Azernews.Az

By Alimat Aliyeva

Serious labor rights violations have been reported at a Chinese factory producing the popular Labubu toys, Azernews reports.

According to The Guardian, citing investigations by the human rights organization China Labor Watch (CLW), the violations occurred at Shunjia Toys in Jiangxi Province.

The NGO claims that teenagers aged 16–17 were working on regular production lines without the legal protections required by Chinese labor law. They were expected to meet the same production targets as adult workers. Additionally, employees reportedly signed blank employment contracts, unaware of their working conditions, salaries, or contract terms.

The investigation, which lasted several months, involved interviews with more than 50 employees. According to these testimonies, the high demand for toys led to excessive production standards, with some employees working far beyond the legal limit of 36 overtime hours per month, sometimes reaching up to 100 hours.

Labubu is one of Pop Mart’s most successful product lines, generating billions of yuan in revenue in the first half of 2025 alone. In response to the NGO’s report, Pop Mart stated that it regularly audits its suppliers and has begun verifying the claims outlined in the investigation. Representatives of Shunjia Toys, which produces Labubu toys under contract for Pop Mart, did not respond to inquiries from The Guardian.

Labor violations in toy manufacturing are part of a broader global trend, where high demand for collectible and trendy toys often puts pressure on factories to meet strict deadlines, sometimes at the expense of workers’ rights. Pop Mart has recently announced plans to explore AI-assisted production methods, which could reduce human labor intensity—but also raises questions about future job security for factory workers.