Labubu dolls arrive in the D.C. area as resale prices soar for the plush, toothy toys

A collectible toy craze from China has grabbed the Washington area. Labubus — small, toothy figures with goblinlike grins — are popping up in local shops and collector circles, drawing attention far beyond their playful appearance.

The wide-eyed toys have become the latest must-have accessory, with resale prices soaring and collectors chronicling their hunts on TikTok.

“The Labubu craze [is] maybe a result of the whole kind of summer season, and, you know, it’s a little bit silly and cute, and it’s an accessory,” Cristel Russell, a professor of marketing at Pepperdine University, told The Washington Times. “It’s also something people talk about. So it has a lot fun to it and also that hedonic element. It’s not a super rational thing.”

Washington area fans looking to score the widely coveted toy can find vending machines at malls in Bethesda, Tysons and Springfield, Axios reported.

“Wow! Did not think they’d have everything in stock,” a Maryland collector said in a TikTok video this month, documenting his shock at finding a full Labubu vending machine in Bethesda’s Montgomery Mall.

Originally a storybook elf figure designed by Hong Kong-Belgian illustrator Kasing Lung, Labubu began to be produced as toys by Chinese toy giant Pop Mart in 2019. The more than 300 variants that have hit the market range from 15-inch figures to 31-inch versions priced near $1,000, according to The Strategist, a product review website published by New York Magazine.

Pop Mart released keychain versions of Labubus in 2023, sparking a tremendous boost to the brand’s popularity.

“Trends can go global so much easier now. It’s like the Cabbage Patch Kids of yesteryear,” Deborah Weinswig, CEO of Coresight Research, told Axios.

Sales have kept pace. Pop Mart’s “Monster” series, which includes Labubu, brought about $870 million in the first half of 2024, company filings show. The company’s stock has risen nearly 200% this year, according to MarketWatch reports.

Collectors have pushed resale prices even higher. A limited-edition 4-foot mint-green Labubu reportedly sold for $170,000 at the first official Labubu art auction in Beijing last week, drawing nearly 1,000 bidders.

Pop Mart’s “blind-box” sales model, which conceals the figure inside until after purchase, has reportedly fueled demand by encouraging repeat purchases.

The Washington Times has reached out to Pop Mart for comment.

One Reddit user and Labubu owner said the mysterious quality of the product inside the box gives buyers an “adrenaline rush.”

“They are fundamentally ‘loot boxes’ in physical form,” the user wrote. “They give you a sense of adrenaline rush, just like loot boxes in games or slot machines.”

Labubu was instantly popular upon its 2019 release, Pop Mart said. The revenue generated from the first series launch “broke the sales record in the art toy category,” the company proclaimed in a media statement.

The subsequent market value soared alongside celebrity exposure and social media, Reuters reported. K-pop group Blackpink’s Lisa was the first notable celebrity sighting. She posted a photo with Labubu on Instagram and later praised the doll in interviews.

Other influencers soon followed suit. Reality television star Kim Kardashian, pop diva Dua Lipa and soccer legend David Beckham have been seen with Labubu bag charms or collectibles.

“That’s the age-old power influence of anyone, but especially the ‘macro celebrities,’ we call them, as opposed to the more, you know, ‘nano-influencers,’” Ms. Russell told The Times. “They command a huge audience.”

Online mentions of Labubu jumped 3,200% in September and rose again this year, driven by a wide age demographic, according to media firm Meltwater.

In fact, adult collectors — often referred to as “kidults,” or buyers older than 12 — are now the driving force in the toy industry, market experts say. The “kidult” market accounts for about $9 billion in overall toy sales every year, Business Insider reported, and Labubu is no exception.

“My [adult] daughter is into these and I’m like wtaf?” the mother of a 23-year-old Labubu buyer wrote on Reddit. “I said I know it wasn’t toy deprivation, so she eventually confessed it’s the rush, just like gambling!”

Michelle Parnett-Dwyer, a curator at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, told National Public Radio that nostalgia is at play within the adult Labubu doll craze.

“I think there’s a lot of things where the popularity among adults or young adults stems from childhood nostalgia,” Ms. Parnett-Dwyer said. “I think play is crucial for everybody at all ages. It helps us to engage with each other. It helps us in a way — it’s a cliche — but it helps us to stay young.”

It’s not the first time the world has become fascinated with a strange, stuffed creature.

Cabbage Patch Kids — chubby-cheeked dolls with yarn hair and “adoption papers” — sparked retail chaos in the 1980s. More than 90 million were sold worldwide during their craze-fueled peak.

Furbies moved 40 million units from 1998 to 2000, according to several reports, and some rare editions now fetch more than $4,000.

In 1997, Beanie Babies generated more than $1 billion in annual revenue, according to Vox, representing 6% of eBay’s auction site volume.

Squishmallows, the most recent subject of stuffed animal hype, have sold more than 400 million worldwide, helping parent company Jazwares surpass $1 billion in annual sales, Time magazine reported.

Some governments are taking notice of the Labubu fever. Russia’s upper house of parliament proposed banning Labubu earlier this year, citing concerns over its appearance and the use of blind-box mechanics aimed at children. In Kurdistan, Labubus have already been banned.

Nevertheless, Pop Mart continues to roll out new Labubu designs each month. Collectors say rare editions often sell out in minutes, and the trend is lasting longer than some have anticipated.

“These things usually have a very, very brief life cycle. I thought we were at the peak hype of it a month ago,” Ms. Russell, the Pepperdine researcher, told The Times. “When you reached out to me, I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness, is this still a thing?’ And, well, it is.”

A Labubu-themed fan meetup is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday at The Plaza at CityCenterDC, and an official Labubu pop-up is at The Mall in Columbia in Maryland.