Labubus are getting U.S. consumers hooked on Pop Mart

In recent months, Shay Tomi began seeing plush monster dolls attached to purses and strollers around San Francisco. During recent travels, the 28-year-old noticed more hanging from belt loops. Online, she was fed videos of people unboxing creatures of their own.

These objects, as she would come to learn, have a name: Labubu. After years of rising brand awareness in China, they’re taking the U.S. by storm as a hot fashion accessory and hard-to-get collectable.

It’s caught the attention of shoppers, brands and even politicians who want to ride the trend. One retail analyst christened Labubu as the “it” item globally.

“All of the sudden, everyone has it,” said Tomi, who works in finance. “Then, you kind of had to get one.”

Indeed, Tomi got in on the craze: She has four Labubus that take turns hanging from her purse, sometimes dressed in a miniature grey sweatsuit that she bought from a third-party seller. She also got her boyfriend hooked. His Labubus often sport a basketball jersey designed to match the Los Angeles Lakers.

Tomi isn’t alone. Data and anecdotal evidence shows just how much Labubus are taking off in the U.S. — in turn providing a boon for shares of Pop Mart, its China-based parent, and boosting interest in the collectable company’s other products.

Sales of the company’s plush toys, a business arm that includes some Labubu products, skyrocketed more than 1,200% between 2023 and 2024. With that growth, plush toys accounted for more than a fifth of total revenue in 2024, up from less than 4% a year prior. Impressive, when one considers most of the products cost about $30, though prices vary.

In North America, Pop Mart said revenue surged more than 550% between 2023 and 2024. What’s more, sales in the region climbed about 900% in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the same period a year ago — far outpacing the comparable figure for global growth, according to a Goldman Sachs analysis.

That’s prompted a seismic shift in where the company’s consumer base lives. In 2021, Bank of America found virtually all revenue came from mainland China. Nearly half of revenue is set to come from outside the Asian country this year, per forecasts from the bank.

Foot traffic has taken off in the nearly one year since Pop Mart opened a store in San Diego, according to estimates from Placer.ai. Searches in the U.S. for the word Labubu are on track to hit their highest level on record this month, Google Trends data shows. An Intuit Credit Karma survey found Labubus and other backpack accessories were among the most-asked for items heading into the new school year.

For fanatics like Jonathan Fierro, Labubus have opened their eyes — and wallets — to a company they might have glossed over before. The 29-year-old’s Labubus account for just a handful of the dozens of total products from…