story. Labubu is not just cute or weird, it is engineered for repeated desire, public display, and long-term franchise growth. That combination turned a niche art-toy character into one of the clearest collectibles of the moment.