Xinjiang Labubu plush lamb draws crowds in Urumqi mall stall

A small stall inside Jinquan Mall in Urumqi turned into a stop on the tourist map after netizens began calling its handmade plush lambs the “Xinjiang Labubu.” The animals, dressed in traditional Xinjiang-style clothing and run by vendor Abdulla Aimirila, drew steady lines of buyers who came from RedNote and Douyin buzz as much as from the mall floor itself.

The appeal was not just the look. Customers could pick hats, accessories and decorations, then watch each lamb assembled on the spot, which gave every purchase the feel of a custom collectible rather than a simple souvenir. The raw materials were inexpensive, but the finished lamb carried enough personality and shareability to send some shoppers straight from the airport with luggage in tow, while others left with as many as 10 lambs in one visit.

That demand pushed well beyond the stall. A Hangzhou-based craft company that supplied the miniature flower hats reportedly had to add two dedicated production lines and was turning out about 13,000 hats a day, with preorders already booked through mid-July. In a hobby economy built on scarcity, display value and fast-moving social chatter, that kind of supply-chain strain is its own signal: once a cute object gets a name, the name can start moving product, even when the object is not an official branded release.

That is where the Labubu comparison matters. Labubu was created by Hong Kong illustrator Kasing Lung as part of The Monsters series, then licensed by Pop Mart and launched in blind-box form, helping the character break out of niche collecting and into the mainstream. Pop Mart said its 2025 revenue rose 185% year over year to 37.12 billion yuan, or $5.38 billion, underscoring how much commercial force the character now carries.

The Urumqi lamb was not a Pop Mart product, and that distinction is the point. “Xinjiang Labubu” became a useful shorthand for a certain kind of object collectors now recognize instantly: cute, scarce, highly shareable and tied to place as much as to brand. At Jinquan Mall, that shorthand was powerful enough to pull in airport arrivals, fill shopping bags with multiples and turn a handmade lamb stall into a destination.