A labour rights group has said it has uncovered evidence of worker exploitation in the supply chain of Labubus, the furry toy figures that surged in global popularity last year and are expected to remain in high demand in 2026.
Labubus, toothy gremlin-like characters produced by the Chinese toy company Pop Mart, have become one of China’s most successful cultural exports. In the first half of 2025, Pop Mart’s “The Monsters” toy line, which includes Labubus, generated 4.8bn yuan (£511m) in sales. In August, the company’s chief executive, Wang Ning, said revenues were on track to reach 20bn yuan by the end of the year.
China Labor Watch (CLW), a New York-based non-governmental organisation, said one of Pop Mart’s suppliers had engaged in exploitative labour practices. The alleged violations include forcing workers to sign blank contracts, employing underage workers without legally required protections, and providing inadequate health and safety training.
CLW investigated Shunjia Toys, a factory in Xinfeng county, Jiangxi province, which employs more than 4,500 people. Over a three-month period in 2025, researchers interviewed more than 50 workers, including three aged under 18. All were producing Labubus toys.
The investigation found that the factory employed workers aged between 16 and 18, which is permitted under Chinese law only if special protections are in place. These include restrictions on hazardous or physically demanding work. CLW said younger workers at Shunjia were assigned to standard assembly line roles and faced the same workloads and production targets as adult employees.
According to the report, underage workers often did not understand the contracts they signed and were unclear about their legal status.
CLW also said workers were routinely required to sign blank labour contracts. Employees were instructed to fill in their personal details, while key information such as job duties, wages, contract duration and social insurance was left empty.
Workers told investigators they were given no more than five minutes to complete the process and were explicitly told not to read or fill in the remaining sections of the contracts.
The report said rising demand for Labubus had led to unrealistic production targets. Teams of 25 to 30 workers were reportedly required to assemble at least 4,000 toys a day. While Chinese law limits overtime to 36 hours per month, CLW found that workers often exceeded 100 hours of overtime.
Shunjia Toys has an official annual production capacity of 12m units, with plans announced in late 2025 to expand capacity to 33m. Pop Mart has previously said overall Labubus production was about 30m units per month, spread across multiple suppliers in China and south-east Asia, with newer facilities in Mexico.
CLW’s interviews suggested that Shunjia’s actual output already far exceeded its stated capacity. Workers estimated that two production teams alone were producing more than 24m units annually.
Li Qiang, executive director of China Labor Watch, said such discrepancies were common in China’s manufacturing sector. He said rapid increases in demand often led factories to expand production beyond planned limits, placing pressure directly on workers.
A spokesperson for Pop Mart said the company took worker welfare and safety seriously and conducted regular audits of its manufacturing partners, including independent third-party inspections.
The spokesperson said the company was investigating the claims and would require corrective action if the findings were confirmed, in line with local laws and regulations.
Shunjia Toys did not respond to requests for comment.
Labour advocates say the conditions described at Shunjia are widespread in China’s manufacturing sector, where long hours, low pay and weak enforcement of labour laws remain common.
The popularity of Labubus has also fuelled a growing black market for counterfeit toys, known as “Lafufus”, which are often produced by informal workers in unregulated home factories.
CLW said the findings highlight the challenges faced by Chinese companies expanding rapidly into global markets while being held to higher labour standards. Li said current supply-chain oversight mechanisms were insufficient and called on Pop Mart to improve transparency and establish effective channels for workers to raise concerns.
