#Hello kitty converse series#
#Hello kitty converse tv#

New series involving Hello Kitty with different themed designs are released regularly, following current trends.

#Hello kitty converse tv#

Yamaguchi has said that fashion, movies, and TV inspire her in creating new designs. In 1980 Yuko Yamaguchi became lead designer and has remained in charge since. In 1976 Setsuko Yonekubo temporarily took over as lead designer for Hello Kitty, after Shimizu left Sanrio. Sanrio already had several characters set in the US, and it wanted Hello Kitty to be different. Sanrio decided to make Hello Kitty British because foreign countries, in particular Britain, were trendy in Japan at the time of Hello Kitty's creation. He first considered 'Hi Kitty' before finally settling on 'Hello Kitty,' her current name. Sanrio's motto is 'social communication,' and Tsuji wanted the brand name to reflect that by including a greeting. Shimizu got the name Kitty from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass during a scene early in the book, Alice plays with a cat she calls Kitty. Hello Kitty was initially known only as 'the white kitten with no name' (名前のない白い子猫). Hello Kitty was designed by Yuko Shimizu and was added to the lineup of early Sanrio characters in 1974. Tsuji noted the profits gained by adding a cute design to the shoes 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. Yuko Shimizu was the original designer of Hello Kitty. As of 2008 there were over 50,000 different Hello Kitty branded products. A variety of products have featured the character over the years, like school supplies, clothing, accessories and toys, along with other items. The Hello Kitty media franchise has grown to include a number of animated series targeted towards children, as well as several comics, animated films, video games, books, music albums and other media productions. There are Sanrio theme parks based on Hello Kitty: Harmonyland in Hiji, Ōita, Japan, Sanrio Puroland in Tama New Town, Tokyo, Japan, and Hello Kitty Shanghai Times in Shanghai, China. UNICEF has appointed Hello Kitty children's ambassador and the Japanese government appointed her ambassador of tourism.

By 2014, when Hello Kitty was 40 years old, she was worth about $8 billion a year. By 2010 the character was worth $5 billion a year and The New York Times called her a 'global marketing phenomenon'. The brand went into decline in Japan after the 1990s, but continued to grow in the international market. Hello Kitty's popularity also grew with the emergence of kawaii (cute) culture. Originally Hello Kitty was only marketed towards pre-teenage girls, but beginning in the 1990s, the brand found commercial success among teenage and adult consumers as well. Hello Kitty was created in 1974 and the first item, a vinyl coin purse, was introduced in 1975. According to her backstory, she lives in a London suburb with her family, and is close to her twin sister Mimmy, who is depicted with a yellow bow. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as an anthropomorphized white cat with a red bow and no visible mouth. Hello Kitty ( Japanese: ハロー・キティ, Hepburn: Harō Kiti ), also known by her real name Kitty White ( キティ・ホワイト, Kiti Howaito), is a fictional character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Megumi Hayashibara (1990–present), others