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A woman named Stella bought her initial Jellycat brand soft toy amid a period of unemployment in the pandemic. Encouraged by a friend's enthusiasm for the UK-created creatures, her interest was fully captured upon seeing an adorable gingerbread cottage plushie on a major Chinese social media app.

While Christmas is not traditionally observed across China, being more of a retail occasion than a religious festival, the sight of gingerbread houses resonated with her. "It doesn't mean much to me... But I have always loved the look of gingerbread houses," she states. This prompted her to ask an old friend from her hometown to buy the item on her behalf.

That purchase occurred in 2021, coinciding with Jellycat was poised to achieve significant success in China and internationally. "Everyone felt anxious, and nobody knew what exactly would happen," recalls Stella, who developed a routine of petting and hugging her plushies to cope during that stressful time. Living in Beijing, which experienced some of the strictest lockdowns globally, she spent extended periods indoors.

Now 32 with a new job as a sales manager in the tourism industry, Stella still expand her collection. It has swelled to around 120 toys, representing an investment of roughly 36,000 yuan. "As an adult, there are numerous matters you can't discuss with other people... and the troubles we face are far more complicated than before," she notes reflectively. "These soft toys help me managing my emotions."

Originally created with kids in mind, these soft creatures have transformed into an international phenomenon, particularly in China where an increasingly disenchanted younger generation is seeking solace in them as a source of comfort and solace.

Understanding the Adult Toy Enthusiasts

Stella's Gingerbread house plushie is part of the "Amuseables" series, a set of characters with tiny expressions modelled after commonplace inanimate objects, from bathroom tissue and boiled eggs. These items are considered a key "breakout success" that "resonate with a broad Gen-Z and millennial audience" around the world, according to market observers.

Their growing popularity "could have a connection to wanting to feel a sense of connection," suggest cultural commentators. While it's hard to say for sure if the introduction of the iconic Amuseable line back in 2018 was an intentional strategy to target the adult consumer, companies in the sector increasingly need to find new markets due to declining birth rates across numerous parts of the world.

The brand made its foray into China as early as 2015. By laying the necessary "foundation", the toy maker was able to capture "the tone of the pandemic"—a time when people sought solace during widespread uncertainty—and built on its early momentum there, as explained by industry experts.

Jellycat's fame was also boosted through creative pop-up experiences. These in-store events sometimes offered a selection of limited-edition "food" themed items. Numerous fans would film themselves interacting and post the videos on social platforms.

Adaptation to local tastes proved to be an essential approach. For instance, customers could purchase stuffed toy versions of traditional UK dishes like fish and chips during a pop-up in London. Meanwhile, items like teacup and teapot toys were featured at exclusive stores in Beijing and Shanghai last year.

Last year, the British firm's sales is said to have rose significantly to an impressive sum. In that period, sales of roughly $117 million worth of toys to Chinese consumers via major online marketplaces, according to market intelligence estimates.

This growth reflects a broader boom within China's collectible toy sector among young adults in search of emotional comfort and connection. Total revenue of collectable items in China are projected to top 110 billion yuan this year, according to a 2024 industry report.

The runaway success of brands like Labubu, elf-like dolls from Chinese toy maker Pop Mart, underscores the market's increasing demand for designer collectibles. This "kidult" trend is not exclusive to China; young adults globally are starting to re-evaluate "outdated understandings of what it means to be an adult," observe cultural experts.

Amuseables, especially the eggplant plushie—affectionately dubbed "the big boss" in China—have also inspired a wave of online jokes, where users sharing frustrations regarding adult life. On social media, the "aubergine boss" hashtag is a space where people draw various emotive faces on the plushie, showing it in various moods from drinking to fake-smiling.

For example, one Hong Kong-based, Wendy Hui, personalized her eggplant Amuseable by drawing bags around its eyes and placing a pair of glasses on it. She then posted an image on a social platform captioning it: "The mood of employees on Monday." "I kept working at home even on time off," the 30-something says. "I merely intended to express how exhausted I felt."

In this way, Jellycat has become an unexpected, light-hearted outlet for young Chinese to voice their frustrations over a slowing economy, where hard work doesn't always ensure commensurate rewards. Despite strict content regulation, digital spaces remains a crucial, perhaps the primary, space for these types of conversations.

Its regular launches of limited-edition designs coupled with the retirement of older designs—an approach often called "scarcity marketing" in China—has further driven {