Unveiling their latest seizure in front of news cameras last month, two Chinese customs agents revealed not drugs or weapons \u2013 but suitcases full of plush toys. <\/p>\n
The stash on display included dozens of Pop Mart Labubus – the toothy, fluffy figurines that have sparked buying frenzies around the world, and in some cases, brawls among fans outside shops selling them. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost impossible to get a Labubu via the official channels,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Fans are instead turning to unusual sources – including buying from smugglers. <\/p>\n
Details and footage of one seizure were posted by China\u2019s Customs Administration on social media, which stated that that the toys were intended \u201cfor profit by resale\u201d and seized in accordance with law. <\/p>\n
The post did not say whether any of the Labubu smugglers faced other legal consequences. <\/p>\n
Labubu is the brainchild of Hong Kong-born illustrator Kasing Lung, and it has quietly built a loyal following since its 2015 debut. <\/p>\n
But in recent months, the bunny-bodied, elf-faced creature \u2014 equal parts grotesque and adorable \u2014 has soared in popularity. Stars including Rihanna, Dua Lipa, and Lisa from K-pop group Blackpink have worn Labubus like lucky charms, and the toys were even spotted at Paris Fashion Week this year. <\/p>\n
According to Chinese state-owned media outlet Cover News, a blind box from the latest Labubu 3.0 series, originally priced at 584 yuan ($81), has been selling for between 1,000 ($139) and 2,000 yuan ($278) on the second-hand market. <\/p>\n
Pop Mart\u2019s annual results show that the company\u2019s global gross profit surged by over 125% last year, while its revenue in mainland China reached more than $1.09 billion, 34% higher than 2023. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause they are not available on official platforms, if you\u2019re in a rush to get a gift for a friend, you just can\u2019t manage to get the popular ones in time,\u201d said Yang. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can only pay extra to buy from resale platforms.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Unveiling their latest seizure in front of news cameras last month, two Chinese customs agents revealed not drugs or weapons \u2013 but suitcases full of plush toys. The stash on display included dozens of Pop Mart Labubus – the toothy, fluffy figurines that have sparked buying frenzies around the world, and in some cases, brawls <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16854,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}