Gen Z isn’t playing around when it comes to their love of stuffed animals.
Young adults are leading the plush toy boom as the “kids” craze reaches a fever pitch, with millions of videos flooding the hashtag “#plushies” on TikTok.
“They make me happy when I see them,” Jellycat collector Andrew Elliott, 25, told the Guardian recently. “We don’t live in the most fun and friendly times, so I think surrounding your home with smiling faces is a good thing.”
Elliott compared the stuffed animals to a “modern-day Beanie Baby.”
Plush toy brands are “hot right now,” Brian Benway, a senior technology and gaming analyst at market research company Mintel, confirmed to Business Insider. He found that sales of stuffed toys have grown steadily in recent years.
Benway told the media that plush toy brands such as Jellycat and Squishmallows are following the growth of Lego, a leading brand in the toy and game industry, “so to see plushies up there with Lego is very positive for them.”
According to data from Grand View Research, the global plush toy market is projected to grow by 8.2% over the next five years, according to Business Insider.
“It’s becoming more acceptable,” Benway said. “So many people are using it that, well, I don’t care if other people think it’s stupid, it brings me a little bit of happiness, a little bit of joy, so I’m going to keep doing it.”
On social media, collectors show off their prized plush toys or take viewers with them to the brand’s themed stores, such as FAO Swartz Jellycat Diner in Rockefeller Center or the fish and chip truck in Selfridges London.
“If you tell people you collect cuddly toys, it can feel like you’re going to be judged because it feels like a children’s hobby,” said 25-year-old Jellycat collector Chloe Day, who spoke to the Guardian. The brand’s extensive line of animal characters and other whimsical anthropomorphized objects have made their way into gift shop windows around the world.
“But then when you go on TikTok and you see all these people the same age as you – women and men – it encourages you not to hold yourself back.”
Similarly, the Squishmallow craze, which predates the more recent Jellycat craze, saw Gen Zers and Millennials clamoring to get their hands on one of the bulbous stuffed toys. In 2021, a children’s store in NYC drew massive lines and was wiped out of their Squishmallow stock within days.
At the time, teen influencer Lexia Hayden told The Post she loved the adorable faces of the stuffed animals, while her mother, Adele, said the rounded shape of the stuffed animals is “so cute.”
“Lexia is always cuddling with him when he’s doing homework or reading – it’s like a stuffed animal that really wraps around your body,” added Adele.
But Squishmallows aren’t just for kids. Twenty-somethings boast gigantic collections, with some owning more than 500.
“Lady Gaga posted a photo of her bed completely covered in Squishmallows on Instagram,” Benway said. “So if Lady Gaga can do it, anyone can.”
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Image Source : nypost.com