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Kitty White turns 50 and is celebrated all over the world. Archive image.
1 / 4Photo: Carla Torres/AP/TT
Hello Kitty is the super celebrity that can be seen just about everywhere – on everything from toys to luxury bags. For 50 years, she has pulled in billions without touching a penny.
Hello Kitty was created by Yuko Shimizu in 1974. Back then she had no name but was just a nameless white cat. A lot has happened since then. The actual 50th anniversary isn’t until November 1st, but the celebrations have already begun.
– In Japan, it will be as much as you like. There are many companies that have collaborations, says Helena Nilsson, who since 2010 runs a Hello Kitty shop online.
Started with stock market
The collaborations and products have become an important part of the Hello Kitty world. It started with a small purse in transparent plastic. 50 years later, the white cat has become a golden calf for Sanrio, which designs, licenses, produces and sells products featuring Hello Kitty and her friends. Of the 600 million dollars – over 6 billion kroner – Sanrio annually brings in, Hello Kitty is said to account for the largest part.
Today, she can be found on more than 50,000 products. And there will be more – the cat girl is known for not being fussy about brand collaborations. From H&M to Balenciaga, baby clothes to the ban on children – everything can be sold with a bow-adorned cat. And everyone buys.
Since celebrities such as Dua Lipa and North West have been seen wearing Kitty clothes, “Hello Kitty-core” is also predicted to become a trend for 2024.
– Perhaps it is unique as a brand to have succeeded for so long and to have so many collaborations and bridge different cultures in the world. Bridging luxury and low price is quite difficult, says brand expert Niklas Olovzon Turner.
New interest
When Helena Nilsson started her shop, a Hello Kitty wave swept over Sweden, only to subside somewhat. In the last two years, interest has gained new momentum. Hello Kitty has had competition from friends like Kuromi and Cinnamoroll, but it’s the original that still sells best.
Hello Kitty appeals to all ages and all kinds of people, confirms Helena Nilsson. The customers are everything from small children to 80-year-olds. The explanation is simple, she believes.
– It is a very cute figure. You become happy.
– Some say it’s because she has no mouth. This allows her to reflect how you yourself feel.
There have been a few different explanations for Kitty’s lack of a mouth – that she speaks with her heart, or that she does have a mouth but it is hidden by her fur. But the fact that you can interpret whatever emotions you want in the expressionless face seems to be what appeals the most.
Creates mystery
Niklas Turner Olovzon believes that the fact that you can make Hello Kitty into whatever you want is an important part of the secret behind the success. Hello Kitty can be super commercial and punk subversive at the same time and has been embraced by everyone – little kids, fashion designers and the riot grrl movement.
– It’s a story created by the fans. It is quite unusual – and perhaps paradoxically enough has also been a strength – that you can fill in the information yourself. A mystery is created and perhaps that is precisely what has made her last longer.
In retrospect, Hello Kitty has been given a backstory, but at first there was nothing – just a little white cat. Later, Sanrio backed off on the species affiliation.
When anthropologist Christine R Yano wrote the texts for an exhibition for the 40th anniversary, she received a correction from Sanrio. “Hello Kitty is not a cat. She is a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat.”
After the shock wore off, fans seem to have made up their minds. If you think Hello Kitty is a cat, she is. Again – Hello Kitty is what you want her to be.
Taken over
For Helena Nilsson, Hello Kitty was not something she grew up with but a new acquaintance when she first came across Kitty in Japan as an adult. Today she has taken over her home.
– I’m completely crazy. She is everywhere in my home. My whole kitchen – I use Hello Kitty plates and glasses.
Niklas Turner Olovzon believes that another explanation for Hello Kitty’s popularity could be an increased acceptance of phenomena that bridge children’s and adult culture.
– It’s a trend that we’ve seen strongly in the Western world for perhaps the last twenty years or so. Hello Kitty is perhaps the original symbol of that gradual movement.
FACTSHello Kitty
Name: Kitty White
Family: Parents George and Mary White. The twin sister Minny.
Lives: Outside London
Age: In third grade year in and year out.
Friends: An ever-growing crowd where some of the most famous are My Melody, Keroppi, Kuromi, Badtz-Maru, Pompompurin, Cinnamoroll. The rabbit companion Cathy was retired in 2011 after a dispute between Miffy the rabbit’s creator Dick Bruna and Sanrio.
Other: Hello Kitty is a UN ambassador. In 1983, she was appointed by Unicef as a child ambassador in the USA and in 1994 in Japan. In 2004, she was awarded the title “Children’s special friend” by Unicef. In 2017, she became an ambassador for the International Year of Sustainable Tourism Development.
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