How Precision Injection Molding Shapes the Trendy Toy Industry

LABUBU is extremely popular. Nowadays, on social media platforms, young consumers are showcasing the unique outfits of trendy toys like LABUBU: from basic models to high-end custom designs, and from modern trends to traditional intangible cultural heritage, the products are constantly being updated with new styles. Designing and creating "doll clothes" for these figures is becoming a hot topic in both the consumer and export sectors.

In fact, from the Barbie dolls of earlier years to the currently popular plush LABUBU, and even to adding "exclusive clothing" for these trendy toys, the market for trendy toys is continuously expanding. Data shows that the global trendy toy market size grew from $20.3 billion in 2020 to $41.8 billion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.8% during this period. It is expected to reach $52 billion in 2025.

Behind this prosperous scene, advances in materials and manufacturing processes play a key supporting role. Trendy toys are made from a wide variety of materials, and the choice of material directly determines the appearance, texture, and application scenarios of the final product.

PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride): As one of the most commonly used materials, PVC features good plasticity and durability, and is cost-effective, making it suitable for mass production. Its derivative process, "slush molding," involves the centrifugal rotation to evenly coat pasty PVC onto the inner wall of a mold, enabling a variety of shapes and fine surfaces.

ABS: As an engineering plastic with excellent comprehensive performance, ABS possesses outstanding heat resistance, cold resistance, and mechanical strength. It is easy to process and surface color, making it commonly used for producing high-quality collectible toys.

PU resin (polyurethane): This emerging polymer material boasts excellent physical properties and exceptional detail expressiveness, making it particularly suitable for high-end designer toys that require complex structures and refined appearances.

Polystone: An artificial stone material made from a mixture of resin and stone powder, known for its high hardness, impact resistance, and good thermal stability. It is often used in collectible-grade figurines with heavy shapes and unique textures.

With the continuous increase in demands for product details, material diversity, and production efficiency in the trendy toy market, high-end injection molding equipment has become a key driving force for the industry's development. The diversification and performance optimization of materials have raised higher requirements for the precision, stability, and intelligence of processing equipment.

In responding to large-scale, fast-paced market demand, domestic leading injection molding machine manufacturers have demonstrated strong solution capabilities. For example, when Hunan Sunny Sendi Toys Manufacturing Co., Ltd. was producing 3D plastic food toys for the movie "Nezha 2," they adopted Haitian International's highly automated injection molding machines. Within a production cycle of just three months from R&D to mass production, they successfully addressed the challenge of a sharp increase in orders during the Chinese New Year season. The company set up multiple production lines to ensure timely delivery of orders with high continuous operation capability, significantly enhancing production efficiency and system stability.

Similarly, in the field of high-end figurine manufacturing, Yizumi’s A5S upgraded standard high-end servo injection molding machines have been adopted by multiple enterprises in Guangdong for the production of Nezha movie-related merchandise. During peak sales periods, these companies operate at full capacity with more than 26 production lines. The machines feature linear guides and a dual-cylinder support structure for the injection unit, effectively preventing injection sway and achieving product weight repeatability accuracy as high as 0.3%. This ensures the perfect presentation of subtle facial expressions and intricate clothing textures.

In response to the industry demand for "small batches, multiple categories, and rapid iterations," Lijin Plastic Machinery has performed excellently. Leading domestic trendy toy companies, such as WISDOM TRENDY TOYS, have introduced 20 POTENZA series servo energy-saving injection molding machines, achieving a blind box production capacity of 350 units per hour, with overall efficiency improvements of 25%-35%. Its ELETTRICA series all-electric injection molding machines feature an extremely high injection precision of ±0.01mm, with a yield rate exceeding 99%. By leveraging the "Cloud Injection Molding" intelligent management system, customer capacity utilization is increased by more than 25%, delivery cycles are shortened by 40%, significantly enhancing the company's response speed and cost control capabilities in fierce market competition.

It is foreseeable that with the continuous expansion of the collectible toy consumer market and the ongoing advancement of manufacturing processes, high-precision, intelligent, and flexible injection molding equipment will become the industry standard. Only through deep integration of technology and manufacturing can collectible toy companies maintain their competitiveness in the global market and achieve the critical transition from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing."