Labubu, the ugly-cute plush toy from Chinese company Pop Mart, is turning into a massive business — and it’s on track to make $1 billion this year, exceeding the sales of Barbie and Hot Wheels.
And while Labubus are physical objects, not digital ones, they epitomize the invasion of an over-the-top online aesthetic into the offline world, described in a recent New Yorker essay as “IRL brain rot.”
On Friday’s episode of the Equity podcast, your hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff, and Anthony Ha try to understand why Labubu has become so popular and what it says about the collapsing divide between the internet and the real world. Are Labubus more than just the latest iteration of ’90s Beanie Babies?
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
As always, Equity will be back for you next week, so don’t miss it!
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
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