Hello Kitty in Scottish tartan for 35th
birthday
TOKYO, June 10, 2009 (AFP) - Hello Kitty, the Japanese-made global icon of cuteness, will
mark her 35th birthday this year by going back to her British roots
with a new tartan collection, her makers said Wednesday 10
June.
Kitty, of Hello Kitty, and family
Sanrio Co. will launch the checkered-pink series -- featuring
handbags, trinkets, a shawl and a Kitty version of a teddy bear --
in September in Japan ahead of her official birthday on November
1.
The British embassy in Tokyo on Wednesday 10 June threw an early
party for the feline with the trademark ribbon who, according to
the Kitty legend, lives in suburban London.
Yuko Yamaguchi, the Hello Kitty designer since 1980, said the British
capital was chosen as the feline's home because "London was the
place Japanese girls admired in the 1970s."
Britain was a nation of fairy tales for Japanese girls who read
"Alice in Wonderland" and the "Tale of Peter Rabbit," she said.
Since her 1974 debut, Kitty has spawned a massive global industry
with sales of some 50,000 Kitty products in 70 nations, including
dolls, clothes, accessories and homeware.
