“I was so upset that I didn’t get to see her,” said Alena Chuchen, a seventh grader who lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
It was Tuesday afternoon, and earlier that morning her mother had spotted Labubu, a playful, elflike doll sold by the Chinese retailer Pop Mart, taking photos in front of the fashionable Mark Hotel.
A furry mascot, Labubu spent the rest of the day touring the city, cruising around in the back seat of a black S.U.V., taking in the sights from the top of the Empire State Building and cheering on the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks from courtside.
Labubu usually lives in Pop Land, a Pop Mart amusement park in Beijing. But like a few million visitors to New York this time of year, she’s in town for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. On Thursday, she is a main attraction aboard a new float designed by Macy’s Studios, which creates all the balloons and floats for the event, with input from Pop Mart.
Her presence is more proof of Labubu’s global ascendance, as the dolls have become a collector’s item, an accessory for bags and backpacks and a meme for children and adults alike, as well as a notable success in China’s efforts to mint cultural exports.
It was 18 months ago that Pop Mart approached Macy’s, expressing an interest in being part of the Thanksgiving Day events.
“We set our sights on New York early on,” said Emily Brough, head of licensing at Pop Mart Americas. “It is the global center of art and culture.”
The float’s title and theme is “Friendsgiving in Pop City.” It depicts Labubu and her friends (other franchises in the Pop Mart family) enjoying a festive celebration. Labubu and Mokoko, known for her pink fur and heart-shaped nose, are 16-foot furry inflatables, hugging a skyscraper made of wrapped presents. SkullPanda, Peach Riot, Dimoo, Molly and Duckoo are stationary structures on the float, sculpted from Styrofoam, which has been treated and painted.
They will be joined by two Labubu mascots as well as other live actors who will be dressed in outfits by Talia Abbe, a New York designer known for making inflatable dresses and accessories.
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Brendan Kennedy, director of creative production at Macy’s Studios, said the float has been a hotly anticipated addition to this year’s parade, Macy’s 99th, which will also include the debut of a “Stranger Things” float and a balloon of Derpy Tiger, a character from “KPop Demon Hunters.”
“I want to finally see a Labubu in real life,” said Alena, the seventh grader, who has five Labubu dolls. She and her family planned to attend the parade.
“The whole class has been talking about it,” she added. “I think around half the class is going to see it.”
Mr. Kennedy said he was immediately sold on the idea of featuring Labubu in the parade, based on the toy’s immense popularity. Celebrities including Dua Lipa, Rihanna and David Beckham have been spotted with the miniature key-chain dolls. At this year’s U.S. Open, Naomi Osaka’s custom-bedazzled Labubu had its own moment in the spotlight. Pop Mart has over 60 locations in the United States, up from five in 2023, and in 2026 it plans to open multiple locations in the city.
Still, Mr. Kennedy wanted to make sure the partnership would work, he said.
“We have conversations with anybody who wants to be part of the parade, to ask questions like, ‘Is this the right moment in time to do this? Are we compatible?’” he said. “I’m always asking the question, ‘Are they down to be creative? Are they down to clown?’ Because we only have a few moments to tell a really good story coming down the street.”
After brainstorming a few story lines, the creative teams at Macy’s and Pop Mart together settled on depicting a Friendsgiving, a tradition often embraced by younger generations.
“What is the party that the young set of folks would do?” Mr. Kennedy said, recalling the teams’ thinking. “Their friends are their family, their chosen family, so how do we recreate that?”
Then came a question that has plagued many a Friendsgiving celebration: Who’s invited?
Pop Mart had “dozens and dozens of I.P. within the portfolio” to choose from, Ms. Brough said, referring to the company’s many intellectual properties.
“It’s Labubu’s 10th anniversary, so that is obviously one that we wanted to have on the float,” she continued. “Peach Riot is designed by a U.S.-based artist, so we really wanted to have her on the float. Duckoo is an I.P. that’s really important to this market and resonating a lot here. Molly is iconic for us, and next year is her 20th anniversary.”
The float was put together at Macy’s 72,000-square-foot parade studio in Moonachie, N. J., using a process that involved creating a skeleton for the float in steel and aluminum, building it out with carpentry, sculpting the components, coating them in a skin that could survive in all types of weather and hand-painting the entire thing.
“The painting was an incredible undertaking because there’s so much different I.P. that we’re working with, with Pop Mart,” Mr. Kennedy said. Different artists design the characters; each had to sign off on the float’s final touches.
The 16-foot-tall Labubu and Mokoko furry inflatable sculptures are the first of their kind to appear on a Macy’s Parade float. The challenge, Mr. Kennedy said, was to take these furry dolls and make them more than 30 times larger, but still have them appear cuddly and warm to audience members.
Macy’s also created a special confetti in the shape of Labubu’s head that will fly from the float as it makes its way to Herald Square.
“There is so much confetti,” Mr. Kennedy said with a laugh. “There’s going to be a lot of cleanup to do.”
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