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Stella Huang acquired her initial Jellycat brand soft toy in the midst of a period of job loss during the global health crisis. Encouraged by an acquaintance's passion for the British-designed creatures, her interest was truly ignited upon seeing a unique gingerbread house design featured on a major social networking app.

While The Christmas holiday isn't widely celebrated in China, serving more as a retail occasion rather than a religious festival, the concept of festive cottages appealed with her. "The festival doesn't hold much to me... However, I have always loved the appearance of gingerbread houses," she explains. This led her to eventually request a friend from her hometown to buy it for her.

That acquisition took place back in 2021, right as the brand was about of achieving significant popularity in China and beyond. "Everyone felt uneasy, and no-one knew what exactly was going to happen," says Stella, who developed a routine of petting and hugging her plushies for comfort during that stressful time. Residing in Beijing, a city with some of the strictest lockdowns globally, she passed a great deal of time indoors.

Now 32 with a new job in sales manager in the tourism industry, Stella continues to grow her collection. It has grown to approximately 120 toys, representing a cost of about 36,000 yuan. "At my age, you have numerous matters that you cannot discuss with other people... and the problems we face are far more complex than in the past," she notes reflectively. "The plushies assist me in regulate my feelings."

Initially created with kids in mind, these soft creatures have become an international sensation, especially in China where a somewhat disillusioned youth demographic has been turning to them as a source of comfort and solace.

Understanding the Kidults

Stella's gingerbread cottage plushie belongs to their "Amuseable" series, a range of characters featuring small faces based on everyday items, ranging from bathroom tissue to boiled eggs. These toys are considered the "breakout success" which "appeal to a wide younger adult audience" globally, as noted by market observers.

The surge in popularity "may have a connection to a desire to feel companionship," suggest cultural commentators. While it's hard to ascertain whether the introduction of the now-iconic series in 2018 was an intentional move to engage the young adult consumer, toy manufacturers increasingly must find alternative audiences amid declining birth rates in many countries.

Jellycat entered China back in 2015. By laying the necessary "foundation", the company was able to tap into "the mood during Covid"—a time when individuals looked for solace amid heightened anxiety—and built on this momentum in the country, according to business consultants.

Jellycat's fame was also propelled through creative temporary events. These in-store events often featured a menu of exclusive "culinary" themed items. Many fans would film themselves interacting and post the clips online.

Localisation has also been a core strategy. For instance, customers could purchase plush interpretations of classic UK dishes such as fish, chips and mushy peas during a pop-up in London. Meanwhile, products including teacup and teapot toys were featured at special stores in Beijing and Shanghai the previous year.

Last year, the British firm's sales is said to have increased significantly to reach a substantial sum. During that period, sales of an estimated $117 million in value of toys to Chinese consumers on major online marketplaces, per research estimates.

This expansion parallels a wider boom in China's collectible toy market among young adults in search of emotional support and connection. Overall sales of collectable toys in China are expected to top 110 billion yuan annually, according to a 2024 analysis.

The runaway popularity of other toys such as Labubu, elf-inspired figures by Chinese toy maker Pop Mart, highlights the market's increasing demand for collectable toys. The so-called "adult-child" phenomenon is not exclusive to China; young adults worldwide are increasingly question "outdated understandings of what it means to be an adult," observe cultural experts.

Amuseables, items like the eggplant plushie—nicknamed "the boss" by Chinese fans—have also spawned numerous online jokes, with many sharing grievances regarding adult life. On social media, the "aubergine boss" hashtag is a space where fans draw different expressions on the plushie, depicting it in various moods from drinking to forcing a smile.

For example, one Hong Kong-based, Wendy Hui, modified her eggplant toy by drawing dark circles around its eyes and putting spectacles on the toy. She then shared a picture online with the caption: "The mental state of workers at the start of the week." "I kept working from home even on time off," she explains. "I merely intended to express how exhausted I felt."

Thus, Jellycat has become an unexpected, whimsical outlet for young Chinese to voice their grievances about a slowing economy, in which hard work no longer guarantee commensurate returns. Despite heavy online censorship, the internet remains an important, if not the only, arena for such discussions.

The brand's frequent releases of limited-edition designs coupled with the discontinuation of older designs—an approach sometimes referred to as "hunger marketing" locally—has also driven {