When Tsuji had learned of the team planning to abandon Kitty, he fought to keep her and decided to hold an in-house competition for new concepts for Hello Kitty. Soon Yuko Yamaguchi joined Sanrio in the midst of the Kitty boom in 1978, at the age of twenty-two, hoping to get a job focused on advertising. Yonekubo took the opportunity to announce her own retirement, for she wanted to start a family of her own.įor a long while afterwards, Sanrio made no particular effort to replace Hello Kitty's designer. Whether because of this conservative approach or because of the ever-changing whims of young children, the first Kitty fad ran out of steam around 1979. She introduced incremental innovations like the first portrayal of Hello Kitty in a standing pose, but otherwise made a point of hewing closely to her predecessor’s linework, down to using a photocopied template of Kitty’s face to ensure uniformity. Shimizu’s former assistant, Setsuko Yonekubo-the same one who had declared Shimizu’s initial illustration so very kawaii-oversaw Kitty during the boom years. However Yuko Shimizu left in the same year Kitty first appeared in the United States, as she had gotten married and focused on family in the meantime. While she first appeared in the United States in 1976, Hello Kitty's popularity continued to boom throughout 1977. The character's first appearance on an item was a vinyl coin purse in Japan, which ended up being the hottest selling item that year which came as a surprise to everyone.įollowing Roko Maeda of Patty & Jimmy fame, Shimizu came up with a backstory for her character and dubbed her Kitty, after the name of the protagonist’s pet cat from her favorite book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. When Shintaro Tsuji had first seen Hello Kitty, he didn't really have any strong opinions, but warmed up to her later on. When a front and side drawing of Hello Kitty (then unnamed) was shown by Yuko to several other people in the company including her assistant, they greatly preferred the side view drawing and praised it. Hello Kitty was designed by Yuko Shimizu and was added to the lineup of early Sanrio characters in 1974. The company produced a line of character merchandise around gift-giving occasions. Tsuji noted the profits gained by adding a cute design to the sandals and hired cartoonists to design cute characters for his merchandise. In 1962, Shintaro Tsuji, founder of Sanrio, began selling rubber sandals with flowers painted on them. Her trademark signature is a red bow on her left ear. She likes to collect cute things and her favourite subjects in school are English, music and art. She is good at baking cookies and loves Mama's homemade apple pie. She is portrayed as a cute, bright, sweet, kind-hearted and tomboyishly beautiful girl, who's very close to her sister Mimmy. Her height is described as five apples and her weight as three apples. Per official character profiles for Hello Kitty, her real name is Kitty White and she was born in the suburbs of London, England on November 1st. Her fame has led her to the creation of two officially licensed theme parks, Harmonyland and the indoor Sanrio Puroland. Examples of products depicting the character include dolls, stickers, greeting cards, clothes, accessories, school supplies, dishes and home appliances. Several Hello Kitty TV series, targeted towards young children, have also been produced. It has a cult-like following among adults as well, especially in Asia, where Hello Kitty adorns cars, purses, jewelry and many other high-end consumer products. Although mainly aimed at the pre-adolescent female market, the Hello Kitty product range goes all the way from purses, stickers and pen sets to toasters, televisions, clothing, massagers, and computer equipment. The Hello Kitty trademark has spread globally Sanrio earned over $1 billion annually in sales outside of Japan, as of 2003. This character is a staple of the kawaii segment of Japanese pop culture. In Hello Kitty's Paradise, Hello Kitty & Friends, and Growing Up with Hello Kitty, She has gray paw pads. The character's first appearance on an item, a vinyl coin purse, was introduced in Japan in 1974. She is portrayed as a female white Japanese Bobtail Cat with a red bow worn on her left ear and often wears blue overalls with a yellow shirt on top. Chung Misook Hello Kitty ( ハローキティ, Harō Kitī), also known by her full name, Kitty White ( キティ・ホワイト, Kitī Howaito), is a fictional character produced by the Japanese company Sanrio, created by Yuko Shimizu, and designed by Yuko Yamaguchi.
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