By: Isabella Wong

As you come home from a long and tiring day, you may look forward to finally resting on your soft mattress where all your stuffed plushies might be waiting for you. In fact, there’s pretty good odds that you are one of the 100 million people that have a squishmallow awaiting your arrival.

These round and soft plush toys that range from 2 to 24 inches tall are designed as animals with the most simple yet adorable little grin sewn onto them. Just a few years after KellyToy officially launched the plushies in 2017, they skyrocketed in sales and popularity for all age groups, especially those ages 18 or older.

Sunny Cho is the creator of the many designs on the plushies at Kellytoy. It started off with the classic egg-shaped plush, then the signature squishmallow belly, then the cute smile everyone loves. Each squishmallow character even has their own stories and names written on their tags, making them more lifelike. Squishmallows grew from a plain cat plush to a huge variety of popular animal characters that almost everyone adores.

The main cause behind its huge soar popularity was due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which started around 2020. Studies showed that the stress from the pandemic caused nearly half of Americans to feel great amounts of anxiety and even depression. People found it comforting to have the presence of a squishmallow, making them feel less alone.

“There’s a real comfort in squishing them,” Chris Byrne, toy specialist explained. , noting how parents told him of the toys’ calming effect during the pandemic when many children were overwhelmed with anxiety.

Squishmallows are now sold in over 50 countries around the world. They are everywhere, whether sitting at the corner of your bed or displayed on the shelves of your nearby Costco.