Hello Kitty for men

Sanrio is launching a line of Hello Kitty stuff for men. Wait, those little pencil-boxes weren't unisex?

An Sanrio Co. employee shows Hello Kitty products targeted at young men at the company's headquarters in Tokyo Friday, Dec. 28, 2007. The cuddly white cat, usually seen on toys and jewelry for young females, will soon adorn T-shirts, bags, watches and other products targeting young men, company spokesman Kazuo Tohmatsu said Friday. The feline for-men products will go on sale in Japan next month, and will be sold soon in the U.S. and other Asian nations, according to Sanrio. (AP Photo)

Link (via Tokyo Mango)

• [Chickie Pants]

  Actually, this makes me want to go out and find them. Kitty is a pleasant reminder from my childhood, but I loathe pastel pink and “girly” colors (and not about to buy those crap Emo Kitty shirts at Goth-n-Go) I’m much more likely to want to buy that dark blue one. The black one is just kind of surreal. Is she dreaming of having a face? And if so, how long until Father Brown flips his shit over this one?

• [Phos….]

  @TMCCARTNEY…

  You may get a laugh out of this. A buddy of mine from the Adobe forums is well known for his gruff public attitude. Many of us who know him well know he’s really a pussy-cat.

  A few years ago he posted an image of himself telling a clueless newbie the answer the newbie really needed to hear. I grabbed the JPEG he posted and softened his image…but only just a little bit.

  Stab the link! (about 176KB):
  http://home.comcast.net/~phosphor-digital/bbs/bukokittyanimation.gif

• [Jeff]

  What would one of the South Park boys say…? “That’s so gay.” I’d say it too. Which is kinda funny, since I gave a hello kitty beach towel to my gay friend for Xmas. He loved it.

• [A New Challenger]

  My god the blue one terrifies me.

  Anyone remember the surreal Hello Kitty commercial Target aired a few years ago? The visuals weren’t that trippy, but the song was kind of odd. The vocals consisted of a voice saying “Hello [noun]” over and over, with various things inserted after “hello.” The kicker was the line “Hello Lunchmeat” which caught me off guard and remains an in-joke between me and my sister. It took me a while to make sense of that; the ad was for back-to-school supplies, and lunchmeat is a part of the typical school experience for many. So I suppose it’s not a completely random line, but it was still odd.

  Also, there are other Sanrio characters that would be more amenable to introducing a line of male clothing, although none are as iconic (Keroppi comes close.) I can’t see myself wearing the shirts, personally. Maybe some of the other stuff.

• [XuYu]

  Dumbest idea ever: what little girl wants to look like some jerk businessman, and vice versa?

• [Louise12345]

  My buddy told me of seeing a guys car with a 4 ft. Hello Kitty graphic on the hood as well as other swag in the rear window and elsewhere. Men don’t seem to have the ‘macho’ in Japan that they have in other parts of the world. Refreshing I guess.

• [Trix]

  Well, XUYU, perhaps the target audience isn’t jerk businessmen and little girls. Personally, I think it’s *dykes*. Like me. I want the (non-pink) kitteh.

• [hygraed]

  I would wear the shit out of these. Unfortunately they will probably be upwards of US$25 per shirt, which is way over my limit for a single t-shirt.

• [haineux]

  Grumpy because Sanrio already had BAD BADTZ-MARU which was very appealing to men, and he’s been shelved. Now Sanrio decides the mouthless, ultimately inoffensive HK is just the ticket.

  Grumpy.

• [Tenlow]

  Yay! I’m ahead of the curve on this one. Hello Kitty is badass. Has been for some time. I’ve even got the Hello Kitty checking account from BofA.

• [Anonymous]

  what the heck is the hello kitty checking account? i’m a bofa customer…and i want one. do you mean you have hello kitty checks? your checks have hello kitty on them?

• [Anonymous]

  Okay this is a total lie! I’ve looked online for these shirts and I can’t find them. DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE THESE SHIRTS ARE FOR SALE??? HELP!!!

• [Kat]

  Are you man enough to wear Hello Kitty, Cory?

• [Antinous]

  It’s about goddamn time! Every adult male size anime tee shirt has swords or guns on it. I’m a girlie man and I want the cute!

• [Antinous]

  Hmmm. My comment shows up on the main page under Recent Comments, yet it’s not here where it should be. Is it because I said that I’m a girlie man?

• [Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator]

  No, it’s because Boing Boing’s front end and its comments live on two different databases. Sometimes it takes a while for a posted comment to show up in the thread.

• [Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator]

  New Challenger: Fotherington-Thomas has gone pro.

• [Anonymous]

  God this shit is awesome.
  I think wearing a hello kitty shirt would epitomise masculinity. What could be more awesome than a man, possibly a rugby prop-forward wearing the blue one?

  Shit im buying these

• [arbitraryaardvark]

  Black is the new pink?

• [Lauren O]

  #7 – I totally remember those. “Hello Happy Bear” is the in-joke between me and my sister. I must have blocked “Hello Lunchmeat” out of my memory. It’s pretty gross-sounding…

  Also, a boyfriend of mine definitely had a Choco-Cat wallet, and I bought him a Badtz Maru keychain as a gift once.

• [isao]

  Reminds me of the first time I saw a male businessman in Tokyo subway holding a briefcase made by Louis Vitton. I was astonished, then delighted, and finally loathed myself for not carrying my digital camera but didn’t matter anyhow – these designed-for-male bags were swamping all over Tokyo shortly. History repeats itself.

• [slywy]

  Timing—I saw a 20ish man on the bus pull out a Hello Kitty wallet to pay his fare. And this is in Chicago.

• [tmccartney]

  Is the kitty on the black T-shirt flipping a bird?