Labubu is a small, expensive and very popular grinning plush toy, the popularity of which may be hard for the average person to understand.
Labubu. Does it sound familiar? If you were on social media and happened to be breathing in the summer of 2025, you couldn’t have missed this one. All possible social media channels were filled with the fluffy, grinning character and people eager to buy it and if you were like me, you probably wondered; What on earth is Labubu and why does everyone want it? While researching the matter, I ended up down a surprisingly detailed rabbit hole, the reflection of which extended all the way to increasing China’s soft power.
What is Labubu?
Labubu is a familiar character from Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung’s The Monsters book series, which began to be produced a few years ago. According to the story, Labubu is a benevolent, elf-like creature who tries to help, but often accidentally manages to do the opposite. However, its explosive popularity is probably due to, among other things, the fact that Blackpink’s Lisa introduced it on her own social media channels. After this, Rihanna was seen with Labubu attached to a Louis Vuitton bag. Do we need more reasons for its mega popularity?
Of course, the character itself must look interesting in order to make people curious. The excitement is increased by the fact that the buyer never knows which character they will get, i.e. the packages are so-called mystery boxes. Behind the popularity is also suspected to be an escape from reality and a counterbalance to harsh events, as not only children but also adults are interested in the character. The “kidult” phenomenon has emerged, in which adults buy toys for themselves. A fun fact – in 2024, for the first time in the United States, people over 18 had acquired more toys for themselves than any other age group.
One factor that may have influenced their popularity is the availability of Labubu dolls. Despite continuous production, they have sold out all over the world. Real dolls have been difficult to obtain and, for example, in Finland in the summer of 2025 (when the trend was at its peak), only small batches were available for sale. For example, Stockmann department store told MTV Uutiset that getting a hundred Labubu dolls into the store was a months-long process and it can take just as long to get the next batch. When products are few and running out, it can create a psychological illusion of the rarity of the product.
Despite the problems, things are going well
The poor availability of products has created a market for counterfeits. This kind of imitation of the original Labubu is often known as Lafufu. Depending on the counterfeiter, it is a fairly similar product, but with shortcomings or, at worst, dangerous substances. The Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported that high concentrations of phthalates were found in a few fake Labubu. Phthalates, or plasticizers, can disrupt hormone function when they enter the body.
However, if there is one thing I learned as a child, it is that it DOES matter whether the product is genuine or fake. Based on my own interpretation, Labubus have been challenging to interpret as genuine, which is why there are several videos online that explain how to recognize a genuine one. Based on my own brief investigation, it is easiest to buy a counterfeit from an online store, since you cannot examine the packaging in advance and genuine photos are used as product images. With counterfeits, Labubu has become a source of income for organized crime.
There are also problems with the official manufacturer. The Guardian reported that at least one Chinese factory that manufactures Labubu has been found to have shortcomings. The factory in question was found to have inadequate occupational health and safety training and other labor rights violations.
Despite all this, Labubu is still very popular at the time of writing this article (February 2026) and just to be on the safe side, Sony Pictures acquired the film rights to the character in late 2025 and is developing a possible film based on it. The duration of the phenomenon will certainly dictate whether the film will ever be seen. My first thought about the film news was how to try to get the most out of the product greedily. But, for example, the Barbie movie (also a movie based on a toy) was worthy of eight Oscar nominations and was a critical success. So a potential Labubu film might not necessarily be the worst possible product, although I wouldn’t hold my breath regarding the quality of the film. Labubu may also have come across the world of video games, for example in Roblox or the Google Play store, where you can find a (probably unofficial) Labubu-themed game created for the Android operating system.
According to the Swedish Dagens Nyheter, Labubu is an example of China’s so-called soft power breakthroughs. On the other hand, it has now succeeded in creating a product and a character that is much loved and widely known around the world. And when the product is cool, China is also cool. Or so I believe that some in the Chinese soft power machinery think.
In any case, when I put my Labubu in my bag, I can be sure of at least a few things: I will definitely be as stylish as Rihanna now, 70 euros poorer, happier in depressing times and a horrible person for the environment.
Photos by the author
