Labubu Mania: Sacai x Seventeen Plush Toy Sells for Over $30K, Outpacing Designer Handbags
Move over Birkins — there’s a new status symbol in town, and it has a mischievous grin and a soft, spiky head.
The ultra-rare Sacai x Seventeen Labubu plush toys made headlines this week after raking in up to $31,250 each on Joopiter, the curated auction platform founded by Pharrell Williams. The sale, which ran for a week with public online bidding, featured just 14 blind box lots, each containing a mystery version of the acid green Labubu, a beloved character from Pop Mart’s The Monsters series created by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung.
This exclusive edition — a collaboration between Japanese fashion label Sacai, K-pop supergroup Seventeen, and collectible giant Pop Mart — drew massive attention not only from toy collectors and fashion fans but also from high-end art investors.
Each plush was sold in blind box format, meaning bidders didn’t know which specific Labubu design they’d receive. Of the 14 lots, 13 featured custom beige Sacai x Carhartt WIP outfits, while one mysterious “secret” variant was clad in an unrevealed colorway. Final prices ranged between $18,750 and $31,250, before an additional 25% buyer’s premium was added by Joopiter.
Labubu’s Rise Mirrors the Shift in Luxury Consumption
Labubu’s booming popularity is no fluke — it’s part of a larger movement reshaping the way younger, aspirational consumers engage with luxury. As traditional high-end brands focus increasingly on ultra-wealthy clientele, a new generation of fans is finding emotional fulfillment — and social prestige — in rare collectibles like Labubu and Jellycat plushies.
This shift has had dramatic results. Pop Mart, the Hong Kong-based company behind Labubu, posted blockbuster numbers for 2024:
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Annual revenue soared 106.9% to 13.04 billion RMB
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Net profit climbed 185.9% to 3.4 billion RMB
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Overseas revenue surged 375.2%, now making up nearly 39% of the business
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Sales from Labubu and The Monsters series spiked 726.6% year-over-year, making it Pop Mart’s top-performing IP
The company’s stock reflects this rocket ride. Pop Mart’s market cap now stands at over 366 billion HKD ($46.63 billion) — more than double that of Kering, the French conglomerate behind Gucci and Balenciaga.
From Toy Shelf to Auction Block
What began as a niche collectible has now crossed into the art world. Just last week, a life-sized Labubu sculpture sold at auction in Beijing for 1.08 million RMB (approx. $150,275) — a record-breaking moment for the character and another signal that the line between art and designer toys continues to blur.
As the cultural relevance of Labubu grows, its collaborations only seem to be getting bolder. The Seventeen x Sacai partnership has turned what might have been a simple plush release into a multi-layered cultural event, bridging music, fashion, and collectible design — and attracting a global audience ready to spend.