Toysare the ultimate fascination for every kid and sometimes to every person no matter one’s age. There is no doubt that we all had a fascination for soft toys, especially dolls, which are among the most adorable parts of our childhood memories. From Barbie to traditional cloth doll of every region, soft toys are among the sweetest delights for many of us, and our children.

But these days the world, as well as the internet, is obsessed with possessing the cute Chinese dolls named Labubu. Made by Pop Mart International, they are priced between Rs 3, 000 and a whopping Rs 1.50 lakh in India. Although the doll has been rolling in the Chinese market since 2015, it peaked due to K-Pop star Lisa, who fuelled their popularity, by showing it as her collection. Incidentally, from Hollywood stars like Rihanna and Justin Bieber to Bollywood actors like Annaya Pandey, many from the world of cinema are all obsessed with Labubu. Pop Mart International minted millions by selling the miniature fashion-sensation dolls. To the avant-garde marketing tactics, Pop Mart International uses blind box selling strategies for their life-sized dolls branded as luxury collectibles.

In an unfortunate development, its rising popularity and heavy export orders have been directly sponging the potential revenue of Indian toy industry to China. This is more so because many Indians are taking pride in owning Labubu. Earlier on, Chinese products shattered Indian toy industry by introducing cheap toys or exclusive luxury collections. Instead of supporting state-of-the-art home grown toys like Thanjavur dolls, Channapatna dolls or Kondapalli dolls, many of us are getting influenced by the viral social media trends and going in for a Labubu doll in our drawing room. Luxury obsession with Indian dolls could help turn the tide and fortunes of our local toys’ makers. All we need is to love Indian toys as much as we do the new sensation Labubu.

We need to support Indian toys startups and local makers and boost the economic conditions of the Indian toy industry, which is facing severe challenges from Labubu and other luxury toys collectibles of foreign brands. Like ‘Make in India’, we should also promote Indian workmanship.

Kirti Wadhawan,Kanpur Nagar (UP)