Clothing on Pop Mart's popular Labubu dolls sold in the United States contains cotton traced to China's Xinjiang region, where U.S. agencies and independent researchers have documented mass detention and state-directed forced labor of Uyghurs, according to independent laboratory testing reported Thursday by The New York Times.
The testing, commissioned by the advocacy group Campaign for Uyghurs and independently verified by the Times, puts one of the year's most viral consumer products within the reach of a 2022 U.S. law that presumes goods tied to Xinjiang are made with forced labor and bars their importation absent proof to the contrary.
Labubu, a plush, elf-like monster with pointed ears and a nine-toothed grin, was designed by Hong Kong-based artist Kasing Lung and is licensed exclusively to Pop Mart, a Beijing toymaker founded in 2010 and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Sold in sealed blind boxes that conceal which variant is inside, the dolls went viral in April 2024 after Blackpink's Lisa posted one on Instagram. They have since appeared on the bags of Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian, and tennis player Naomi Osaka.
The Monsters line, of which Labubu is the centerpiece, generated about $670 million in the first half of 2025, more than one-third of Pop Mart's revenue for the period.
Sixteen of 20 dolls bought from U.S. retailers in 2025 and listed as containing cotton tested positive for Xinjiang cotton, almost entirely in their T-shirts.
The dolls are mostly polyester, but the tracing was found in the clothing.
Isotopic analysis, the technique U.S. Customs and Border Protection has used on clothing imports, traced the cotton to the region, according to the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which took effect in 2022, creates a rebuttable presumption that goods made wholly or in part in Xinjiang are produced with forced labor and blocks them at the border.
More than 90% of China's cotton is grown in Xinjiang, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports.
Pop Mart manufactures its goods in Guangdong and Hebei provinces, so its products are not automatically flagged; the statute follows the point of entry, not the assembly site.
Pop Mart told the Times it would investigate, said it holds itself and its suppliers to "the highest standards," and said only a small share of its dolls contain cotton.
It is working on a plan to use alternative materials for the U.S. market.
China denies the allegations of forced labor and calls its Xinjiang policies poverty alleviation and counterterrorism.
Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, called the findings "unsurprising and unacceptable."
His committee demanded transparency from Pop Mart and stricter enforcement by Customs and Border Protection.
Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said: "Pop Mart should prove that all of its dolls in the United States are slave-labor-free. If they cannot, customs has the authority to stop all Labubu imports, and I will ask them to do so."
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.