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The plushy craze
毛絨玩具熱潮
Suitable for all ages
大人小孩都愛玩
Millennials and Gen Z are falling hard for soft toys.
千禧年一代和Z世代正瘋狂愛上毛絨玩具。
It looked like a typical fish-and-chip shop.
它看起來像一家典型的炸魚薯?xiàng)l店。
Aproned chefs tended to frying baskets and wrapped orders in newspaper.
系著圍裙的廚師們?cè)谟驼ɑ@邊忙活，并用報(bào)紙把下單的食物包起來。
But the catch of the day came with a catch of its own: at Selfridges, a department store in London, patrons were buying toys rather than trawl.
但是當(dāng)天的漁獲有貓膩：在倫敦的塞爾福里奇百貨公司，顧客們購買的是玩具而不是拖網(wǎng)撈上來的魚。
Cuddly cod were garnished with fuzzy lemons and served with plushy peas.
軟萌的鱈魚片裝飾著毛茸茸的檸檬，再配上軟綿綿的豌豆。
The cheapest item cost $25, twice the cost of an actual meal.
最便宜的單品售價(jià)25美元，是一頓真正餐食價(jià)格的兩倍。
Jellycat, the British brand behind the pop-up shop, invited everyone to play with their food.
這家快閃店背后的英國品牌Jellycat邀請(qǐng)大家一起玩食物。
The world has gone soft for soft toys.
世界已經(jīng)被毛絨玩具萌化了。
On TikTok videos tagged #Plushies, featuring various stuffed creatures and objects, have been viewed around 8bn times.
在TikTok上，帶有“毛絨玩具”標(biāo)簽的視頻展示了各種毛絨動(dòng)物和物品，這種視頻已經(jīng)被觀看了大約80億次。
Stampedes have broken out at shops.
客人們蜂擁進(jìn)店里。
The Jellycat pop-up required visitors to book a slot.
因此Jellycat快閃店需要訪客預(yù)約到店時(shí)間段。
Labubu dolls—elfin figures in fluffy outfits made by Pop Mart, a Chinese toy company—are popular across Asia.
拉布布玩偶——由中國玩具公司泡泡瑪特制作的穿著毛茸茸服裝的小精靈形象——在亞洲各地都很受歡迎。
Melissa Symonds of Circana, a consumer-insights firm, says that soft toys are the second-largest category in the British toy market; sales have increased by around 58% since 2021.
來自消費(fèi)者研究公司Circana的梅利莎·西蒙茲表示，毛絨玩具是英國玩具市場(chǎng)的第二大品類，自2021年以來，毛絨玩具銷售額增長了約58%。
The global market was worth almost $12bn in 2023 and is expected to grow at an annual rate of 8% until 2030.
2023年，毛絨玩具的全球市場(chǎng)價(jià)值接近120億美元，預(yù)計(jì)在2030年之前將以每年8%的速度增長。
So lucrative are these playthings that Warren Buffett bought the parent company of Squishmallows, an American purveyor of rotund stuffed animals, in 2022, calling it a money-making “gem”.
這些玩意兒利潤如此高，以至于沃倫·巴菲特在2022年收購了Squishmallows的母公司，這是一家賣圓乎乎的毛絨動(dòng)物玩具的美國公司，巴菲特還稱其為賺錢的“寶石”。
It is not young kids driving the demand but “kidults” (those aged 12 and above).
推動(dòng)需求的不是幼兒，而是“大小孩”（12歲及以上的人）。
Kidults now account for over a quarter of sales and, in 2023, surpassed preschoolers for the first time as the biggest age cohort for toys overall.
現(xiàn)在大小孩占玩具銷售額的四分之一以上，并且在2023年首次超過學(xué)齡前兒童，成為玩具消費(fèi)者中規(guī)模最大的年齡組。
The craze began during the pandemic, as teenagers and young adults, stuck at home amid a global upheaval, sought succour in cute playthings.
這股熱潮始于疫情期間，當(dāng)時(shí)青少年和年輕人在全球陷于劇變之際被困在家里，在可愛的玩具中尋求慰藉。
Lucy Dray, the owner of an online soft-toy shop called Baby Beans, says that plushies “bring people happiness and comfort”—two states that “can be quite hard to find in the world we live in”.
