Ugly cat cushions become latest trend among pet owners

A peculiar trend of customizing "ugly cat cushions" has taken many netizens by storm, with pet owners creating cushions featuring unattractive yet endearing pictures of their cats and dogs. The quirky trend, reported by the Shanghai Morning Post on Saturday, has sparked a fun showdown online.

A Xiaohongshu user, "Happy Life of Pomegranate Zaizai," in Zhejiang province, stumbled upon these quirky cat pillows and cushions frequently on the platform and decided to order one out of curiosity. "At first, I didn't believe they could be that ugly. When I received the actual pillow, it looked like a dried fish. I laughed for half a day, even scaring my own cat," she shared.

According to her, the popularity of these ugly cats seems to be on the rise, reflecting the mindset of young people encountering pets on the internet. If it's mildly unattractive, they might frown and leave, but if it's remarkably ugly, they might stay and become obsessed.

Yang, the owner of an online pillow and cushion store that was among the first to offer customization of these ugly cat cushions, explained that in March of this year, a customer requested a cat pillow. Surprised by how ugly it turned out, the customer shared it on social media, sparking unexpected interest and prompting others to want their own. This led to a surge in the trend of customizing ugly cat pillows on social media platforms.

Yang mentioned that the unexpected popularity of ugly cat cushions caught them off guard, leading to a tenfold surge in orders, with peak sales reaching about 2,000 to 3,000 in one day in April. "Many customers requesting ugly cat pillows tell us the uglier, the better. Some even threaten to leave negative reviews if they're not ugly enough."

Another pillow store owner, Zhang, mentioned that they started making ugly cat pillows at the end of April, and by May 2, they were overwhelmed with orders, working until 1 or 2 a.m. and doubling their workforce. Zhang, who has been making pillows and cushions for 13 years, stated that he had never experienced such a frenzy before. "Previously, we typically received three to four hundred orders a day, with the highest peak not exceeding a thousand. Now, we're shipping out over two thousand items a day."

The frenzy over pets has also extended to humans. Initially, the ugly cat pillows primarily featured photos of cats and dogs. However, in recent days, there has been an increase in custom orders featuring people, all aiming for a quirky look. Faced with a variety of bizarre pillows, Zhang and his workers find themselves laughing while packaging and shipping orders.