"Labubus, toothy gremlins made by the Chinese toy company Pop Mart, have become one of China's hottest cultural exports. In the first half of 2025 alone, the Monsters line of toys, which includes Labubus, generated 4.8bn yuan (511m) in sales for the Hong Kong-listed company. In August, Pop Mart's chief executive, Wang Ning, said the company was on track to reach 20bn yuan in revenues in 2025."
"According to an investigation by China Labor Watch (CLW), a New York-based NGO, one of Pop Mart's suppliers for Labubus has engaged in exploitative workplace practices. They include workers being forced to sign blank contracts, 16- and 17-year-olds being employed without the special protections for young workers required by Chinese law, inadequate health and safety training and other labour rights violations at the factory in south-east China's Jiangxi province."
China Labor Watch investigators spent three months in 2025 at Shunjia Toys in Xinfeng county, Jiangxi, and interviewed more than 50 employees, including three under 18. The factory employs over 4,500 people and produced Labubus toys exclusively for Pop Mart's Monsters line. The researchers found workers routinely signing blank labour contracts, inadequate health and safety training, and other labour rights violations. The factory assigned 16- to 18-year-old workers to standard assembly-line positions with the same workload and production targets as adults, without the special protections required by Chinese law. Pop Mart's Monsters line generated 4.8bn yuan in sales in the first half of 2025.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]