Labubu fever: what they are and where to buy them

There’s a certain kind of chaos that descends when a Labubu drops.

Not the Black Friday, elbows-out sort of pandemonium, but something more elegant and faintly absurd – picture a queue of impeccably dressed adults, eyes wide with anticipation, politely jostling over a one-in-seventy-two chance to bag a snaggle-toothed goblin in limited-edition vinyl. This, folks, is the quiet mania of the Pop Mart faithful.

If you’ve walked past a Pop Mart display and thought you were glimpsing the contents of a child’s fever dream, you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. Founded in Beijing in 2010, the company began with the modest ambition of selling mystery-box trinkets to young adults nostalgic for their childhoods.

Fast forward a decade, and Pop Mart is now a full-blown cultural force, trading on the thrill of blind boxes, high-gloss design, and collaborations that drip with collector clout.

Chief among its breakout stars is Labubu: a scruffy, sprite-like creature born of the fevered imagination of Hong Kong-based art duo Kasing Lung and How2work.

To the unappreciative eye, Labubu and his close cousin Lafufu may appear as variations of the same, slightly deranged theme – but aficionados know better.

Lafufu is softer, sweeter, and distinctly cuddlier; Labubu is the one who’d steal your snacks and grin about it. There’s a lore to these creatures, a kind of mythos that grows with each release. And like all good lore, it’s elusive. Figures appear suddenly, in runs of a few hundred and often region-exclusive, vanishing before most realise they exist.

As if acquiring a Labubu weren’t enough of a sport, an entire side-quest has emerged: styling them. It’s not uncommon to spot one dangling from the clasp of a Chanel 19 or nestled inside a transparent display capsule clipped to a Dior saddle bag – part totem, part flex.

So desirable are the rare editions that more than one collector has reported petty theft from wandering hands in cafés and gallery queues. Some now keep their Labubus under clear lock and key, miniature vaults within handbags, as if carrying around a jewel that just happens to have a wide grin and ears that resemble devil horns.

Why the frenzy? On one hand, it’s the mystery. You don’t know what you’re getting until you’ve opened the box. Then there’s scarcity economics at play: rare editions fetch triple digits on resale platforms. Somehow, Labubus have quietly edged into the realm of high-design collectables. Mostly, it’s the feeling; that odd alchemy of nostalgia and novelty, curated mystery and communal hunt.

As for where to find them, that’s a whole other kind of treasure map. Try a mix of official Pop Mart stores (both physical and online), seasonal pop-ups, and eBay and Discord groups. But tread carefully. In the world of Labubu, the chase is half the story, and accessories are increasingly part of the prize.

Where there’s hype, there are counterfeits. The Labubu black market is not for the faint-hearted. That “super rare glow-in-the-dark forest demon” selling for £40 on an anonymous site? Almost certainly a dud.

Authentic Labubus have a distinct weight to them, the paintwork is crisp, the facial expression deliberately deranged but never sloppy, and each one comes in a printed Pop Mart blind box with proper licensing and series details tucked inside.

Always ask for the original packaging if it’s not listed. A Labubu without its box is like a Birkin without its dust bag: technically real, but suspiciously underdressed

We’ve curated a selection of shoppable Labubus and Lafufus below.