Chinese toymaker Pop Mart's adorable furry charms are so popular in Britain that shortages are leading to fisticuffs in stores there. Pop Mart even took Labubu and friends off the shelves in hopes of calming down the Gen Z maniacs fighting over them, but this only made them angrier: "It's your fault for drip feeding stock to us that's caused this hype," the BBC quoted one.
Labubu fan Victoria Calvert said she witnessed chaos in the Stratford store in London. "It was just getting ridiculous to be in that situation where people were fighting and shouting and you felt scared." … Labubu is a quirky monster character created by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung, and popularised through a collaboration with toy store Pop Mart. Since gaining celebrity status they've gone viral as a fashion accessory.
Sold in stores for a £14, they're now going for £100 or more on the street. If no-one is fooled by Pop Mart's marketing shenanigans, it's nice to see they still make tulips out of good old-fashioned plastic. Labubu will "return in June," the company says. In the meantime, there's the creator's instagram page.
Previously:
• Bankrupted by Beanie Babies
• Beanie Babies tycoon faces prison for tax fraud
• Bubblenomics: how the Beanie Babies speculators got it wrong
