K-pop’s biggest names are fueling the Labubu craze in South Korea.
Members of the boy band Seventeen, which is one of K-pop’s biggest acts of the moment, posted pictures on social media showing off their Labubu dolls. Labubu, a furry doll made by the Chinese toymaker Pop Mart, went viral this year, causing snaking queues to form outside outlets around the world.
Seventeen’s vocalist Joshua Hong posted a picture on Instagram on Sunday showing him posing in a park and kissing his bright pink Labubu’s head.
Seventeen’s rappers Hoshi and Vernon also showed off the Labubu that Seventeen created in collaboration with Pharrell Williams’ auction site Joopiter, fashion brand Carhartt, and Japanese luxury brand Sacai.
And another of the band’s vocalists, Seungkwan, showed the doll off at an event in Seoul, commenting offhand that the doll shared a last name with him — Boo.
The 6.7-inch dolls in the Seventeen collaboration are clad in gray onesies by Carhartt and feature neon green fur, a color not seen on a Labubu until now.
Labubu’s ties with K-pop run deep. The toy got immensely popular in Asia after Lisa, one of the four singers from the hit K-pop band Blackpink, posted an image of it on her Instagram last April.
K-pop stars showing off their blind box pulls may be one reason South Koreans are going crazy over Labubus, to the point that Pop Mart has halted physical sales in the country.
“Due to concerns raised over potential safety incidents at offline sales locations, and with the safety of our customers as our top priority, we have decided to temporarily suspend the offline sales of all LABUBU plush dolls and LABUBU plush keyring series,” Pop Mart Korea said in an Instagram story on Sunday.
Videos on social media show Pop Mart stores in Seoul packed with fans of the dolls.
In May, Pop Mart similarly suspended physical sales of Labubus in the UK, citing a “significant rise in customer turnout on restock days.”
The toymaker announced last week on its UK Instagram that it would continue sales of “The Monsters” series, which Labubu is a part of, at the end of June.
On June 13, Pop Mart launched a new series of The Monsters called Wacky Mart. The series is food-inspired, and includes Labubus modeled after tempura shrimp, cup noodles, and corn.
Representatives of Seventeen and Pop Mart did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
