How British stuffed toy Jellycat conquered China

After losing her job during the epidemic, Stella Huang bought her first Jellycat plush toy.

One classmate loved British-designed toys and told her all about them. But she fell in love with the brand when she saw a stuffed gingerbread house on the Chinese social media app Red Note.

Christmas is not widely celebrated in China, it is more of a business event than anything traditional. “This holiday doesn’t mean much to me…but I always loved the sight of the gingerbread house,” she said. That’s when she asked a friend in her hometown of Guangzhou to buy her the dress.

That was in 2021, just when Jellycat was about to make a splash in China and around the world.

“Everyone is nervous, no one knows what to expect,” said Stella, who has made a habit of stroking and squeezing her stuffed animals since the start of the pandemic. She had to spend a lot of time at home in Beijing, where the lockdown was one of the strictest in China, if not the strictest in the world.

Now 32, Stella has found a new job as a sales manager in the travel industry but is still buying Jellycats. Her collection has grown to 120 toys, worth a total of around 36,000 yuan ($5,145; £3,815).

“At my age, there are a lot of things that I can’t share with others… the troubles we face are much more complicated than before,” she said with a sigh. “Stuffed toys help me regulate my emotions.”

Originally aimed at children, these soft toys have become popular around the world, especially in China, where disillusioned youngsters are turning to them for comfort.

Stella’s Gingerbread House Plush is an “Amuseable” toy, a line of little face toys that mimic inanimate objects, from toilet paper to hard-boiled eggs. Kasia Davies of global analytics firm Statista said the plush toys were “breakthrough products” that could “engage Gen Z and Millennial audiences globally”.

The popularity of these toys “may be related to a desire to feel companionship,” said Isabel Gallimore of the University of Birmingham in the UK.

It’s difficult to determine whether Jellycat’s now-iconic Amuseable series, launched in 2018, was intended to tap into the youth market. But Ms. Davis added that given birth rates falling in much of the world, toymakers needed to find new markets.

As early as 2015, Jellycat entered the Chinese market.

Kathryn Read, a business consultant with 15 years of experience in China, said that after completing the “groundwork”, the toymaker was able to capture the “tone of the epidemic” – people seeking comfort amid high uncertainty – and succeed in China.

Jellycat’s popularity is further boosted by its pop-up experiences. In-store events offer limited-edition “food” menus. Many fans filmed themselves being served and posted the videos on social media.

Localization is also a core strategy for the Jellycat experience. Fans can buy plush toys including fish and chips and mushy peas at a pop-up store in London’s Selfridges department store.

Meanwhile, stuffed teapots and teacups were among items sold at special sales in Beijing and Shanghai last year.

The British company’s revenue rose by two-thirds to 333 million pounds ($459 million) in 2024, According to its latest Companies House accounts. During the same period, the company sold about $117 million worth of toys to Chinese consumers on major e-commerce platforms, according to Beijing-based Moojing Market Intelligence estimates.

The company’s growing popularity reflects a broader boom in China’s collectible toy market among young people seeking emotional comfort and connection.

According to a 2024 report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the China Animation and Animation Association, total sales of collectible toys in China are expected to exceed 110 billion yuan this year.

The huge success of LaBuBu, the elf doll produced by Chinese toymaker Bubble Mart, highlights China’s growing interest in collectible toys, especially among young people.

This “childlike” trend Professor Erica Kanasaka, a cultural expert at Emory University in the United States, said that this phenomenon is not unique to China, and young people around the world are questioning “outdated understandings of adulthood.”

According to data from market research company Circana, global toy sales fell by less than 1% in 2024, but collectible toy sales increased by nearly 5% to a record high.

The fun stuff, especially Eggplant, dubbed “Boss” by Chinese fans, has also spawned memes, with many sharing the frustrations of adult life.

“Eggplant Boss” is a tag on RedNote where fans draw different expressions on the plush toys. In these memes, eggplant appears in various expressions, from drinking to smirking.

For example, Wendy Hui from Hong Kong gave her eggplant Amuseable a makeover, adding dark circles around its eyes and giving it a pair of glasses. She then posted a photo on Threads with the caption: “Worker’s mental state on Monday.”

“I’ve been working from home even when I’m supposed to be taking a break,” said the 30-something marketing professional. “I just wanted to express how tired I was.”

Jellycat has become an unexpectedly easy way for China’s young people to express their dissatisfaction with the economic slowdown, in which hard work does not guarantee equal rewards. Despite intense censorship, the Internet remains an important venue (if not the only venue) for such conversations.

The brand also often launches limited-edition products and knockout designs. This strategy, dubbed “hunger marketing” by many Chinese, has also made Jellycat toys a favorite on Chinese social media.

The collection is like a treasure hunt, with fans seeking out department and independent stores for Jellycats as they travel overseas. Some people turn to “daigou,” or purchasing agents from overseas. Rare Jellycats are status symbols among some fans, changing hands for more than $1,400.

But most are cheap pick-me-ups during an economic downturn plagued by a housing crisis and high local government debt. China’s youth unemployment rate has fallen slightly after hitting a record high in August, but official data shows it is still above 17%.

“You have to think long and hard before buying a luxury bag,” said Jessie Chen, a 34-year-old medical sales representative. “But you don’t need to do that for the Jellycat.

“Jellycat also sells bags, which cost only a few hundred yuan (tens of dollars). They are very practical and can hold a lot of things, so you may change your view of luxury goods.”

But China may have reached Jellycat peak, with fans noticing less and less talk about the toys on social media.

Ms Xu has turned to “blind boxes” of toys such as Teletubbies – where customers only know what they are buying when they open the package – as a more exciting and cheaper option. She even considered “quitting the pit” – Chinese slang for giving up a hobby.

“It’s so hard to buy them,” Stella said. “Our daily lives are not easy anymore, so why should we create difficulties for ourselves?”