If you’ve been breathing for the past six months, chances are high that you’ve heard people chattering about Labubu figurines. These dolls, highly reminiscent of Where the Wild Things Are, are the latest super-hot trend to hit TikTok.

Labubus are supposed to be strange creatures. They all are girls, except for a bigger one that’s a boy. Created by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung, the creatures were originally in a storybook he wrote inspired by Nordic folk tales. He eventually made a series of figurines, and the rest is history.

People have been going crazy over Labubu—and to a lesser point, the main store that sells Labubus, Pop Mart. At first glance, this seems like a simple fad not unlike hula hoops, Hello Kitty, or even Barbie.

However, that would be a very stupid thing to say. It’s so much more.

Let’s rewind this a bit. Back in 2000 or even as late as 2010, if you bought a Chinese brand, it was assumed it wasn’t luxurious. It was either a knockoff, a cheaper model, or something so fringe, it’d raise an eyebrow.

How do I know? As a Sinophile, I had a very hard time finding anything about Chinese makeup brands. Back then, I’d research and research, only to be pointed to the brands of other countries—such as Japan (Shiseido) or Korea (TONYMOLY).

There were brands out there that were Chinese, but time after time, nothing really stuck. They never really were accepted as “cool” or “trendy” by the mainstream American zeitgeist.

Ironically, a lot of the Chinese products I got (even prior to Shein’s rise to fame) were better than what I got from American stores like Wet Seal or K-Mart. Sadly, the stigma that once came with Chinese handiwork kept them from being popular.

What happened with Labubu isn’t just about Labubu. It’s the first time America really, truly started to embrace China’s idea of “cool” material culture.

For decades, China had been steadily growing its manufacturing industries. While China was able to snap up American brands and undercut Western manufacturers in pricing, the truth is that being labeled as “luxury” was just not happening.

There was a small leap that first had to be made, though…

Shein was not your average store. It was an online megastore with one major “catch” that made it popular: it offered fast fashion at a far lower price than what you would get at Hot Topic or even Amazon. Styles that once had to be hunted for all over the net were just there, at your fingertips, for dirt cheap.

People started to post their Shein hauls all over TikTok and YouTube. Every influencer I know uses Shein for something or other, much to the dismay of actual fashion designers. (Don’t hate me, I can’t afford your gear, folks!)

Shein’s prices have been doing something sneaky, though: they’ve been slowly increasing. The discounts have started to fade out. Now that people are used to using Shein for bulk buys, it’s easy enough for the brand to cut out the discounts.

With that said, Shein got people talking. And it got people wearing a notably Chinese brand as everyday wear, often choosing it over Western brands or indie designers.

Pop Mart’s premise is pretty simple: they offer artwork and toy figurines designed by artists. In order to keep things exciting, Pop Mart offers their toys in “blind boxes,” giving you a chance at getting the item you actually want.

In other words, it’s the same type of gamification of consumption that makes gachapon machines so darn irresistible. However, Pop Mart just does it with an air of luxury, a little space-age “cool” feeling, and with licensed artwork from up-and-coming names.

Pop Mart struck gold with the Labubu series, though their other models (like Skullpanda) were already gaining a lot of clout among teenagers in the United States. It went viral on TikTok, people started clamoring for it, and now there are actual dupes of Pop Mart luxury vinyls hitting every major market.

The fact that there are now dupes of Pop Mart items is a clear sign that Pop Mart is now a luxury item. Dupes don’t really happen for brands that are deemed to be cheap or otherwise unwanted.

If the dupes don’t convince you, maybe hearing that these statues can go for as high as six figures might make you realize how much of a big deal Pop Mart truly has become to the world. And Labubu? She’s right at the head of it.

People don’t understand what kind of soft power comes with having an in-demand luxury market in your home country. There’s a reason why people demand Parisian perfumes, Italian leather goods, or American steaks. It’s a country’s marker of quality.

America has been steadily losing its soft power, especially when it comes to pop culture influence. While we still have good TV shows, the truth is that Japan has been killing it with anime. Korea’s been slaying it with K-pop.

And now? China is joining those ranks.

For years, Chinese businesses have been struggling to break into the luxury goods market or to show their hand at cultural relevance. They’ve been trying to get their own brands the same recognition as Prada, Gucci, or even something like Hello Kitty. And now, they have it in Pop Mart.

China’s markets have become massive in terms of spending power. And now, they’ve got luxury goods to link to it. The question is no longer whether China will become the new tastemakers of cool, but when.

The Asian takeover of luxury living is not going to stop with Pop Mart. In the near future, it wouldn’t surprise me if we started to see Chinese pop idols on American radio waves, a newfound love of Asian cooking, as well as an even heavier emphasis on “lofi hip hop” motifs with a deeper neo-Beijing feel.

As of right now, America’s bigwigs and company owners wouldn’t know how to compete with the likes of Pop Mart. America’s CEO class is often outdated at best, and foolishly crooked at worst.

From what I’ve seen, American companies do not understand how to pull a profit without enshittification and greed coming in the way of things. It’s most noticeable in social media. It’s why TikTok is soaring while Meta has been floundering.

Besides, in order for us to compete with something like Pop Mart, we’d have to think outside the box. And frankly, I don’t see that happening with the oligarchy we have right now.