Pop Mart in Harrods six-week pop-up adventure

Pop Mart is launching a six-week pop-up on the toy floor of Harrods on Friday (14 March). How is this relevant to fashion? Well, the company is “a market-leading character-based entertainment company and a global champion of designer toy culture”. And it’s big on items like small accessories and bag charms.

Its key characters include The Monsters (especially Labubu) and the pop-up will see The Monsters creator — Hong Kong-based illustrator Kasing Lung — making his debut in the UK.

The pop-up will feature exclusive Labubu collectibles, limited editions, and hot products. And ‘hot’ is likely to be the key word here with Labubu items heavily in demand and getting extra attention outside of the world of toy collectors. That’s partly because Labubu bag accessories have been seen on major celeb influencers Rihanna, Dua Lipa and Blackpink’s Rosa. And where that trio goes, the pounds, euros and dollars tend to follow.

So what will happen at the pop-up? Importantly, there will be a special signing event with Kasing Lung, his first-ever visit to the UK and also his first-ever appearance in Europe, and fans will get the chance to win exclusives.

Peter Shipman, marketing director and head of Europe, said that Harrods is “the perfect venue for our first-ever pop-up in the UK”.

That’s hard to argue with given that Harrods in Knightsbridge seems to be one of the two most popular venues for high-end pop-ups in London, along with Selfridges over in the West End.