New mini Labubu series Photo: screenshot from WeChat account of Pop Mart
Chinese pop toy giant Pop Mart announced on Friday that it will launch new mini Labubu series next week, sparking excitement among Chinese netizens, after the company posted over 360 percent rise in profit in the first quarter of this year.
According to an article released on its official WeChat account, the company officially announced the new mini LABUBU products, available in two sets, each containing 14 regular figures named after letters A-Z, plus a hidden figure. Each blind box is priced at 79 yuan ($11). The new product will be available online starting at 22:00 on August 28 and offline starting on August 29.
Chinese netizens have been buzzing with the news. On China’s lifestyle sharing platform Xiaohongshu, some netizens hailed its innovation, while others are worried about not being able to get it.
The news was firstly released by the company’s CEO, Wang Ning, who told investors on an earnings call on Wednesday that a mini version of its wildly popular Labubu dolls would be released as soon as this week. After Wang’s remarks, Pop Mart’s stock surged more than 12 percent on Wednesday, to the highest level since the company went public in 2020, the New York Times reported.
The new products came after the company on Monday released its financial results for the first half of 2025, reporting revenue of 13.88 billion yuan, up 204.4 percent year-on-year. Adjusted net profit reached 4.71 billion yuan, up 362.8 percent year-on-year.
Labubu’s rise marks more than a viral toy trend: it signals a broader shift in China’s role on the global stage. No longer just a manufacturing hub, China is emerging as a source of original cultural exports, the Xinhua News Agency reported. It is rooted in China’s vast manufacturing ecosystem. Meanwhile, China’s pro-consumption policies have provided strong tailwinds for the designer toy industry and greater openness is also fueling the cultural exchange crucial to IP growth, according to Xinhua.
Previously, Wang Ning emphasized in an interview that the company’s rise has been powered by both Chinese culture and Chinese manufacturing.
“We want to be an enterprise like a tree, with its roots deeply planted. China’s inclusive culture, strong manufacturing capacity, and broad market… all provide the soil for rooting. It is precisely Chinese manufacturing and Chinese culture that have made us what we are,” said Pop Mar’s founder Wang Ning in an exclusive interview with the People’s Daily.
In the first half of 2025, China’s cultural industry achieved a total revenue of 7.1292 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.4 percent. The core cultural sectors generated a revenue of 4.8445 trillion yuan, up 10 percent from the previous year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.
Global Times