Hello Kitty celebrates 35th Birthday

You might have already heard that this Japanese-based global producer of cute things is going to celebrate its 35th birthday this year. And the celebration is to be held not in Japan but in Britain as the label was originated there.

A special tartan collection will be timed to the celebration. Sanrio Co. will launch the checkered-pink series, including handbags, trinkets, a shawl and a Kitty version of a teddy bear, in September in Japan first and then the official birthday on November 1 in London.

Yuko Yamaguchi, the Hello Kitty designer, who has been working for the label since 1980, said the British capital was chosen as the feline’s home because “London was the place Japanese girls admired in the 1970s.”

Britain was a nation of fairy tales for Japanese girls who read “Alice in Wonderland” and the “Tale of Peter Rabbit,” she said.

Since 1974 when Hello Kitty debuted a lot has been done and now the label has spawned a massive global industry with sales of some 50,000 Kitty products in 70 nations, including dolls, clothes, accessories and homeware.

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