露西·德雷是“寶貝豆”毛絨玩具網(wǎng)店的老板，她說毛絨玩具“給人們帶來快樂和安慰”，這兩種狀態(tài)“在我們生活的世界中可能很難找到”。
Pop psychologists on social media have also preached the benefits of reconnecting with your younger self.
社交媒體上的流行心理學(xué)家也宣揚(yáng)了與兒時(shí)的自己重新建立聯(lián)系是有好處的。
One influencer suggested that collecting luxury teddy bears was “healing [her] inner child”.
一位博主表示，收集奢侈品牌的泰迪熊是在“治愈她內(nèi)心的孩子”。
And as many defer having children until their late 20s or early 30s, kidults have more money to splurge on themselves.
而且由于許多人推遲到20多歲或30歲出頭才要孩子，因此大小孩們有更多的錢可以花在自己身上。
Soft toys are an everyday indulgence: you can spend anywhere between $10 and $250 on a Squishmallow.
毛絨玩具是一種日常的享受：一個(gè)Squishmallow毛絨玩具的價(jià)格少則10美元，多則250美元。
(Or, if you want a limited-edition black cat, you can buy one on eBay for more than $1,500.)
（或者，如果你想要一只限量版的黑貓，你也可以在eBay上以超過1500美元的價(jià)格買到。）
Collectors are not put off by such steep prices: if anything, they only add to the allure.
收藏者們并沒有被如此高昂的價(jià)格嚇退：如果有什么影響的話，高價(jià)只會(huì)增加玩具的吸引力。
Like obtaining a concert ticket or a sports trading card, getting your hands on a rare plushie gives you bragging rights.
就像獲得一張音樂會(huì)門票或體育主題集卡牌一樣，獲得一個(gè)罕見的毛絨玩具會(huì)讓你有吹牛的權(quán)利。
Celebrity endorsements have heightened their desirability further.
明星代言進(jìn)一步提高了毛絨玩具的吸引力。
Kim Kardashian and Lady Gaga are avowed fans.
金·卡戴珊和Lady Gaga都公開承認(rèn)自己是粉絲。
Some will argue that the plushie craze is another sign of an “infantilised” generation.
有些人會(huì)爭(zhēng)辯說，毛絨玩具熱潮是“幼稚化”世代的又一個(gè)跡象。
But trivial treasures have thrived in many eras.
但是不起眼的小寶貝在許多時(shí)代都很火。
In the 1980s it was Cabbage Patch Kids; in the 1990s it was Beanie Babies.
在20世紀(jì)80年代，它是椰菜娃娃，在20世紀(jì)90年代，它是豆豆娃。（注：這些都是洋娃娃或動(dòng)物玩偶。）
In due course “fading novelty could occur with specific toys”, says Dave Neale of Cambridge University, who studies games.
劍橋大學(xué)的戴夫·尼爾研究游戲，他說到一定時(shí)候，“特定玩具的新鮮感可能會(huì)逐漸消失”。
“But I don’t see it as possible for play more generally because it’s so broad and varied.”
“但是我認(rèn)為對(duì)于玩具這個(gè)整體來說，新鮮感消失是不可能的，因?yàn)橥婢叩姆N類廣泛多樣。”
For the time being, plushies are staying put in bedrooms everywhere.
目前毛絨玩具仍安坐于各個(gè)地方的臥室里。
When Paco the Salamander, a toy influencer, joked on TikTok that she was “ready to grow up” and get rid of her sizeable plushie collection, her followers insisted that “you’re never too old” to own them.
當(dāng)玩具網(wǎng)紅“蠑螈帕科”在TikTok上開玩笑說她“準(zhǔn)備好長大了”，要處理掉她那數(shù)量可觀的毛絨玩具收藏時(shí)，粉絲們堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為“什么年齡都可以擁有毛絨玩具”。
For toymakers, it is all about the soft sell.
對(duì)于玩具制造商來說，這都是因?yàn)檐浶酝其N。（注：軟推銷指間接的、暗示的推銷方式，硬推銷指用明顯的、直接的、有力的廣告等去推銷。）
