kawaii

Kelly Toys argued that the Build-A-Bear line bears many similarities to Squishmallows toys, including “shaped fanciful renditions of animals/characters; simplified Asian style Kawaii faces; embroidered facial features; distinctive and nonmonochrome coloring; and velvety velour-like textured exterior.”

Jazwares, however, says the Skoozherz toys are "knockoffs" of the Squishmallows it has sold since 2017, pointing out they are also "shaped fanciful renditions" of animals, with "simplified Asian style Kawaii faces," and "velvety velour-like" fabric.

Kawaii is a reference to the Japanese culture of cuteness.

Beyond the cats, there is a room on kawaii, the Japanese culture of cuteness, and one that shows how advances in mass-production techniques allowed vast profits to be made from cuteness’s freakish ability to stir our emotions.

“I have friends who are big fashion heads who don’t care about kawaii culture at all,” Ms. Miah, 28, said.